Harvest Time

The school year is wrapping up: students are taking finals, end of the year parties are being celebrated, and we just had our last Friday night meeting of the school year.  Now is the season to see the harvest of seeds planted throughout the 2014-2015 school year.  

Taking notes at Pizza Theology

On April 12, we held our last Pizza Theology of the school year.  Around 300 students packed into an auditorium at UTD to spend four hours learning about our topic: Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between.  A handful of our staff have been studying this topic in depth to prepare to teach on it.  Questions of the afterlife have always been a primary concern of major world religions.  Our speakers presented a well-developed, thoughtful theology of the afterlife that challenged many popular assumptions while remaining faithful to the biblical metanarrative.  If you would like to listen in, you can do so here.

Pizza Theology was a clear sign of growth in the lives of students.  All year we have taught young people at our six campuses to become true students of Jesus.  We encourage them to put as much effort into studying the Bible as they do into studying textbooks and learning material related to their college majors.  The enthusiasm these young people showed for learning the deep truths of their faith was such an encouragement to me.  

As we move into the summer, we will continue to emphasize the importance of education in the life of a disciple.  Each summer, FOCUS holds informal classes called School of Ministry.  Students are invited to study the Bible in depth through commentaries and seminary classes from www.regentaudio.com.  For many college students, summer is a purposeless time of boredom or laziness.  We challenge students in FOCUS to use the freedom of a summer schedule to grow in wisdom and knowledge as they pursue God.  Please pray that these School of Ministry classes would help our students in this kind of growth.

SICM is another time to see the harvest of what’s been planted in the lives of students.  SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) is a one-week training conference in Bellingham, Washington, where our students are trained to minister to their peers on a college campus.  On May 14, we will take 80 promising young leaders to SICM!  These students have invested their time and energy in their Cores, on campus outreach, and one-on-one Bible studies over this past school year.  Please pray that SICM is a time for these young men and women to learn, grow, and begin to see themselves as ministers and disciple-makers at their college campuses.

Finally, I want to share with you a picture of our new upcoming interns.  These amazing young people have seen the value of campus ministry in their own lives.  They have been changed powerfully by God through FOCUS.  Now, they are dedicating a whole school year to see that many others would have that same opportunity to encounter God on campus.

I am thrilled to be working with these new interns in the 2015-2016 school year!

Thank you for your prayers and support.  Because of you and others like you, students across DFW can encounter the life-changing power of God.  Thanks!!!

Spring Has Sprung!

What an amazing March we had in FOCUS!  Last time I updated you, I asked for prayers concerning SSI, Spring Showcase, and our staffing decisions for next year.  Now I am excited to tell you how wonderfully all of those things went!

SSI stands for Student Spring Impact.  That means a bunch of college Students from our sister ministry in Washington spend their Spring break making an Impact for God on college campuses in Texas.  Our Denton team hosted ten students and two interns for the week.  We drove them around, fed them authentic Texas food, and showed them some of our favorite spots in Denton.  But most importantly, we joined with them to reach out to students on our campuses with the good news of Jesus Christ.  From Monday through Friday, this team, along with many of our staff and students, engaged other students in conversations about God's love. 

The SSI Team from Washington

Questions on Display, one of our tools for starting conversations

Overall, SSI was a huge success!  The passion and enthusiasm of the students from Washington inspired our students to speak boldly about the love of Jesus and invite many new people to experience his love at FOCUS.  Please pray that our students would continue to reach out and build meaningful new relationships with others, so that many would be led to relationship with Jesus!

Bright and early on Saturday morning, we dropped off the SSI team at the airport to return home to Washington.  Later that day, we had almost 600 people at the Spring Showcase!

This incredible event featured music and dance performances and an art sale, all featuring the talents of our students and alumni.  I was amazed by how many outstanding artists were willing to sacrifice their time and efforts to make this event a success.  Wow!

