Skip to main content

Winter Camp and Spring Showcase (You are Invited!)

We recently returned from our annual Winter Camp retreat at Sky Ranch in Van, Texas. Over 60 students from UT Arlington came with us to join the over 600 college students from across our FOCUS Campuses to join for one 4 day weekend of worship, games, sermons, and friendship!
It can be hard to explain just exactly what happens every year at winter camp. But every year students' lives are changed as they make decisions to follow Jesus, to commit to Christian community, and gain a vision to share the good news of the gospel with their friends, families, and peers. This year during the sermons we taught through many of the psalms, and students gained new perspectives on how we are able to worship God in whatever season of life we find ourselves. It is often this event that causes students to catch a vision of what God wants to do during the rest of their time in college. I have already gotten to have some great conversations with some of our young male leaders about how they were impacted by their time there, many of them reported that not only did the guys in their core grow closer together as friends but also that it helped them to connect with God in new ways and get excited about this upcoming semester.
Some of our goofy guys that came to winter camp. They love God and each other. They are all a daily encouragement to my heart and faith. Thank you for your investment in their lives. It's having a greater impact than you know.

We had our first Thursday Night Fellowship of the spring semester a couple of weeks ago at UT Arlington. There were several new faces and our student leaders did a great job welcoming them and getting to know them. It's always exciting to see who God brings into our little community. You never know which of those students are going to fall in love with Jesus and become disciples and future world changers.

Spring Showcase is coming up on February 29th and tickets for adults are only $20. Spring Showcase is our annual fundraiser for sending our students to SICM. When students go to SICM they catch a vision for making disciples of Jesus on the college campus and they learn practical skills of how to reach their campus! Spring Showcase is an evening of musical performances, singing, dancing, incredible musicianship, as well as other fun acts such as live improv. We have some of our most talented alumni performing for your entertainment. It's a great way to spend an evening and enjoy a date with your spouse or simply to come and support a great cause! You can buy tickets right now for either the matinee or evening show at anyfocus.org/showcase. Please let me know if you have any questions, I'd love to see you there! I know you'll be blessed by it.

Thank you so much for your investment in college ministry. God is using it to point lives towards him always. I can't thank you enough for that. Don't forget to read the student testimony below! Bailey is one of the really neat students at UT Arlington.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning From the Wise

Dear Friends, Thank you for taking the time to read this ministry update. This winter season has been particularly encouraging and I am excited to tell you about what is coming up soon! The month of December began with a celebration. The school semester was coming to a close quickly so we threw our annual Focus Christmas party in the first week of the month. Talk about Christmas come early. The event was filled with sweet memories, worship, and funny skits put on by the various weekly core groups. Watching those skits is always a highlight of the year as everyone in the core often participates and everyone gets to see each others silly sides. A couple of guys at the UTA Focus Christmas Party. In the bottom picture, one of the roommates couldn't make the event so the rest of the guys thoughtfully chose to find a way to include him in the picture, no matter what.  Once the semester was over and the students went home for the holidays, I had a lot of time to read. Over the ...
2 comments
Read more

Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again; Rejoice!

A lot has been happening this month, in the ministry, in the lives of our students, and in my own heart as I continue to learn what it means to be a missionary and a minister of the Lord. I can't wait to share all of it with you. I pray that you find it encouraging and ultimately that God is praised and exalted because of it. Ephesians 3:20-21 " Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." These are just a few of the guys in my core group that I get to lead every week! Peter, Jacob, and Saurav. I love each one of these guys dearly and I so enjoy getting to meet with them every week and hearing their heart. I meet one on one every week with Jacob, we've been reading through a book called "Experiencing God" this semester recently and it has been very helpful in aligning our ...
2 comments
Read more

When Miracles Are Common and Pizza Theology

  A student shared this at our most recent Thursday Night Fellowship and I thought it was so beautiful that I wanted to share it with you. "In Focus, Miracles are happening all the time. People are becoming saved, like I was a year ago, through this community, and equally miraculously people are becoming more like Jesus, like I'm still learning to do. But God is using this community to bring about those miracles. And I know that this all can feel common to us, especially those of us who have been around for a while, but if we are in a community where the miraculous is common , we should thank God for that community." That was shared by a student named Josh Krause who I have the pleasure of studying the bible with over the duration of this school year. I have been so encouraged by his willingness to keep learning about the grace of God and respond by living out of that reality. And I was doubly encouraged when he shared such a beautiful and praise filled sentiment with th...
Post a Comment
Read more