"On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

My friend Cal and I have had long gaps in our friendship since we met in high school.  Recently, we spent some time together catching up and talking about the past few years.  Cal is not a Christian, but he has respect for and sincere interest in my faith.  After we talked about what I do, he asked me, "What are some of your hobbies or interests that are not related to your religion?"

At the moment, it was difficult for me to come up with an answer to Cal's question.  I told him there is really very little I do that is not somehow influenced by what I believe about God.  The more I have thought about this question, the more I realize how much the Spirit has infiltrated every aspect of my life.  Some things are obvious: when I go to church or to Focus, my purpose is directly related to what I think God wants me to do.  Others are less obvious: when I work in my garden, I think about God walking in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  I think about the instructions Yahweh gave to the Israelites to decorate his Temple with lampstands shaped like trees and pomegranates embroidered on the curtains.  I think about how Jesus retreated to the garden of Gethsemane as he prepared himself for his death.  I think about the image in Revelation of a main street lined with beautiful trees whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.  When I plant flowers and pull weeds in the garden, I'm not just passing time or entertaining myself.  I'm connecting to God and experiencing the beauty of his beloved creation with my own hands.  It's easy, when we go too long without getting a little dirt under our fingernails, to forget that God formed our forebears out of the dust of the earth.  God loves beauty and he loves his creation.

The Spirit of God permeates his creation and all his people within it.  I realize that truth and allow it to shape my life more and more every day.  If you call Jesus your Lord, my hope is that you would have no boundaries to limit the work of God in and through your life.

Right now, I and the rest of the Focus staff are raising funds to support our ministry for the coming school year.  It would be easy to say that fundraising is something separate from ministry; that money is something crude and mundane, so asking for it couldn't possibly be spiritual.  I have found that is is simply not true.  Fundraising is a way to minister to potential donors even as it enables us to minister to students.

This enlightened view of fundraising has become so clear to me through my meetings with Rachel.  Rachel is an upcoming intern, and I am her fundraising coach.  We have been meeting about every two weeks so I can hear how she is doing, pray for her, and advise her.  Rachel has come to our meetings with so much enthusiasm for this part of her internship and many exciting stories about the people she has contacted.  She isn't just looking for someone to send her money; she's looking for a way to share the gospel with people she may not see or talk to very often.  She told me one story of calling some old family friends.  The husband had been a pastor when Rachel knew him, but during a conversation with his wife, she found out that he has left ministry and has been struggling with even believing in God any more.  Rachel saw this as an opportunity to minister to a family that is hurting deeply.  If she hadn't made the call to ask this couple to support her during her internship, she would never have known how much they need her prayers and encouragement.

Rachel, who will start her internship August 1

As I raise support this summer, I hope to have the same attitude as Rachel.  Every person I talk to is God's beloved child and worthy of my care.  I am a college minister, but that doesn't restrict me to ministering only to college students.

Speaking of college students, I'm sure you want to know what is going on with them!  Over the summer, we have been meeting each Thursday at Lifepoint Church in Plano.  This church has graciously welcomed us to use their facility, and we have been so blessed by it!  Thank you Lifepoint Church!

Students worshiping God at Summer Focus

Each week, we have heard a sermon from a different speaker.  One of my favorite parts of Summer Focus is this opportunity to hear so many different voices from across our campuses and from people outside of Focus who contribute in significant ways.  I invite you to join us each Thursday night this summer.  Come out and see these students whose lives have been changed by Jesus!

Time for a reboot!

I return to this blog nearly two years after the internship, and it brings tears to my eyes to read what I wrote at the close of that chapter of my life:

“I will probably never be a missionary to China…  Instead, just by going to UTD, I can engage with hundreds of people from China.  Those students at UTD aren't just your average citizens, either.  They must study for government administered exams to get visas for foreign study.  Their families must be able to afford the tuition at an American university.  The students who come to UTD from China are smart, wealthy, young, and the most likely demographic to change their culture.  And they are coming to our doorstep hungry to hear about Jesus!

My task is just to introduce them to the true God and watch as he changes their lives.”

In the two years since the end of my internship with Focus, I have gotten to see God answer my prayer.  I have met wonderful new friends from all over the world like Ruirui, Julie, Chao, Sunny, and Danni.