Two UNT students, Chiazo and Kirby, performing at Spring Showcase

But we didn't hold the Spring Showcase just to show off the talent of our FOCUS members; this event raised thousands of dollars to send students to SICM!  SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) is a week-long intensive ministry training conference where students learn the skills needed to teach Bible studies, facilitate small groups, and lead their fellow students to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.  We believe in SICM because we believe that when Jesus said "Go and make disciples" (Matthew 28:19), he meant for every one of his followers to do that.  College students have a special opportunity to make disciples because they are surrounded by thousands of open-minded young people who yearn for answers to the big questions in life; SICM equips college students to help others find those answers in Jesus.

The Spring Showcase was a huge success, and the funds raised there will help grow God's kingdom on our college campuses.  Thank you to everyone who performed, sold tickets, worked the event, attended the performance, bought artwork, made a donation, or prayed for us!  You are helping us achieve an incredible vision on our campuses!

Finally, I told you we made some decisions about our staff and intern team for next school year.  I am happy to announce that we accepted thirteen amazing young people to the internship for the 2015-2016 school year!  I am thrilled to be working with such an enthusiastic, intelligent, creative, and hard-working team of new interns.  I am also excited to announce that I will be remaining with the Denton team for the next school year.  We will have a team of six staff in Denton: Matt (currently the Denton team director), Cody, Miriam, and Sarah (current interns who will continue on as staff next year), and Aaron (a new intern).  The six of us will have our work cut out for us as we pastor FOCUS communities at three campuses: UNT, TWU, and, starting for the first time this fall, NCTC.  Please pray for me and this team as we prepare to spread God's kingdom on our Denton campuses.

Thank you so much for the prayers and support you offer me and all our FOCUS students.  God is doing incredible things in the lives of young people, and you are a part of that.  Thank you!

Problems are opportunities

February was a month of changes and challenges for our Focus staff, but in those challenges God has shown His graceful providence for us.  Brandon recently said in one of our meetings that problems are opportunities; I think that our students and staff have seen those opportunities presented to us and done great things for God and His people.

A few weeks ago, our UTD staff discovered at the last moment that we would not have access to a suitable room on campus for our Friday night fellowship.  Where would we put our 150+ students who would soon be gathering to worship God together?  A local church in Richardson, the Episcopal Church of The Epiphany, graciously opened their doors for our students.  Focus had never met there before or had any previous relationship to this congregation, but Sirak, one of our UTD ministers, had met Rev. Betsy Randall, one of the rectors at Epiphany, just once before.  When they met, she said how excited she was to see a thriving campus ministry and offered to assist Focus.  She probably didn't know we would be calling on her for assistance so soon, but what a blessing to both our communities that we were able to meet at Epiphany.  Our students were blessed to be received into a welcoming environment, and Epiphany has been blessed by some of our students who have since participated as singers and readers at Epiphany's Saturday worship services.  Thanks to this generous, welcoming congregation, a problem turned into an opportunity for blessing!

UTD Focus students worshiping at the Episcopal Church of The Epiphany

In addition to logistical problems like finding a place to meet, our staff struggled last month with a new need for a female staff person at UNT to mentor student leaders.  As a result of these rearrangements on our staff, I am now a Peer Team Leader to six Corefas at UNT.  Corefas are students who lead weekly Core group meetings of anywhere from three or four to as many as fifteen other students.  Those Corefas work hard to plan lessons and meet one-on-one with every member of their Core.  As a Peer Team Leader, I meet regularly with my six Corefas to encourage and support them and coach them in their ministry.  These amazing young women love God and His people.  Although they are taking classes and working, they have committed many hours of their time each week to invest in making and maturing disciples.  Their devotion to Jesus and His mission is inspiring! It has been a challenge coming into my Peer Team late in the school year, but I have loved getting to know these girls and participating with them in the work of sharing the gospel with students at UNT.

