With a topic like ‘Resurrection’, this year's Mid Year Conference was always going to drag lethargic uni students out of holiday-hibernation and force them into restarting their brains. And being one of those students, I can confidently say it did.

The days were jam packed with activities. But not the regular camp kind. There was no abseiling. Canoeing was not on the program. There were no giant swings. Instead, we sat, we ruffled pages, we discussed, we thought, we asked, we answered, we wrote, we sang and then we slept. Don't get me wrong, there was some physical activity. But even on the soccer field, we were thinking…

As mentally strenuous as the conference was though, the benefits were staggering.

It may not surprise too many people that Phillip Jensen was the speaker. Legend has it that he hasn't missed a single conference since they began 30 years ago. And with his lengthy topical lectures he gave a whole new bunch of students some things to ponder again this year.

Each of his talks required some serious Biblical investigation. So much so that at times his voice was almost drowned out by the roar of flipping pages. The focus in the talks was our resurrection " which has spiritually taken place already. We were encouraged to be lords over time and creation.

The challenge put to us was to make a difference in the world by living as Christians. Put off the old, put on the new. But not to think that we can somehow create heaven on earth.

We were reminded of our fortunate situation as people with the money and the opportunity to study at university. And we were asked how that will shape our decision-making. “To those who have been given much, much will be required" What are we going to do with the rest of our lives?” Phillip said.

We also spent time in seminars studying the Bible in a class-room type setting. Here we especially considered the details of Christ's resurrection. And each day we read the book of Colossians in small groups without chapter headings or verse numbers.

Our thoughts were solidly on the Bible for most of the day.

And on top of the brilliant teaching, the fellowship was also refreshing. It was particularly great to be encouraged by other students who long to see their campus come to know Jesus.

MYC is more than a week-long experience. Having been three times I can say it provides a foundation for your Christian walk into the future.