Ruirui comes from a part of China where tensions run high between different ethnic groups.  The only religious people she knew before coming to the U.S. were Uyghurs - a Muslim group in Western China that has recently been in the news due to violent clashes with police.  Over the past two years, she and I have studied the Bible one-on-one.  Her questions are sometimes difficult, and I find myself saying, “I don’t know,” a lot, but she is slowly walking the narrow path that leads to Jesus.  When she went back to China to visit her parents last December, she told them she has been studying the Bible and wants to be a Christian.  Her parents may not be happy with her decision, but I am so proud of her!

I met Danni at UTD event for international students two years ago, and we became friends instantly.  We studied the Bible together, and I got to baptize her in the swimming pool on campus that November (it was really cold!!).  Now she is overcoming cultural differences related to her upbringing in China and ministering to teenagers right here in the U.S.  You can go read her blog here to hear what God has done in her life.

From left to right: Ruirui, Me, Danni, Mandy, and Debbie

As I look at these amazing young women and at others, I see that God has answered my prayer for international students at UT Dallas.  What is more exciting than seeing lives change for the better?

Since August 2013, I have also been the Intern Coordinator for nine Focus interns.  That means I have to try to keep them on track with assignments, due dates, and fundraising.  Even though I was supposed to be “coordinating” them, they ministered to me in countless ways.  I am sad that their internship is over now, but glad that five of them have decided to remain on our staff either as staff ministers or for a second year internship.

Now I am getting to know the ten new interns who will be joining our staff this August: Cody, Matt B., Kaitlyn, Christian, Stephen, Miriam, Ana, Rachel, Sarah, and James.  They are now in the process of preparing and fundraising for their ten-month internship.  Based on what I know of them so far, I think the 2014-2015 school year will be an exciting one for God’s kingdom!

If you are reading this blog, it’s probably either because you love me or you’re excited about God’s mission (or both!).  If so, I want to invite you to support me and Focus and join in what God is doing at the college campuses.  You have the opportunity to be a part of the big, amazing things that God wants to do in the lives of students!  Please pray for Focus, our staff and students, and consider supporting us with a monthly donation.  To learn more about supporting Focus, you can email me at kelly@anyfocus.org or view our online donation page at http://anyfocus.org/updates/donation.

May God bless you in everything you do!

Kelly

Not the end

This is my last official blog post as a Focus intern.  It's a bittersweet moment as I look back on the past year of my life.  This internship has opened my eyes to new aspects of God's character that I had never considered before, and it has revealed aspects of my character that I am only just beginning to understand.

I think the most meaningful part of my internship has been my growing understanding of Jesus.  Intern class with Ronnie and a close reading of the New Testament have really helped me get to know the Jesus I call Lord.  He is loving, gentle, fierce, demanding, meek and bold all at the same time.  Jesus is not the baby-faced, jolly-looking guy in a white robe that I see on the cover of children's Bibles.  The Lord I worship healed the blind and the lame.  He fed multitudes.  He condemned hypocrisy and sent pious people away angry.  He ate at the same table with prostitutes, in the homes of sinners.  When the barrel ran dry, he made wine to keep the party going.  When the chosen people of God had rejected and forsaken their longed-for Messiah, he died for those who cursed him.  He died for us who hadn't even been born yet.  The Lord I worship is beyond comprehension, but I know this: He loves his people.

I have never cried before as much as I have this past year.  I have cried in staff meetings, one-on-ones, sermons, and even just conversations about ministry.  I don't know exactly why the tears come, but I am beginning to accept them.  I get emotional when I think about our God.  He is the almighty creator of the universe.  He placed the stars in the heavens, he created the oceans, the trees, and every squirrel, bunny, and bird.  He created his people in his image and breathed life into them.  He sustains life by his majestic power; without him there is no life.  That same God, eternal and all-powerful, chooses us.  He delights in us.  He knows his people intimately and he loves us deeply.  He chooses us to join with him on  his mission of bringing life and light to the world.  The same God who commands armies of angels, who tells the waves and the storms what to do, chooses us as his co-workers in his mission.  Of all the ways God could make himself known, he has decided to accomplish his purpose through us.  And to equip us, God gives us the most powerful tool of all: himself.  The Spirit of God lives in us and empowers us.  God chooses not only to use us, but to live inside of us.  We are his temple and his priests.

As people chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and filled with the Spirit, we have a big responsibility.  But we are not alone in this work.  The Spirit works through us as much as we will let him.  Obeying God and fulfilling his mission are not goals we must achieve.  They are realities to which we must surrender.

That is the God I worship.  Now, at the end of the internship, I have to figure out what life looks like without assignments and checklists of ministry tasks.  Now, I surrender to God and ask him for the assignment.

