I couldn’t believe that this would be the last Student Life weekend conference. I absolutely loved spending my weekend singing my heart out and laughing my head off at the awesome speakers. But this was the last time, and it was with a bittersweet feeling that I walked through the doors of the church where the conference was being held.

Student Life conferences have always been a great place for me to learn new songs- and this time wasn’t an exception. The worship leader was Kristian Stanfill- not a big deal like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and the other big guys, but I vaguely knew who he was. After hearing him lead worship, I wonder why he isn’t more widely known.

The band was just so energetic and passionate. I couldn’t have refrained from singing if I had wanted to- two thousand other people were singing along, and the music was loud and drew you in. even though I didn’t know half the songs, I made it work and did my best to sing along anyway.

That Friday night, I learned a new song, Kingdom. It was a new song from their band called Attention that summed up the theme of the conference, “Live Love.” The words “live love” are in the first pre-chorus- “to live love and give love.” It was fairly easy to pick up and a great range for singing. My favorite part of the song, however, was the chorus-
“We are the kingdom of God
We are an army of love
We carry truth to the world
We are the kingdom of God.”

I couldn’t keep still while singing the song- not while they were playing live, at least. It’s not a song that you sing standing still- it’s one that moves and makes you passionate.

The band sounds better live to me than on CD- something that’s rare. You can see their passion- it vibrates and reaches you. The time passed so quickly that I practically blinked my eyes and it was one on Saturday afternoon- the end of the conference. But before I left, I bought the CD. I’m listening to it right now as I write it- track three, Kingdom.
“We are the kingdom of God
We are an army of love
We carry truth to the world
We are the kingdom of God.”