Jan 12, 2008 / 10:00 am
Three thousand college students gathered in Texas as the New Year began, but they weren’t there to party. Instead they were learning to "Go, and set the world on fire!" at the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) 2008 National Student Leadership Conference.
The energy at the conference reverberated through the room as FOCUS celebrated its 10th anniversary and the largest national conference it has ever held.
FOCUS is an interesting phenomenon in the world of youth ministry since it is the only college-level Catholic campus ministry organization operating nationally. It has experienced unprecedented growth, beginning with just a two missionaries in 1998 to over 150 this year.
The fruit of FOCUS' growth was a crowd of students from around 200 college campuses. The enthusiatic attendees were treated to a line up of famous Catholic speakers from Jan 2-6. Some of the most notable talks came from Deacon Alex Jones, Mother Assumpta Long and Fr. Benedict Groeschel.