Pizza Theology and Turning Thirty

I turned 30 a little earlier this month and got to spend my birthday with several of my dearest friends. Colton Benge an architecture student and one of our FOCUS Apprentices for this next year, and all 3 of the Bass brothers, Nathan who was my roommate when I was a student in college, Bryan who graduated a few years ago and is now a middle school band director and a leader in the church I attend, and Taylor who is going to be doing our FOCUS apprenticeship this year as well. I don't have much to say about that other than I am so grateful God brought me into this ministry as a student one decade ago. I have immense gratitude to God for all the mercy he has shown me over the years and how he has blessed me immensely with dear friends, a wonderful wife, and incredible ministry partners like yourself. Thank you for your investment in college students. Everyone pictured above has now gone through FOCUS as students, and all of us are committed Christ followers today because you helped provide an environment where we could learn to live for Jesus in our daily lives.

Oduwa, pictured above, is one of the newest students in our ministry and it's been so exciting to get to know him. Here Oduwa is sharing during our weekly large group gathering about why students should invest in the vision of Focus. This is how he described what God has done for him since entering Focus just a little over one semester ago. "When I first started college my heart felt like a dying plant in the middle of a desert. But since joining focus, not only is that plant blooming into a flower, but my whole soul feels like a garden." Wow! I was blown away by Oduwa's words. I always prayed when I first started ministry that if God would do for one student what he did for me through my time in college ministry, it would be worth it. God showed, through Oduwa, that he is doing that and more! Thank you for your investment in Oduwa's life.

You can't tell from this photo but this group of guys were gathered together to watch our annual Pizza Theology. Typically we are gathered in a huge lecture hall with 400 plus students but with Covid we had to do smaller watch parties. But this semesters topic was "Entertainment: What would Jesus watch?" Our students found it so helpful to their life and faith to think critically about the media that they consume and to think of ways that they can use their "free time" to both rest, but also, bless others. If you want to learn what our students are learning you can do so here by watching this semester's pizza theology. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/923544967?filter=all&sort=time

As always don't forget to check out the student testimony below. Thank you for all that you do for this ministry. In Christ, Austin.

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