Austin's FOCUS Ministry Blog

 God has been moving through FOCUS at UT Arlington for 10 years now. We are taking a moment to celebrate and remember all that God has done, while looking forward to where we think he's leading us from here. You are invited to come and join us, April 18th, on campus at UT Arlington. So little of this would have been possible without your partnership. Come and see the return of your investment. Here's just a taste of what you'll hear. When we started 10 years ago we started FOCUS at UTA with a team of 20 people 1 pastor, 4 pastoral apprentices (I was one of them), and 15 students.  Today we have 180 students involved and 9 pastors. And that doesn't begin to tell the story of the literally hundreds of students over the years that have joined Christian community, worshipped God, and grown in their discipleship to Jesus. Many of you  may have been one of them. And even if you weren't, you helped to make it possible! Please come and join us for the celebration if you...

 There are 40,000 college students at UT Arlington. Historically, since I've been on this campus, each one of the 6 or so college ministries have maintained an average of around 100 members. That's at any given point, only 600 out of 40,000 college students on this campus consistently encountering the good news of Jesus. Obviously that doesn't account for the students who may not be involved in a college ministry but are rooted in a church, but it remains true, the percentage of students on this campus potentially not hearing about Jesus is undeniably sizable. And honestly, sometimes that really breaks my heart. I'm so grateful for the opportunity each of you have given me over the last 10 years to personally impact and share Jesus with as many of those students as I can, but I always have been and remain, only one person, with the same 24 hours a day that you have. Now God has continued to work in and through all that time and faithfulness, and I imagine that our gospe...

This weekend I got to see 830 college students spend their weekend together worshiping God, learning deeply from the scriptures, enjoying fellowship, ministering to one another, and being ministered to by college pastors, and ultimately encountering the presence of Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. The degree to which a weekend like this can be a catalyst for personal change in these students lives is immeasurable. And I am confident that we will see the impact that that transformation will have on DFW college campuses as the gospel message spreads through each one of them. Many of these students will be our student leaders next year, sharing Jesus with their peers. Real spiritual friendship grew as these students reflected on their lives with God together. During the session these students from UTA would sit right by the stage, not just for worship, but for teachings from the book of genesis, led by biblical scholar Marty Solomon, host of the BEMA podcast. If you would like t...