Me and Hannah, a UNT Corefa, taking a selfie during one of our meetings

Finally, we have a very exciting challenge ahead of us as a staff: selecting a new class of interns!  I mentioned in my previous post that we had a large turnout at our information session for the internship.  A total of thirteen people applied for the internship, and we are almost finished interviewing them all.  All of these applicants have been committed members of Focus; they have led others in our community through their Christlike influence and example.  Most of them are graduating from college this May, but a handful have applied for this ministry internship after spending a year or more pursuing other careers: teaching, software design, and even film.  Our applicants are more diverse than ever; some grew up in other states and even other countries.  I am so encouraged to see the passion and commitment these applicants have for reaching out to college students.  I and the other staff are also daunted as we consider accepting all thirteen applicants.  Where will we assign them?  Who will supervise them?  How will we accommodate our growing staff in our meetings and retreats?  These questions will be hard to answer, but I can't think of a better problem to have!  Please pray for our staff in the coming weeks as we finish the intern selection process and determine campus assignments for next year.  We need the Spirit's wisdom to know where each new intern will thrive personally and have a powerful, effective ministry.

April, one of our applicants for the internship.  She and I visited UTA to pray for this campus as we prepare to start Focus there!

Last month was tough, but God is good.  He shows us opportunities where we see problems.  When we trust Him and listen to His guidance, great things happen no matter the circumstances!  Thank you for your prayers and support that help us keep going and growing in the challenges that we face!

Winter Camp! Wow!

Wow!  January was an exciting month, and I have some tremendous news to share with all of you!

From January 16-19, our entire Focus community learned, worshipped, and played together at Winter Camp.  Thank you for bathing this big event in prayer; it paid off!  God blessed us with great weather, safe travel, and an event that ran smoothly.  Almost five hundred people attended Winter Camp - current students, staff, a handful of alumni, and even a few family members of students.  

Worship at Winter Camp, led by many of our talented students

Dr. Iain Provan brought a powerful message to our community.  He taught on this year’s theme, Words of Life.  Dr. Provan’s expertise is in Old Testament studies, so he educated our students on how God’s story flows through the Old Testament, the New Testament, and into our lives today.  Many of our students were unaccustomed to thinking about biblical topics at a highly intellectual level; Dr. Provan’s lessons pushed them to “love the Lord with all their minds.”  What a privilege we have to study our great God at the same academic level we study topics in our college majors.

Everyone who committed themselves to paying attention during the lessons walked away with new information and a deeper understanding of God’s activity in our world, but don’t think that the whole camp was solely focused on listening to lectures.  Our students also developed new friendships and deepened existing ones.  At UTD’s first Friday Night Focus of the semester, a few days after we returned from Winter Camp, we opened the floor and asked our students to share about their experiences at camp.  Two students stood and shared stories that I now want to share with you.

Henry is a Richland student (Richland students are now joining with UTD on Friday nights, and we are thrilled to have them!).  I met him at Winter Camp when he came to my registration table to sign in.  He seemed happy to be there, but he didn’t know many people.  At our open mic time after camp, he shared about his struggle with autism and how he had trouble making friends.  He said that Winter Camp was an amazing time for him because so many people wanted to meet him, spend time with him, and become his friend.  Praise God!

Hunter is a UTD student who recently joined Focus.  While playing a game at camp, he fell and twisted his ankle.  He had to spend much of camp resting in the cabin instead of outside running around with friends.  At the open mic time, he shared how encouraged he was when many of his Core members spent their time in the cabin talking with him.  They sacrificed the fun of being outdoors to make sure that one of their brothers could share in an enjoyable camp experience.  Amen!

UTD students, a few alumni, and even a future Comet at bottom right!

These are just a few of the small but amazing stories that happened at Winter Camp.  If you talked to all of the students who attended, I’m sure you would hear hundreds more!

