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!

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Disciple Means Student

Two of the things that I have been most grateful for in the last month is the fact that God gifts us with so much fun in this life, and secondly, how God blesses us by giving us the ability to learn. At our online TNF's we have been hosting after events for our students where we try to do something that helps everyone feel connected. At one of our most recent after events we decided to host "show and tell" where everyone finds one or two objects that they are most proud of owning or they consider to be the most interesting thing they own. It was such a blast to see what the students loved and wanted to show off. In the bottom right Taylor Bass, one of our student leaders, was showing off the set of armor that he and some friends had crafted from cardboard. And 2 blocks above him Nathan Baugh, another one of our student leaders, shows off his autographed pictures of Ariana Grande that he got when he was in middle school. It was so sweet to laugh with those in attendance

More Winter Retreat and Lucy Update!

The fruit of winter retreat is evident! God really used that time to bond our guys together and point them more collectively towards following Jesus. Since winter retreat we have been able to identify several guys that we are excited to invite to be leaders next year in the ministry from Austen, to Josh, to Manny, to Chris (who's testimony is below) God is raising up young men who are eager to not only know Him but to share him with their peers. I couldn't be more grateful for you who helps to make that kind of heart transformation possible! One of our core groups, led by Ian and Crew has been in a particularly healthy place. These guys look forward to spending time together, reading God's word, praying for one another, and sharing their lives. Here they are hanging out an arcade together recently. But every week they are learning about Jesus together and growing as disciples! Speaking of Growing, Lucy is getting bigger. This photo above was from her first wedding recentl

SICM, Staff Retreat, and Start of the Semester

Hello friends and partners in ministry, The summer is over! We are back into the full swing of things, and I got to tell you. God is good and I am so excited for what is to come in just the next few weeks of campus ministry. This last week we got to have our staff retreat in Bridgeport, Texas. The goal of staff retreat is to collectively as a team of ministers recenter ourselves on Jesus and his work in the world, reflect on why we do what we do, and spend time together relationally. Pictured below is our UTA Campus Missionary Team for 2021-2022. From left to right we have Jalen, Graham, Myself, Bailey, Emily, Sophie, Taylor, Emily, and Sarah. Myself, Jalen, Taylor, Emily, and Sarah are our returning campus ministers, while Sophie, Graham, Emily, and Bailey are our apprentices for this school year. If you don't know what an apprentice is, these are recent graduates from the ministry who are either interested in vocational ministry long term or just want to spend a year learning a

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