Lindsey's Ministry Blog

  Hey everyone!! Thanks for checking out my blog for this month!  I just wanted to start with a big thank you for all of your prayer, encouragement, and support. I feel so blessed to get to do campus ministry for my job! It is a joy to get to befriend, love, and invest in college students every day, and it is all made possible because of your generosity!! The past two years of doing campus ministry have only confirmed the fact that I feel very called to minister to college students. Because of this, I have committed to working with FOCUS for five more years! I’m in it for the long haul :)  Life to the Full Before I get into my update, I’d like to share some of what God has put on my heart lately. FOCUS’s theme verse for the year is John 10:10. It says, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Y’all, that is GOOD NEWS! I have found myself using this scripture in many of my one on one Bible studies. Th...

Welcome to my Ministry Update! I can’t believe we are already this far into the school year. God has grown my heart for the students he’s placed in my life more than I could have ever asked for, which has made this a really sweet semester of ministry. I hope by sharing about the past month, you will come to love them too!  Fall Camp Each year, FOCUS holds an event called Fall Camp. It is a 24 hour retreat held at a camp an hour from campus. The goal of Fall Camp is to help cores bond and make memories! We tell the students that the 24 hours you spend at Fall Camp is probably the most amount of time you will get with your core all year. I think the weekend spent at camp was a catalyst for the deep relationships that have started to form in our group. We spent the weekend listening to student testimonies, worshipping, doing arts and crafts, and going on walk and talks. As a leader, I had already started to form relationships with each of the girls in my core. So at Fall Camp, it was ...

  Welcome to my Monthly Ministry Update! To my Ministry Partners: I am so thankful for you and the many ways you support me in ministry! Without my ministry partners, I would not be able to meet students on campus. So THANK YOU for praying for me and supporting me financially! I would love to support you in all of the ways that you support and encourage me, making our relationship a true partnership! Please let me know how I can be praying for you, your family, and your friends. Each month I will send you a ministry update, sharing all of the things FOCUS has been doing at UTD. God has been working in incredible ways already and I am so excited to update you on what ministry looked like this August!  Staff Retreat The FOCUS pastors spent the first couple of days in August at a staff retreat. We relaxed, bonded, worshipped, and looked at scripture together. This retreat was so life-giving and made me excited to go back on campus this fall! The theme of the week was based off of...

 Happy July!!  I am in awe of what God has done this past year of doing ministry. I am so thankful for all of you and how you supported, prayed for, and encouraged me during my apprenticeship. God used this past year to teach me about His sustaining grace and kindness, how to love people like He does, and what it really  means to be a pastor.  Final Thoughts from the Apprenticeship  At the end of May, all of the apprentices got to give End of Year sermons. In my sermon, I shared three takeaways that I am leaving the apprenticeship with. My first takeaway was that it is a big deal to be made in the image of God.  Here I talked about how as image bearers, we are given the responsibility to exude the characteristics of God. It is also of utmost importance to treat the people around us as if they are made in God's image, because they are! My second takeaway was I am allowed to be in process.  To be a vocational minister is not synonymous with having it all...

 As we head into April, I want to update you guys on all of the ways God has been working in my life and in my ministry! Core : Getting to lead a Core this year has been such a sweet gift! I have loved getting to know the girls God has provided and cast a vision for them to use their college years to be disciples. We spent March giving girls in our core an opportunity to lead a study each week. This was a great way for our potential leaders to step up and gain some experience leading! We studied the book of Philippians, one chapter at a time. Philippians is such an encouraging book and we have all enjoyed doing a deeper study on it this month! From this we have learned about being a servant leader, finding a deep sense of joy in Christ, what it means to live as a citizen of heaven, and so much more! One of my prayers for my core before the school year was that they would be faithful, love God deeply, and love others well! I have seen this in them so clearly and for that, I am grate...

 How is it already March? It feels like February just blew right by. Even though time is flying, it is so evident that God is working at UT Dallas! Before I get into the details, I'm going to start with sharing some good news!  Good News: -My Core is going really well! We have been doing topical studies over different things we tend to idolize. This has started some great discussions and has brought us all closer together!  -The girls in my core have become really sweet friends with one another. One of my prayers for them was that they would see each other as friends and I can see God answering that so clearly!  -I got to give a talk on Spiritual Friendships for our students! This went really well and I am praying that it will cast a vision for them to dive deeper in their friendships. -UTD announced they will be opening the campus up next semester! This means FOCUS can operate in a normal capacity and we can meet with students freely on campus. Praise God! -I get to...