After Winter Camp, our staff starts looking toward the future, and that means selecting a new class of interns for the 2015-2016 school year.  We had our Internship Interest Session on a Sunday afternoon, and twenty people expressed their interest in applying for the internship.  Some plan to apply for this coming year, while others wanted to get some more information as they consider doing the internship in future years.  Everyone who expressed their interest is someone who has been a consistent, contributing member of our community, and any of them would make great interns.  Our challenge as a staff is now to decide who will join our team next school year and which campuses they will be assigned to.  Please pray for wisdom for us and the applicants as we consider this important decision!

Finally, I am excited to announce a big decision I’ve recently made.  As of today, I am officially a full-time staff minister for Focus!  Previously, my commitment to Focus was on a part-time basis, and I also worked full time at Alpha Omega Insurance Agency.  I am grateful for the time I had at Alpha Omega, and it was a tough decision to leave.  Many of my coworkers there have become like family to me, and I always enjoyed the challenge of the work I did there.  But I believe God has called me to serve our campus communities through Focus, and I am ready to begin!  I  know you are probably wondering what I will be doing with more time to devote to ministry.  My role as the internship coordinator will expand as we accept more interns and train them to be effective, powerful leaders.  I will also have more time to devote to teaching the Bible to international students at UTD, and I will begin planning more organized efforts to get our current Focus students reaching out to those international students.  Over time, I will also have the opportunity to mentor more of our student leaders.  I am thrilled about all of these developments!

As I transition to a full-time schedule, raising my support will become even more vital.  Please pray for me as my role with Focus expands and as I raise the funds to power my ministry.  Your prayers are crucial to my success in this area!  If you are able to commit to a monthly donation (or increase the current amount of your donation), please talk to me.  Your support means I and the other Focus ministers can continue to build God’s Kingdom on our campuses by making disciples and training leaders!

Thank you so much for the love and support you have shown me!

"All the trees of the field will clap their hands" Isaiah 55:12

Every January, our entire staff takes a few days together to strengthen our relationships with each other and with God, to read, pray and worship together, and to play and have fun.  We have just returned from our staff retreat, and I am so excited to share with you what we are learning and doing.

Our retreat took place at a huge cabin in the Texas hill country, far from the city and surrounded by undulating, cactus-covered hills.  Each morning of the retreat, I rose and crept quietly out of the house to go for a walk.  The crisp winter air sparkled with the shine of the rising sun as I followed meandering trails through scrub forests and across dry stream beds.  This time was sacred to me.  I experienced God's glory in the beauty of his creation.  This creation is lovely and fearsome; that glittering sun illuminates both the red fruit and the sharp spines of the local cacti.

In preparation for our retreat, each staff member read The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson.  In the book, Peterson describes two arenas of prayer.  One is the quiet and personal prayer many of us are accustomed to.  We close our eyes, bow our heads, and imagine ourselves alone with God.  The other is what Peterson calls "praying with eyes open."  We look around at God's creation and pray aloud together with that creation, embracing the Spirit that permeates the rejuvenating rain shower as well as the hurricane.  As I hiked the trails around our retreat cabin, I prayed with my eyes open.

A nature walk selfie.  I wish this picture could show how cold I was!

The Contemplative Pastor also inspired our staff to embrace poetry.  Pastors, Peterson argues, should revere the power of language and use it with the expert care of a poet.  Poetry, after all, is how the prophets and psalmists of old conveyed God's messages to his people.  Why then have we abandoned this practice?  And if Christ himself is the Word, who are we to use words without careful thought?

Each of our staff members brought a poem to the retreat.  Some of us chose a poem that we found meaningful in our ministry; others wrote their own poems.  I shared T.S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi" (you can find the text here).  This poem reminds me of a deep truth about Jesus: after an encounter with him, no one can walk away unchanged.  The magi of the poem make a hard journey over rough terrain, sometimes regretting leaving their plush homes.  After finding the child and returning to their homeland, one of those wise men reflects: "...no longer at east here, in the old dispensation, / with an alien people clutching their gods. / I should be glad of another death."  The change in his life is so drastic that it feels to him like death.

