Conferences
Biola holds two annual student conferences, the Missions Conference during the spring semester and the Torrey Memorial Bible Conference during the fall semester.
The Missions Conference is the largest annual missions conference and the second largest missions conference in the world, second only to the tri-annual Urbana Missions Conference. It is a three-day student-run event that is intended to inspire students towards missionary activity and provide information about missionary work. Classes are canceled Wednesday through Friday in the middle of spring semester to accommodate this. The conference offers ethnic meals, cultural awareness field trips, on-campus cultural experiences, and interaction with missionaries.
The Torrey Memorial Bible Conference is also a three-day conference dedicated to students' spiritual growth. Every year a specific topic is chosen that is geared towards the typical college student's spiritual needs.
The annual one-day Biola Media Conference seeks to advance the integration of faith and the arts. It brings together Christian media leaders and other Christians for education, inspiration, and networking.
On November 16, 1996, the university hosted the first national conference on intelligent design. Later, Intervarsity Press published Mere Creation (ISBN 0-8308-1515-5), a collection of the papers presented at the conference. Subsequent intelligent design conferences were held at the University in 2002 and 2004.
On October 3, 2009, Biola sponsored the first ever Film Music Guild Conference (known as the FMG Conference 2009), a project intended to bring students from film and music schools in Los Angeles together to learn from top industry professionals. It is the only conference in the world designed to bring together student filmmakers and student composers for discussion.
Since 2011, Biola requires students to attend 8 conference sessions and 30 chapel services per semester, or face a financial penalty.
Read more about this topic: Torrey Honors Institute