My first assignment is shaping a strategy for ministering to international students at UTD.  They come in droves from India and China to earn Master's degrees in Accounting, Computer Science, and other majors that sound fairly boring to me.  These countries send their brightest students overseas to study in American universities, hoping that they will return with new skills and a competitive edge to strengthen the national economy.  I want those students to return to their home countries with something more powerful than an American degree.  I want them to take God back with them.

I will probably never be a missionary to China.  I know two phrases in Chinese (Where is the bathroom? and Bottoms up!).  I don't understand the culture.  I am white with curly brown hair, which makes me an oddity in China.  Even if I conquer the language barrier, earning the trust of people so different from me would be nearly insurmountable.  Instead, just by going to UTD, I can engage with hundreds of people from China.  Those students at UTD aren't just your average citizens, either.  They must study for government administered exams to get visas for foreign study.  Their families must be able to afford the tuition at an American university.  The students who come to UTD from China are smart, wealthy, young, and the most likely demographic to change their culture.  And they are coming to our doorstep hungry to hear about Jesus!

My task is just to introduce them to the true God and watch as he changes their lives.

Summer Fun

A lot of things change in Focus as we transition from school year to summer.  Many students have left to spend the summer with their families.  Others find themselves with lots of free time now that classes are over.  For students who still want to learn over the summer, Focus offers School of Ministry.  Since none of our students attend college level classes on theology or the Bible, School of Ministry offers college-level education on various topics relevant to Christians.  This year, School of Ministry groups are listening to audio lectures from a seminary in Canada about either the Old or New Testament.  The groups then meet during the week to discuss the lectures.

Matt Clark and I are facilitating a discussion group over the New Testament Foundations class.  Even though we've only been at it for two weeks, I feel like I have already learned a lot, and it has also been beneficial to our students. 

One of the things discussed in the lectures is the difficult process by which our scripture has gotten to us here in the twenty-first century.  It always amazes me to think about scribes copying the Bible by hand in order to preserve it for the future.  The lecturer for our New Testament class makes the point that those scribes faced a lot of challenges, most notably flies drinking ink from their inkwells.  It was those scribes, often monks, who preserved the Bible even through the Dark Ages, when pretty much no one outside the clergy could even read and write.  My point is that God has been active in keeping the scripture intact for us - without his protection, the biblical manuscripts surely would have been lost or destroyed. 

Translation has also been a significant issue for our understanding of the scripture.  Translators are forced to make thousands of choices during the translation process.  Some are small - which synonym should I use? - and some are bigger - should I aim for word-for-word accuracy or try to convey ancient idioms through modern equivalents? - but every choice affects what we, as English speaking Christians, read in our Bibles.  Many human hands have touched our holy scriptures, but I am amazed at God's guidance throughout history.  Our current translations still deliver the truth of God to us no matter which version we read.

So next time you sit down to read a Psalm, think about all the faithful Christians throughout history who have participated in getting the scripture to you, and think about God's guiding hand making sure that you can hear the truth today.

Wrapping up the school year

Every May brings mixed feelings for college students and those of us who work with them.  There's the excitement of finishing classes, summer plans, and, for some, graduation.  Then there's the sense of impending separation as people prepare to go back home for the summer, move away for jobs, and just disrupt the predictability of the school year.

That's what I thought as I sat at our Focus Banquet on Sunday evening.  About one hundred of us gathered together to enjoy dinner and look back on the past year.  Brad recounted some of the events we've done this school year, like Winter Camp, which had a huge spiritual impact on our students, and Halloween Party, which was just a lot of fun.  He also thanked many of the people who have contributed to the work God has done in Focus.  Our financial supporters and the staff at Northeast Church have contributed to resources that make Focus's ministries possible.  Our Corefas have led small groups and one-on-one studies for the past year, trying to make and mature disciples for Jesus.  Our E-Team have led our ministry in reaching out to people at UNT and in the community who need to hear the good news.  Our Peer Team Leaders have supported those student leaders with prayers, advice, and friendship.  All of these people have contributed to a ministry at UNT that we can be proud of; our students have grown in Christ and helped others to do the same.

But even as we look back with satisfaction at what has already been accomplished in Christ's name, we must not forget what is yet to be done.  UNT has over 35,000 enrolled students; Denton is also home to TWU, a university of almost 15,000 students.  Many of those students have never heard (or never seriously considered) the good news about Jesus.  Our tight-knit group of faithful disciples in Focus is wonderful, but we have hardly begun to penetrate the campuses in Denton.

