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Welcome Week 2023! (Lots of Pictures)

 Believe me when I tell  you that God is good! And he is so faithful to accomplish his work. This last week at UTA is what is called Maverick Stampede (Their UTA themed welcome week).

As campus pastors we spend the whole time passing out waters, and popsicles, and fans, and maps of campus all in the hopes of getting the word out about FOCUS, we also spend a lot of time encouraging our student leaders to be faithful to meet and befriend their peers, for the sake of Jesus, in their classes and lunch halls. So in that week we probably interact with literally 1000's of students who are quite literally lost on campus, or who just need some relief from the heat. It's a tiring time, but it's also so fun to just get to bless people and help them to have a great first week of college. We also put on events almost every night of the week for students to come and get connected. We attend all of UTA's welcome week events as well and attempt to make it the most positive experience for others, while letting them know about how God is working at UTA through campus ministry.

Here is some of the pictures from our events all culminating with the payoff of students actually coming to our Thursday Night Fellowship where they can come and learn about Jesus and get connected to our small groups with peers who are going to point them towards God.


We hosted a karaoke night at a hip coffee shop close to campus, it was a blast, I may have gotten a little too into "Sweet Caroline"

But our students loved it, and invited their friends and I know people felt like this was a place where they would want to belong. Here is one of our more talented singers, Sonnie, getting the whole room going with a rendition of "I wanna dance with Somebody". I recommend watching it if you'd like a smile on your face. 
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ybGSaHdrXvwyeni7

This was at our tent where we would pass out waters and fans and maps every day. Front and center are two of our best student leaders, Laurel and Alisa. They showed up to volunteer and meet new friends and they set the pace for a lot of our other student leaders in being initiating in befriending their classmates as well. Super proud of these two young women's decision to serve Jesus this year in college ministry. Thank you for investing in them!

One event that I was really excited about was a collaborative worship night, several of the college ministries at UTA including, FOCUS, Wesley, Chi-Alpha, and First Baptist got together to worship Jesus and pray for one another. It was so cool to have 80-100 students in the middle of campus lifting up praise to our Lord. I met a young man there, who had only been a Christian for three months. We met up later in the week, read scripture, and he thanked me afterwards and told me that that time had been his first ever bible study! How cool! His name is Triton and I would love if you could pray for him as he keeps learning about Jesus.


And now for the grand finale, Thursday Night Fellowship!
After meeting students all week we had 130 students come to our first two Thursday Night Fellowships of the school year. We are starting our sermons for this year in the sermon on the mount. So for two weeks now there have been 130 students, getting connected to Christian community, and learning about some of Jesus most central teachings on life and meaning. I couldn't be more excited for this group. For some reason I just have a sense that God is doing something spectacular in this generation. This really is one of the first years where everyone coming into the ministry isn't millennials but Gen Z. And even though God has been faithful all the way through, I know that for a long time there were messages in the news that young people were leaving their faiths. If I'm honest, I think that was probably true for millennials, but it seems to be the opposite for Gen Z. I think here we have a generation hungering for what Jesus offers. For reference, last year our whole ministry was probably 85. This year we are starting off 130 strong. That is so many students wanting to learn more about God. Thank you for allowing me to be here to be a part of that work God is doing in this younger generation. I can't thank you enough.

Don't forget to read the student testimony below! Thank you!












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