April Awesomeness

Hello friends! March and April have held so many blessings for the FOCUS community.

 In late March, a small group of students came to Texas from Washington state on their spring break. Instead of enjoying a relaxing vacation, they spent their week reaching out to students on our campuses for Jesus. These students came from Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF), a college ministry in Washington that has blessed FOCUS by sharing their wisdom and experience with us for many years. Our campuses were blessed to have those students visit, and our local students were motivated to reach out to others on campus as well.

Washington students starting spiritual conversations at UNT

On April 1, a few hundred FOCUS students, alumni, supporters, and friends gathered to enjoy an evening of music and art at Spring Showcase.  This event was a huge success - incredible performers, beautiful custom artwork for sale, and lots of funds raised to send our students to SICM this summer.  But the most encouraging thing to me about Spring Showcase is seeing so many people who have been impacted by FOCUS all together in one room.  FOCUS not only touches the lives of our student members, but it impacts their families, their friends, their coworkers and neighbors - and many of those people enjoyed a fun and entertaining evening to support FOCUS.  If you made it to Spring Showcase, THANK YOU for coming out and blessing our students!!!

All the friends who attended Spring Showcase!

The school year is winding down at this point.  Students are working on final projects and studying hard for exams.  Please pray for the following needs at this time:

 - Pray for students to be open to Jesus even at this busy time.  Just last night a new friend visited our Core for the first time!  Praise God!

- Pray for students attending SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) in May.  This is a huge opportunity for them to learn how to lead their peers toward Jesus.

- Pray for summer plans - FOCUS continues to meet over the summer, and we also hold School of Ministry classes for our students.  We also have an intense season of fundraising ahead in order to welcome 8 new apprentices to our staff!

- Pray for me and Matt.  We are currently searching for a house in Arlington.  Please pray that we would find something close to UTA and suitable to host students for Cores and fun events.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

March Madness

Spring is in the air, and that means we are gearing up to send students to SICM!

SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) is the annual student leader training conference in Bellingham, WA, where hundreds of FOCUS students have learned how to reach their peers on campus and invite them to become disciples of Jesus.  SICM has been a transforming experience for many FOCUS students, and I am praying that God will work powerfully in those we take this year.  We've invited around 90 students to attend SICM, and now we're in the process of raising money to help pay for their trip.

One way we help our students pay for SICM is...

SPRING SHOWCASE!!!

Spring Showcase is our annual concert fundraiser to support SICM students.  The Showcase features performances by talented students and alumni, and an art sale with a wide variety of one-of-a-kind works.  Spring Showcase is the evening of April 1, and you can buy your tickets here.  I invite you to join us for this special evening in support of our students.

New Apprentices

Another exciting development in the life of FOCUS is the group of seven young leaders we've recently accepted to our 2017-2018 apprenticeship program.  These talented and faithful young people are committing to serve students on our campuses for the sake of Jesus for an entire school year.  Right now, they are gearing up to start raising their support.  Please pray that God would provide for their needs during this time.
I'm especially excited that two of these apprentices will be joining the UTA team here in Arlington!

Caitlin, our first UTA student to become an apprentice!

Eddie, left - Dallas team.  Jalen, right, will join our UTA team!

February Fun!

The spring semester is well underway, and God is at work on our many campuses!  There are three special events that I'd like to share with you: Winter Camp, SMU Kickoff, and Open House.

Winter Camp

The UTA crew at Winter Camp!

Our annual Winter Camp gets better every year!  This year we had over 600 people in attendance for a long weekend at Sky Ranch.  The weekend was packed with worship, games, food, friendship, talks by the FOCUS staff (myself included) and others, and most importantly, an opportunity to experience God together as a community.

One of the most memorable parts of this Winter Camp was dancing together during worship as Leeann and Renee, two of our UTA Corefas, led the group in some simple movements inspired by the words of the worship songs.  Most of us looked a little silly as we tried to follow along, but I think this activity helped us to quit thinking about how we looked and enjoy the chance to praise our God together.

If you're interested in hearing any of the talks from Winter Camp, they are available by clicking here.

SMU Kickoff

I don't have any pictures, but we had our very first FOCUS meeting at SMU!  God brought a handful of interested students to that meeting, and we keep finding more connections with people at SMU who want to be a part of what God is doing on that campus.  Please keep SMU and the students there in your prayers as we plan for the future of FOCUS there.  And if you know any students or staff there who would be interested, please let me know!

UTA Open House

The room is University Hall 121 - Please join us!

This coming Saturday, you are invited to Open House at UTA!  We will have a special event to invite students' families, professors, and other community members to see what FOCUS at UTA is all about.  You are invited to this fun time!  Please let me know if you plan to attend.