As I celebrate God's creation and reflect on the transformations he has wrought in me, I feel my energy growing.  I can't keep this to myself.  I am so ready for another semester of introducing our students to this Jesus who will not allow them to walk away unchanged.  And we have an exhilarating event right around the corner that will help us do just that: Winter Camp 2015!

Winter Camp is a long weekend retreat for our students.  It's packed full of wise teaching, worship, and time to build deep spiritual friendships.  Our speaker this year is Dr. Iain Provan, an engaging lecturer and eminent scholar of the Old Testament.  Many of our students, as well as most of our staff, have listened to audio recordings of his classes at Regent College and enjoyed learning from him.  We are all excited to welcome him in person to our Winter Camp.  I will tell you more about how it goes in my next update.

As we begin the spring semester, I ask for your prayers.  Please pray that our Winter Camp helps our students learn and grow in Christ.  Pray that we have good weather and that all participants travel safely to the camp.  Please pray also for all of our staff as we continue to work diligently toward the goals God has given us.

Thank you for your prayers and support that allow me to continue doing what God has called me to.  I also want to thank all of you who donated to the #FOCUS140 campaign; we have raised over $29,000, and some donations are still coming in!  This money will allow us to broaden our reach to more students on more campuses and keep making disciples.  Thank you!

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." Psalm 100:4

Happy Thanksgiving!  We've just celebrated one of my favorite holidays.  I love that people from many faiths and cultures join together on this American holiday to give thanks.  I give thanks first and foremost to my God who made me, saves me, and guides me daily.  I give thanks also for every blessing He has given me, including incredible people like you.  I thank each of you who has prayed for me or contributed to FOCUS, because your support empowers us to reach students with the good news.  Your prayers and gifts help us introduce people to Jesus, and no one can remain the same after meeting Him.

During this season of celebration and giving, I ask that you would consider making a special gift to FOCUS.  We have launched our first annual Keep FOCUS Growing Initiative to fund our continued expansion across the Metroplex.  Our sights are set on UT Arlington and North Texas Central College.  With your help, we can plant FOCUS communities on those campuses in the fall semester of 2015.  Please watch the video below, made by some of our talented student leaders, to see more of what we're already doing and how you can help:

Click here to read more and make a donation.  Whether or not you are able to contribute to this special initiative, please pray for FOCUS and our continued growth.  Pray that God would open doors for us on these campuses.  Pray that He would position our staff members strategically to reach these students.  Pray that He would send generous supporters who believe in this mission and will give extravagantly to keep it going.

I am excited about planting FOCUS on these new campuses because I have seen firsthand how campus ministry changes lives.  In the past month, I've had challenging conversations with a few young women who are considering changing their lives by choosing to follow Jesus.  One student I've been meeting with, let's call her J, is hesitant to believe what the Scripture teaches, but her boundless curiosity keeps her coming to our meetings.  Her questions about God are deep and thoughtful.  I find myself frequently answering with, "I don't know," or "I've never thought of that."  Thank God that the Spirit speaks through me when I don't have the right words to say.  J may not get all the answers she is looking for, but I am confident that God will reward her curiosity with a knowledge of Him that transcends understanding.

I am also excited about the expansion of FOCUS because the life change that happens in our communities doesn't stop at graduation.  On a Sunday afternoon in November, we held our first FOCUS alumni reunion.  We invited alumni from all of our campuses to join together in the home of one of our generous supporters.  About ninety people arrived to reconnect with old friends, celebrate the continued growth of FOCUS, and eat some delicious food prepared for us by Debbie.  It was clear to me after this event that God is still at work in the lives of so many people who have been involved in our ministry.  The people who gathered together that day are a testament to the goodness of God; many of them are now parents and professionals, artists, teachers, managers, husbands and wives who strive to honor God daily in every aspect of their lives.  Some have lived through tragedy since we were last in touch, but all of them can say that God has been faithful.  Two UTD alumni who were not able to attend the reunion are featured this month on our updates page.  Read how Brittany & Kevin have been changed by their time in FOCUS by clicking here, and listen to their new album by clicking here.  Brittany and I were in Core and Chamber Singers together at UTD.

