Hello Everyone! I hope you all are having a restful and fun summer! I've had a couple new people partner with me in ministry support so if you're getting this email for the first time, thank you so much for being a part of my team! I send out blog updates every month or so to give you all updates on the awesome work that is happening in college ministry so that you guys can really be alongside me, praying and rejoicing in what God is doing on our college campuses. It's an amazing partnership and I consider your investment to be just as important as the work I am getting to do on campus. So to my new donors and especially to my existing donors, thank you so much!
As a fundraising update, I am 81% fundraised! Praise God, this is so good! Fundraising can be difficult, but it also is such an awesome way to watch our Father provide in beautiful ways. I'm in the final push to get to my goal and I would love if you could join me in praying for not just me, but our entire FOCUS staff to reach their goals by August 1st!
Even though school is out for the summer, students have been faithful to continue to meet together growing in both their relationship with God and with one another. During a season where the expectation is for college students to be lazy and not do anything, it is so encouraging to see our students excited to make something meaningful out of their summer by growing as disciples for Christ. Here are some of the ways they have been doing just that!
Summer FOCUS!
Every Thursday Night we have Summer FOCUS! This is our large group meeting where we spend time worshiping as a collective community and hear a message from one of our campus pastors from across DFW. In keeping with CDC recommendations along with LOTS of prayer and advice, we have been able to have IN PERSON worship and fellowship for our summer FOCUS meetings! We are going through a sermon series this summer that aims to help students grow in their love and affection for Jesus. Everyone who preaches spends time talking about what story from scripture has really built up their love for Jesus. Then, they use a creative expression to bring their story to life. This has ranged from an original song, a clip from Mister Rogers, and a clip from the show The Chosen. The series has been incredible so far and I think our students and staff have already been really blessed by it.
PACCS!
PACCS stands for Prayer, Adoration, Confession, Commission and Scripture! These are groups of 2-3 students where they spend weekly time engaging with the different element of biblical community listed before. These PACCS have been powerful and I've heard stories from countless students about how real, vulnerable and powerful these weekly times have been. I am reminded through these stories from students that this is the vision: that students would be grounding one another in scripture, in regular prayer, spending time in adoration and worship of God, confessing sins to each other and then spurring one another to go OUT and be disciples sharing Jesus wherever they go! I couldn't be more proud of our students for dedicating time each week for these groups! Praise God!
As the summer will be coming to a close, we are already gearing up for the fall semester and we are so excited to be back on campus! At both SMU and TWU Dallas we are planning welcome events, worship nights and many other ways to meet incoming students those first few critical weeks of school. Would you join me in praying for the hearts of the incoming freshman students that they would be soft and ready to hear about Jesus?
We are also getting ready for SICM, our annual Student Institute of Campus Ministry training! As I have mentioned before, this is where we train and equip our incoming student leaders on how to do ministry on campus. At SICM, students will take classes and have practical application on how to 1:1 disciple other students, do evangelism and lead small group studies. Imagine with me the impact we will have coming onto campus this Fall with these students trained and on mission for sharing the Good News of Jesus with other students! Please be praying for our training at Camp Eagle near San Antonio and that our students would leave more in love with Jesus and ready to share him powerfully on campus!
Here are some pictures of Camp Eagle just to give you guys an idea of the environment our students will be in!
Thank you guys SO MUCH for believing in the power of campus ministry and for believing in the work that God can do there through campus pastors like me. It truly is because of your partnership that we are able to reach students with the message of Christ and my belief is that through college ministry we would reach the world!
Love you guys so much and I'll be sending out more updates soon! Check out the student testimony below from one of our very own students, Laura! I love her dearly!
Comments
Post a Comment