Skip to main content

Most Exciting Year of Ministry

 Wow, I have loved the school year so far. God is doing such great things in the lives of these college students. I can tangibly see signs of a generation seeking after Jesus, and it's only been the first month!



Every Thursday Night students are gathering on campus to worship Jesus and to learn more together about his word. This year we've been going through the sermon on the mount during our teaching times and the students really seem to be responding. I'm excited about the prospect of a community of people living out the teachings of the sermon on the mount together and it seems our students are too. We've as part of this also had a scripture memorization challenge each week and it's been so exciting to hear students repeat the words of Jesus back to me as they learn to write his word on their heart and dwell on it throughout the week. I think that practice will end up having a positive effect on our community in ways that we can't even see yet, as students are more equipped to use the word of God to minister to their peers.

Giving our students more and more opportunities to engage with scripture has been a big part of our goals for our community this year. And one of the ways we've been offering that is "Public Reading of Scripture". At these events we will just read a book of the bible from front to back and then engage in a time of discussion. So it's less of a teaching time and more a time of open sharing and communication. But it has been so uplifting to see 20+ students stay on campus from 9:30pm-11:30pm just to read Galatians out loud with their peers and reflect on what God may be wanting to teach us or our community through his word. I'm excited for this month's public reading of scripture!



This upcoming weekend we have our fall camp! Above is a picture of fall camp from two years ago. The ministry was more female predominant back then lol. This year we've had a lot of young men join the ministry and be genuinely eager to learn about God! I can't wait to share with you stories of how God has been working in our whole student body over the course of fall camp this year. Every year when our students have a whole weekend set aside to spend time together and to worship Jesus our students always express feeling more connected to God and moving from feeling like FOCUS was something that they attended, to something that they were a part of, and that they belonged to. Would you pray with me that God would do all that and more in the lives of the students who come with us this weekend? Thank you for your partnership in ministry and don't forget to check out the student testimony below!



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

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

Look at what God is doing! Biggest student attendance since we started!

 What an exciting last month it's been. We passed out hundreds of water bottles, hosted petting zoo's, played capture the flag, and imitated bob ross at a painting night, all for the purpose of meeting new students and inviting them to come to get to know Jesus in a Christian community.  All of these invites culminating in the largest turnout of spiritually hungry college students we've ever had for our Thursday Night Fellowships and our core groups that we have ever had since the beginning of our ministry here at UT Arlington. With over 220 students in attendance. I'll let the pictures tell the stories. These were just some of the events we did to meet people during move in/welcome week! And then here are all the pictures from our ministry events, including our worship, sermons, and small groups called core.                                                ...
Post a Comment
Read more