God is at work on our campuses.  Please keep us in your prayers, and thank you for your support of FOCUS!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you!  This is a time of fresh starts and new beginnings for many people as we turn the calendar to 2017.  I pray that God would bless you richly in the new year, as He has generously blessed me in 2016.  If you're thinking about goals for the coming year, I encourage you to include this one: to experience and love Jesus Christ more deeply in the next year, allowing yourself to be changed by His presence in your life.

I'd like to share with you this testimony from Chiazo, one of the UNT girls I spent time with last year:

"Before college, I spent a vast majority of my time at church, from volunteering to mission trips. After graduating, I was nervous about what Christian community would look like now that I had to find it for myself. I prayed for a group of friends who cared about me. I was at the gym six weeks into my freshman year and while I was working out on the treadmill, something made me turn around (while running 80% speed) and I saw a banner for FOCUS. I visited that Friday night and stayed because people sought out His Word, ways to practice His teachings and made Christ-likeness a lifestyle- specifically, Autumn Priestley, a senior at the time I joined FOCUS. I constantly asked myself “why would someone who’s about to leave college want to spend time with me”? She spent time with me because of the lessons she learned through FOCUS. As I make my transition into the “real world” and becoming a teacher, I will remember to seek to understand then be understood when working with students, parents, and other teachers. I will look at my students and love them. I will consider their needs and provide for them, whether that means that I attend their sporting events or support them through tough times. I will show them who Jesus is through my teaching, patience, and discipline on and off the podium. It’s because of my involvement in FOCUS that I am able to know what it looks like to be a disciple in the “real world”."

Chiazo is about to begin student-teaching as a middle school choir director for the last semester of her degree.  I know that she will bring her passion for serving the Lord into her classroom and bless her students tremendously.  Please pray for her and all the students who are nearing the end of their degree programs and the start of their careers.

Over the Christmas break, while our students were away with their families, the FOCUS staff have read The Signature of Jesus by Brennan Manning.  The following section from this book touched me deeply, and I hope it does the same for you:

"My futile attempts at self-improvement, the sadness that I am not yet perfect, the boasting about my victories in the vineyard, my sensitivity to criticism, and the lack of self-acceptance belie my profession of faith that Jesus is Lord - lip service from a shackled servant still in bondage to the insecurity that wears a thousand masks, still lacking the courage to risk all on him who is all, still thrashing about trying to fix myself, still struggling for that elusive achievement that will make me presentable to God... I resist the saving truth that I am lovable simply and solely because he loves me."

These words remind me that nothing I can say, do, or believe will change God's love toward me.  I can't, by hard work and discipline, earn any more of His love; I can't, through selfishness and wanton sin, dampen the strength of His affection for me.  God's perfect act of love was shown to us by Jesus on the cross; He waits only for us to accept it.  I pray that you would accept the love that God so graciously extends to you, and that you would be comforted by the knowledge that your own efforts won't change it.

As we enter the new year and prepare for the spring semester, please pray for the many exciting things coming up in the life of our FOCUS community:

- Pray for the Keep FOCUS Growing fundraiser.  We have raised over $40,000 and are still asking for your help to get to our goal of $55,000.  Please pray for us, and also please consider giving if you haven't already: anyfocus.org/next20

- Pray for Winter Camp.  This event is where many new students will catch the vision of what God is doing through FOCUS for the first time.  Pray that our students who haven't decided yet would choose to go, and pray that they would be prepared to experience God there.

- Pray for SMU.  We are planning our first outreach events at SMU this semester.  FOCUS has been blessed with a special opportunity to reach this campus, so please pray that we would connect with students who are ready to hear from God.

- Pray for leaders.  We are already thinking about which students will be ready to lead their peers next school year.  Please pray for wisdom for the FOCUS staff as we make decisions about whom to invite to SICM, our annual leadership training conference that prepares many of our future Corefas.

Thank you for your donations and prayers!  I wish you all the best in 2017.

Keep FOCUS Growing

I hope you are keeping warm on this blustery December day!  The students are anxiously studying for finals, the FOCUS staff are putting the finishing touches on our Christmas party preparations, and I am here to tell you about one of the most important things we ask you to participate in each year: the annual Keep FOCUS Growing Fund!

Each year around this time, we ask our students, alumni, donors, and friends of the community to make a special gift to the Keep FOCUS Growing fund.  The money we raised last year as part of Keep FOCUS Growing helped us bring on more staff to minister to students, purchase useful equipment to keep our office functioning efficiently, and pay for events like Pizza Theology to help students engage with their faith on a deeper level.  We couldn't do those things without your generous gifts.  THANK YOU!

This year, we hope to expand to another campus in the DFW area.  Check out this video to see more:

Would you consider making an investment to Keep FOCUS Growing? Please go to anyfocus.org/next20 to donate. 

