Austin's FOCUS Ministry Blog

 Just wanted to share with y'all a video from our recent Christmas devotional service. I realized that while I get to watch college students spending their evening to learn about and worship our Lord, and it's always encouraging to me, there are many of you who would be equally encouraged but aren't able to attend these devices and watch it in person. Praying this video of our students singing joy to the world lifts your spirits and gets you excited to remember Jesus more this Christmas season. https://photos.app.goo.gl/cTkgYT2ipWByx1NU9

 This year has been one full of gratitude for me. From the guys that I'm getting to spend weekly time with reading scripture together, seeing our whole community gathered in worship of our Lord, or seeing the friendships forming between them. It's all been such a gift. I first thank God for all of this, but I also want to say thank you! Here's a couple of highlights from recent weeks. Men's Friendsgiving One of several Ladie's Friendgivings A goofy scavenger hunt we went on with a couple of our student leaders A one on one bible study happening right in the middle of campus. This one is being facilitated by Kamaal, one of our brightest and most loving student leaders, reading the scriptures alongside his peer, inviting a younger student to follow Jesus more fully. I've also been so grateful to God for these two. Lucy turns two years old in just a couple of weeks. She remains one of the chief joys of Hayli and I's life. Thank you for helping to provide a home...

 Last weekend was our annual fall camp, and it was so encouraging! 140 students came, listened to sermons on Jesus' "I am" statement, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And spent the rest of the weekend playing games, having meals, spending solo time with God, and enjoying fellowship with each other. Here are some pictures from fall camp below. Every year that we go into fall camp, God uses this time to help our ministry become a more unified and solidified community that is more clear about, and compelled to accomplish the mission to make and mature disciples of Jesus on the college campus. The fruit of this weekend we will be seeing for the rest of the year, but God was definitely at work, as I've heard so many students already express how meaningful their time was. One student told me that God used it to break down some walls in his heart, and another said it convinced him that he wanted to go do our pastoral apprenticeship next year and give a year...

 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.                                                ...

  3 new apprentices and one other new teammate,a pastor who transferred from another campus, is joining our pastoral team at UTA this year. The apprentices will spend all year growing in their knowledge of scripture as they engage in seminary level courses and class discussions, while also being apprenticed by our older staff, myself included, on how to pastor college students well. I'm so excited to see what God will do through them and I'm so honored to be on the team with such godly. wise, and loving copastors. Please pray that Jesus will be made known this year through these campus missionaries. UTA starts their Maverick Stampede (Welcome Week) this Thursday. New college students will come pouring onto campus and we will be there to welcome them, befriend them, and invite them into a christ centered community where they will learn more about Jesus and be invited to grow in their discipleship to him. I was one of those students, and I'm so grateful that God had students ...

This month has been full of encouragements, starting with another one of our young college guys deciding to get baptized! Garrett Hinote was on our worship team last year and will be serving as one of our core facilitators this year. I was so excited to see him wanting to take this step, declaring Jesus is Lord in front of all his friends and family after church. I'm confident that this is only the beginning of Garrett's walking in step with the spirit. Another point of encouragement is our weekly summer FOCUS services on Thursday. Here's a glimpse of  worship from the ground level.  I hope it encourages you to know that this was actually taken two songs AFTER the intended closing song of the set. The students just wanted the time of worship to keep going and the band obliged. Here's a screenshot if you don't have time to watch the whole video. That same night I had the pleasure of being invited to preach the sermon for all the students that were gathered. My one po...

 In 1963 Robert Coleman published a book called The Master Plan of Evangelism. This book has, through the years, been to me one of the greatest encouragements as to why college ministry matters. In the book Coleman argues that the way that Jesus did evangelism was to call men simply to be with him, that they might observe his life, learn from him, and be sent out to be with others, that others might observe their lives and learn from them the things that Jesus had instructed. When I think about raising up leaders for college ministry I get so excited about this model. A campus missionary, who has walked with Jesus for a long while, inviting young, moldable, excited students to come and be with us a while, that we might continue to both model the love of Jesus, and instruct them in the ways to live according to Jesus. In hopes that in the next year they would meet multiple young, moldable, excited to students to come and be with them, that they might both model the love of Jesus, an...

  When I think about all that I want to praise God for this year. These two guys are near the top of the list. On the left is Sudeep, and on the right is Manny. I had the absolute pleasure and honor of getting to meet weekly one on one with both of these guys all school year to read the bible together and talk about what it means to live as followers of Jesus. Both of them have grown immensely to look more like Jesus over the course of that year. Both have made intentional decisions to live more wisely and lovingly as a result of their discipleship to Jesus. And both will be attending our upcoming leadership conference, the student institute of campus ministry where they will learn the skillsets they need to keep spreading the  the good news of Jesus Christ on their college campus. When I started campus ministry 10 years ago I prayed to God, "Lord if I could just be a part of helping one college student experience getting to know you, like you did for me through others in camp...

Hey friends, God is still at work at UTA leading college students to love him more fully and empowering them to love their campus and one another more as well. If you click this link, you'll get to hear our students at  One of our most recent worship nights!  declaring that they have decided to follow Jesus, the world behind them, the cross before them, and they won't turn back. It warms my heart to see so many gather each week to say these things to one another.  Here's some of our UTA students, Cade, Sonnie, Kamal, Hart, Juan, Oscar, Helen, and Garrett spending time together after attending a revival event at SMU. These students love God and are seeking opportunities to know him better every chance they get. Perhaps most encouraging of all has been our senior epistles. At the end of every year we ask our graduating seniors to share with the rest of our student body a word of encouragement, passing along the things they've learned about following Jesus with their whole...