As we move into the Christmas season, I pray that you would spend this time remembering the first Christmas gift that God gave us: His son Jesus.  Spend some time with the people who mean the most to you, and don't let the hustle and bustle of the holidays distract you from the true meaning of Christmas.  Please pray that our students can do the same.  The next time you will hear from me on this blog will be in January, so Merry Christmas and Thank You!

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24

Thank you all for your prayers, donations, and continued support for what God is doing through campus ministry!  October was a busy month of starting new friendships and celebrating old ones, and now we are preparing for some exciting events during the second half of Fall Semester.

At the beginning of October, I busily prepared for the wedding of two dear friends, Danni and Ryan.  I've mentioned Danni in my blog before, but just to remind you, she came to the US as an international student from China.  I met Ryan when we were both students in FOCUS.  I introduced Ryan and Danni, and they started dating pretty quickly.  They went through Pre-Engagement Counseling together, where they worked through marriage issues ranging from family roles to sex to money.  In FOCUS and our churches, we encourage couples who have been dating exclusively for a while and considering marriage to go through this counseling with an older, married couple as their guide.  We do it "pre-engagement" instead of "pre-marital" because this allows the couple to really consider these serious issues before a ring has been bought, a date has been set, and the stress of planning a wedding has set in.  Anyway, Ryan & Danni celebrated their marriage in a beautiful, intimate ceremony that I got to share with them.  I rejoice to know that each of them has married someone fully committed to following Christ, because the Lord is the only trustworthy foundation for a marriage, or truly for a life at all.

Two of my dearest friends got married in October!

October was also a big month for the International Friendship Partner Program.  This program pairs international students from UTD with Americans who are out of school.  The partners get together regularly to share their cultures with each other and develop a meaningful friendship.  Holidays like Halloween are an exciting part of American culture that we get to share with these international students, so we held a Pumpkin Carving Party for them.  It was a new experience for most of the students and a fun time for the Friendship Partners to get to know each other.  Carving a pumpkin may seem silly to those of us who are inundated with Halloween-themed products and advertisements every October, but it can become a cherished memory for someone who is experiencing this American tradition for the first time.

 

Two Chinese students carving a pumpkin for the first time

Some of our American Friendship Partners, Ken and Ann, also hosted a group of Americans and internationals at their home for an American-style potluck dinner.  We brought classic American dishes, like mac-and-cheese and meatloaf, to share with students from around the world.  After dinner, we played board games together and had a great time.  Thanks Ann and Ken for opening your home to these young people and showing them what a real American family can be!

On October 25, all of the FOCUS campuses, along with our three churches in Garland, Wylie, and Denton, met together for our annual Leadership Conference.  Anyone who leads in worship, in small groups, in Cores, or in one-on-one studies was invited to this event.  I was amazed to see how many people showed up and declared their intention to be leaders in our kingdom mission!  Our theme for the day was Vision.  Different speakers from our churches and campuses shared how they caught the vision for ministry and how we can effectively share that vision with others.  It was an inspiring day spent together with some amazing leaders.  We ended the day by sharing our prayers for God to inspire us with His vision and clear away the barriers that keep us from pursuing that vision.

One of our interns, Sarah, shared a poem at the Leadership Conference.

A Leadership Conference selfie with interns Cody and Rachel

Finally, in October I shared an accomplishment with another FOCUS staff member, Melissa: we finished a half marathon together!  It was a challenge for both of us, but facing challenges makes us stronger.  It was also a great time to talk and laugh with my wonderful sister in Christ.

Mile 9 and still going strong!

Thanks to all of you for your love and encouragement as we strive to make disciples on our campuses.  Please pray for us as we plan our upcoming events and continue to reach out and teach students to follow Jesus.