Fall Fellowship

October is here, which means the students in FOCUS at UTA are making new friends, learning and growing together in Core, and getting ready for our annual Fall Camp!  Here are just a few of the exciting things God has been doing on our campus:

Core

Renee and I are co-leading a Core group this semester.  The beautiful ladies in the picture below (and a few more who have joined after we took that picture) gather together each Wednesday evening to share lives, pray and worship together, and learn about God through the Bible.

Our Core!

We believe in doing ministry through Core because it reflects the example set for us by Jesus.  He gathered around himself twelve men who were willing to spend time with him and learn from him.  When his time with them came to an end, he sent them out to go and make more disciples.  In FOCUS, we hope that the structure of a Core helps us to do the same thing.  The women in our Core are not just people I see once a week for an hour of Bible study.  They are my friends.  As I share my life with them this school year, I hope that we can grow together as disciples of Jesus.

Questions on Display

After the excitement of the first few weeks of school wears off, it can be hard to meet new people on campus.  In order to continue meeting people and building new relationships, FOCUS at UTA does outreach events called Questions on Display.  We set up a display in a heavily trafficked part of campus and ask people walking by to answer a question.  For those who seem interested, we initiate deeper conversations based on those questions.

This time around, we asked people, "What makes you afraid?"  Some of the answers people gave were silly (spiders, bees, dry skin), but some were deeper or more thoughtful (failure, losing a loved one, rejection).  I and the FOCUS students who came to help got to have encouraging conversations with many of the people who stopped and gave an answer.  I believe that God was honored through those conversations and that people got to hear the good news about Jesus!

Arlington Church

Arlington is an exciting city with a diverse, multicultural population, many famous sports and entertainment destinations, and a university that is growing rapidly and may soon become the largest in Texas.  As part of a larger community of churches around DFW, FOCUS has received tremendous support and help from those churches.  One of our goals, however, is that FOCUS at UTA would have a church in Arlington to support our students and welcome them into its ministries after graduation.  This past weekend we took the first step in that direction by meeting on a Sunday morning.  Check out who came in the photo below:

First meeting of Arlington Church

Please pray for the following needs:

- Fall Camp - Pray that students attending our upcoming Fall Camp would deepen their relationship with God during that time.

- Leaders - Pray that God would help us find and develop young men and women at UTA who are ready and willing to go and make disciples for Jesus.

- Arlington Church - Pray that we would be sensitive to the Spirit as we move forward with plans to establish a church in Arlington.

And please don't forget this upcoming event!  You are all invited:

WOW!

WOW!  It's Labor Day, and that means I and the rest of the UTA team are finally catching our breath.  We just finished the Maverick Stampede (two weeks jam-packed with welcome events, including the first day of classes and our first FOCUS meeting of the semester) and God has shown that He is working at this campus.  I wish I could tell you about all the amazing things I've seen and heard in the past couple of weeks, but I would have to write a novel!  I'll just give you a few highlights:

UTA Student Leaders ready to help with move in

Our UTA students have shown a tremendous enthusiasm and dedication for campus ministry this past month. They helped new students move into the dorms, invited them to play games and eat together, and some have already had the opportunity to share about their faith in Jesus!  FOCUS wouldn't function without student leaders who take on the responsibility of ministering to their peers, and I am in awe of the incredible young people who have chosen to take on that responsibility this year.

Cooling off with water balloon dodgeball on the second day of class

Much of our outreach during the first few weeks of school is making new friends and having fun together.  The other staff and our student leaders attended many dance parties, BBQs, and other campus events with the goal of meeting lots of new people.  We made connections, got phone numbers, and invited people into our community throughout the week.

Girls' Game Night

This year, I will be a Corefa again!  It's been a few years since I've had the chance to facilitate a Core, and I'm excited to see how God works in the girls who will be gathering together every Wednesday night.  Pictured above are the girls who came to a game night hosted by me and Renee (my Co-Fa).  I'm praying that they will come back this Wednesday night for our first Core and that they would be open to learning what God wants to teach them!

Our first Thursday Night Fellowship

Last Thursday, we celebrated our first Thursday Night Fellowship (TNF) of the semester.  Over 100 students packed into a meeting room in the University Center to worship Jesus together and hear preaching from the scripture!  Some of those students signed up for FOCUS at their orientation, some saw a poster or sign on the campus advertising our organization, but most were invited personally by someone who purposefully met and befriended them this week.  God worked through those one-on-one interactions to bring this group of students together in His name.  Please pray with me that these students would come back to TNF and join Cores so that we can continue to call them to become disciples of Jesus.

Finally, I would like to invite you to our 20 Year Celebration!  FOCUS has been making disciples on campuses around DFW for 20 years now, and I think that's worthy of a celebration!  If you are excited about the work God is doing on our campuses through FOCUS, please plan to join us on October 8 for this celebration!  And please let me know if you plan to come.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support!  I am so encouraged to know I have a team like you supporting FOCUS at UTA.