Back on Campus!

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 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 the following scriptures:

Galatians 2:20- I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Philippians 2:5-8- In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider quality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross! 

2 Corinthians 5:15- And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 

The example of leadership given to us in scripture is powerful. Our team of pastors prayed that the Lord will help us follow his example as we lead our campuses this year. Please join me in praying that I will continue to die to myself in order to make Jesus known on campus! 

Here is a picture from one of our worship sessions at staff retreat!


SICM

Each year, FOCUS has a conference called Student Institute of Campus Ministry. We call it SICM for short :) Each FOCUS campus identifies their potential leaders for the upcoming school year and invites them to SICM. Here they will learn the ins and outs of what it means to do campus ministry! We have sessions that talk about Jesus' Style of Ministry, Evangelism, Spiritual Friendship, the importance of remaining in the Lord, how to lead a small group, and more! SICM is normally in Bellingham, Washington, but this year (due to COVID) it was held in Texas Hill Country. Because of this, we were actually allowed to bring a lot more students than usual. We had about 250 students that came to SICM and left on fire for the Lord and for campus ministry.

The week at SICM was really impactful for many reasons. SICM was transformational for me personally because it casted a vision of what spiritual friendship should look like for disciples of Jesus. Doing ministry during COVID made it difficult to form relationships with girls outside of my core. However, at SICM, I got to bond with many women in our ministry! Here are a few pictures of me and the friends I got to spend time that week. 


This is my cofa (co-facilitator) Hailey! I can't wait to lead core with her this year. 

Me and my friend Kim :) 

This is me and Tania! Another sweet friend of mine!

SICM is full of impactful sessions and talks, so it is hard to remember everything we were taught. I met with a group of students after we got home to review some of our main takeaways from the week. It was such a sweet experience. I am so thankful that God taught us all unique lessons and that we get to minister to one another in different ways throughout the school year! 
Here's a snapshot of our SICM review session :) I love these girls and am thankful that they are devoting their year to lead core at UTD! 


Weeks of Welcome

This is the moment we have all been waiting for!! Drumroll please... CAMPUS IS OPEN! After SICM, we were finally able to go on campus and meet the students! For two weeks, we hosted events to meet the students at UTD. For a while, we were actually the only student organization that was actually on campus. This allowed us to meet so many freshmen as they moved in to their dorms. I even had several freshmen tell me that meeting FOCUS their first night at UTD made them feel like they had a place to belong from the very beginning! We hosted board game nights, field nights, campus tours to help new students find their classes, and more!

In college ministry, the first two weeks of school are so important. These are the weeks that students are most open to friendship and getting involved. When I asked students what they were most looking forward to in college, they said friendship! I am so thankful that is one of FOCUS's values. UTD students can find friends that truly love them and will point them to Jesus in FOCUS! 

Here are a few girls that I met during Welcome Week this year. They took me to get my first boba! 

Core

We have already had our first Core! Core is what we call our small groups. Core is a place where students get to ask questions, learn about God, build friendships, and study scripture! I'm leading core with one of my friends, Hailey. Hailey is wise, funny, creative, and has a heart of gold! I can't wait to watch God use her to impact the other girls in our core. Here is a picture from our first core! 

These girls are so special to me and I am truly so excited to see how God works in their life this year! 

Prayer Requests:
  • Please pray that I will remain in the Lord this year as I minister to the students on campus.
  • Pray that my core will become a group of girls that love each other, desire to know God, and strive to make Him known! 
  • Praise God for all of the momentum our student leaders have from SICM! Ask God that they will stay on fire for Him and for campus ministry. 
  • Pray for the FOCUS pastors and that we will continually die to ourselves and have the same mindset as Jesus in our relationships with His people.
Please let me know how I can be praying for you! I love and appreciate each one of you. Thank you for reading my ministry update! 



Here is the FOCUS Student Testimony for September! 








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