Purpose & Vision | Intersections | Upcoming Events | Values | Governance/Leadership

Purpose

Intersect unites Christ’s followers in partnership and prayer to creatively offer the love of Jesus through compassionate service, unifying events, and leadership development. Intersect is a ministry of the historic Okoboji Lakes Bible and Missionary Conference. Since 1935, the Conference has ministered to thousands each summer in Northwest Iowa’s beautiful lakes region. Through Intersect, the Conference now serves year-round.

• Intersecting earth and heaven in prayer
• Intersecting families with help and hope
• Intersecting churches for influence
• Intersecting Christ’s followers for mission

Vision

The vision of Intersect is to spread the historic DNA of the Okoboji Lakes Bible and Missionary Conference year-round locally and globally. That DNA can be described in four words: Prayer, Family, Church, and Mission:

Intersecting heaven and earth with prayer. Intersect is located in a recreation area of northwest Iowa. From this area we pray for God’s re-creative work to multiply for His glory and the salvation of many worldwide. For three-quarters of a century, the Okoboji Conference has encouraged prayer during and beyond the annual summer event. Intersect now serves to mobilize unified and persistent prayer and worship among Christians year-round. Regions are being changed for the better by God’s grace as believers agree in Jesus’ name for the re-creation of lives, families, churches, and communities.

Intersecting families with help and hope. Intersect partners with agencies addressing core family needs from a Christian worldview and offers services and events for the strengthening of the family. The Okoboji Conference has always been a family place. It is an inclusive family, even for those without family. It is also a place of rich generational connection in a context of focused Christian formation. We believe that healthy families are the birthplace of individual, church, and societal health.

Intersecting churches for influence. Intersect exists to foster relationship, cooperation, trust and effectiveness among all who exalt Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, as Lord and Savior. Since its inception from a radio program beamed to hearers of all churches and no churches, the Okoboji Conference has been transdenominational, multi-church, and Kingdom oriented. Churches in cities and regions across the world are coming together for the good of their locales, demonstrating the love for one another and others that Christ prayed we would have. Competition and mistrust are being laid aside and Jesus Christ is being exalted as the unifying Lord of the Church.

Intersecting Christ’s followers for mission. Intersect wants to tell the world of the love of Jesus and serve the world out of a motive of that very love. Mission begins in our own community. As an organization and as individuals connected via the organization, our heart is to serve our local community through acts of service and compassion, often in cooperation with other churches and agencies. With integrity demonstrated locally, we further envision enlarging impact globally in offering short-term mission involvement, and by building persistent connections of support, service, and evangelism to peoples where need and God’s open doors invite us. "Missionary" continues to be the Okoboji Conference’s middle name.

Church leader and observer, Reggie McNeal has described this in his book The Present Future:

We are also witnessing the emergence of community foundations that are funded and led by people (both clergy and lay) who are attempting community transformation from a Christian perspective. They are attempting to establish a Christian presence and influence with a delivery system different from the local church’s. These foundations are as different as the personality of their leaders and the character they establish for themselves. Some resource church leaders, attempting to create awareness of community needs. Others target inner-city residents with issues of poverty, drug abuse, and education.

Emerging as new growth from the temporary annual model of the Okoboji Conference, Intersect is one of these "community foundations" described by McNeal.