Monday, November 30, 2020

November Update

Reasons to be thankful

Just like that, another month has come and gone as we inch closer towards the end of this semester. This month has brought with it both challenges and blessings, but I'd be remiss to neglect the good things that have been going on...

1. Worship

We started off the month with our first in-person worship night. Sent Church in Plano was kind enough to let us use their property to host this event for our students. Before-hand, we played lawn games like spike ball and tossed around a football while there was still daylight. It was the first time students had been to an organized event since the school year started and we couldn't have been happier to help put it together. We wore masks and stayed outside the whole time to be safe, even if that meant getting a little chilly once the sun went down.



Our worship was led by William, Kylie, Luke, and Johnny who all did a phenomenal job setting the tone for the night to be centered around God. None of them go to Collin currently or are working alongside our team this year, so it makes it all the more special for them to come and help us lead in that way. Our sermon was led by Garrett who challenged students to think on the character of Jesus and who He is. Overall, there couldn't have been a better start to the month and we will continue hosting socially-distant worship nights in the near future!




2. Student Leaders

Our guy leader team has been growing closer as friends and in depth with the Lord. Throughout this semester, I've witnessed our student leaders coming into our weekly discussions prepared and ready to learn and reflect on ways to better their faith journeys. We recently finished reading the Book of John and spent each week going through the scripture and talking through what stood out and what we could apply to our ministry on campus. I'm continually thankful to be leading two small groups with Alden and Matt whom I've talked about in posts pervious, I couldn't do it without them.


3. KFG

What is KFG? Glad you read this, because this is an annual support drive that Focus has to "Keep Focus Growing." Some of our generous donors have banded together and agreed to match up to $42,000 in total donations during this campaign. So, if we receive $42,000 in total contributions, they will kick in a second $42,000. Your first chance to give will be on December 1st. Each year our ministry pulls in this money to help kickstart more Focus ministries at different college campuses in the North Texas area and to bring in new equipment used to reach new students. 

On a separate note, just this last week our students from all our campuses were challenged to give and raised over $13,000! It's cool to see God move hearts towards the campus vision.

4. You Guys!

I often reflect on how cool it is thatI get to do what I do because of all those that contribute to me financially. Thank you does not go without saying and I want to make sure that I show how thankful I am for every one of you that made this year happen for me. It's a hard thing for me to take on so much generosity and I often would rather "earn my keep," but I know that God doesn't need me to earn His love so I accept it humbly.

What I've been learning...

Ever since we finished our Old Testament class, it feels like the coursework has gotten lighter by comparison, but we've now transitioned into new classes and finished those up as well. We took a Financial Stewardship class and a class on Spiritual Leadership. Both classes offered more on practical lessons that I haven't been taught much either growing up or in school, so I've found this very helpful. We learned about investing, debt, credit, loans and much more in our Financial Stewardship class and how to honor God with our money, and learned ways to be an effective leader in the other class. What I appreciate most about the Apprenticeship is that these 10 months aren't specifically geared towards making us into campus ministers, but to better equip us with skills we can use both in and outside of ministry. My prayer of recent is that God would continue working in me what He started until the day of completion.

I ask that you pray for our students as the semester draws to a close that as we transition into the break between semesters, that students would not isolate themselves but would be willing to stay involved in community.

Alumni Testimony




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