Now we are moving into a different phase in ministry.  Many students will be involved in other churches and ministries over the summer.  Those who remain in the Dallas area will be challenged to grow through School of Ministry.  School of Ministry's goal is to give students at secular universities the opportunity to learn and think about theological topics at a college level.  This year, we will do that by going through two classes from Regent College, one on the Old Testament and one on the New Testament.  Those classes will be a lot of fun (for those of us who think listening to lectures is fun).  They will be a chance to learn and grow.  Most importantly, they will encourage students to have a deep love and understanding of God's revelation to us through the Bible.  That growing love and understanding will help us as we strive to tell people about Jesus and make disciples.

As we make this transition, pray that none of us will grow weary in doing good.  Pray that students will grow over the summer and bring the light of God's love into the dark places they will visit.  Pray for the future as we prepare for a new school year, new students, and new challenges.

Intern Update

College ministry isn’t just about college students.  Our mission on campus is to teach people how to be disciples not just during college, but for the rest of their lives.  We must learn to be, and teach others to be, disciples at work, in our marriages, with our families, and in every situation.

Pre-engagement counseling is a great tool to accomplish this goal.  Many students choose to get married soon after graduation, just like Matt and I did.  Pre-engagement counseling is a ten session curriculum that covers topics relevant to any Christian marriage, including money, sex, and getting along with your in-laws.  Soon-to-be-engaged couples go through these ten lessons with another married couple.  Matt and I went through pre-engagement counseling with Mandy and Andrew, and now we have been called upon to lead it with an engaged couple in Focus.

Over the past couple of months, we have been meeting with Laura and Taylor.  It’s an honor to be a part of their preparations for marriage, and I am so excited for them.  I’m also excited for the benefits that have come from pre-engagement counseling.  In our sessions, we’ve talked about things like communication styles and servant love.  These topics are relevant to marriage, but I think many of them have a lot to do with the lifestyle of a disciple.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to live in the truth; that includes being honest and forthright in conversation, as well as holding one another accountable for the things we say and do.  Communication skills are important for married couples, but they are also a part of the life of a disciple.  As Christians, we are called to be servants of those around us.  Remembering to serve our spouses and put their needs ahead of our own makes marriage easier, but those principles of servanthood should apply to our interactions with everyone.

Preparing people for marriage is preparing people for the life of a disciple.  It’s a big responsibility, and we on staff with Focus are blessed to be a part of it.

Finishing FOJ, Parent Night

It's that time again, when you get to read all about what's going on at FOCUS! 

Let's start with Parent Night:  Last Saturday, about 140 people gathered in the Lyceum for Parent Night.  Students brought parents, siblings, and even a few pastors to show these people what FOCUS is and how it has affected their lives.  Some of the leaders from Northeast Church also visited.  We gave our guests the chance to share about their kids, and I ran around the auditorium game-show-style to bring the microphone to everyone who had something to say (and a lot of people had something to say!).  Parents shared about how our community encourages their kids to grow in faith and provides meaningful friendships.  My favorite story was from the mother of one of our students, Matt, who was hit by a car while riding his bicycle last semester.  Matt's mom talked about Matt's friends from FOCUS taking him to the hospital, staying with him while he was there, and helping him get around as he recovered from a broken leg.  Her story showed that when we are in a strong community built on Christ's love, we look out for each other.  She didn't have to worry about her son because he had so many godly friends surrounding him.

The students also shared about their parents and mentors.  Many of the students expressed their gratitude for the awesome support and encouragement they've gotten from their parents throughout the years, and others talked about the importance of the godly example their parents have set for them.  In a society where the younger generation has a reputation for rebelling against parents and flouting authority, it's really encouraging to see college students expressing thanks to their parents.  Overall, Parent Night was a huge success and a great time to see the things God is doing in our community.

Now for what I've been doing in my one-on-one studies.  I have been going through the Focus on Jesus study with some of my girls for a while now, and those studies are wrapping up.  After consistently meeting with someone to study the scripture, it's hard to finish things.  I've really been blessed by some of the feedback I've gotten from Valerie, the first girl I wrapped up with.  She said that our time together has really helped her deepen her understanding of the Bible, and one of the goals she has set for herself is to read through the whole Bible.  This semester she is the chaplain for her sorority chapter, so I am really looking forward to seeing how God uses her to bless her sisters there.

Please keep me and FOCUS in your prayers.  Right now is the time when we are thinking about Core leaders for next year and giving more students the opportunity to lead in other ways.  Pray that our current staff and leaders would have wisdom in those decisions and that we would keep going strong!