Another snow-filled Winter: January Ministry Updates

 Hello Everyone! I hope you all are staying safe and warm during this snowy weather! While I wouldn't want weather like this all the time, I have loved getting to watch the falling snow and admire all the icicles everywhere! It screams of the beauty of our God.

January flew by and had so much happen! I'll try and be brief but also include exciting updates!

Right before school started we had our annual Winter Camp! For those who aren't familiar, we take all of our students across all DFW campuses to Sky Ranch in Van, Texas for a time of worship, teaching, and fellowship. This time is often pivotal for students to draw nearer to God before the start of the semester AND to catch a vision and excitement for ministry back on campus. Although COVID made things look a bit different this year, camp was still so awesome and God really was at work.

Some highlights of camp was getting to see our SMU and TWU Dallas students spend so much time with one another and form deeper friendships. Multiple students commented that particularly during their walk n talks (students pair up by same gender and spend an hour walking and sharing about their lives) they were able to connect and have spiritual conversations with one another and commented how they felt so much closer to one another. I also saw how students got to minister to one another in those times as they shared about difficult season in life, both past and present. 

I also loved getting to listen to our main speaker, Rick Watts. He is a seminary professor at Regent College and teaches Biblical Theology and whom our apprentices listen to throughout Fall semester. It was so encouraging to have him come and speak to us and really expand our view of who Jesus is. One of my favorite lines was, "These gospels aren't just fun little stories. They are powerful!" It seems obvious, but I realized how I often make Jesus small through forgetting the radicalness of our Lord Jesus' life, death and resurrection and how His messages of "taking up your cross" and "the first must become last" were so opposite to any other teaching at the time. Jesus truly changed EVERYTHING. And praise God He still does today! 

After Winter camp we jumped right back into the semester. And it has been off to an encouraging start! We've already had several new students come to core and Thursday Night Fellowship. And even though we had to go on zoom this past Thursday, we still had new students! I can really see students, even that just start coming from last semester, really grow in their relationship with God, being known by one another, and catch a vision for campus ministry. 

With that said, now is the time we start thinking about students we want to invite to SICM, out Student Institute of Campus Ministry training we do every summer. At SICM, students learn the foundations of being student missionaries on their campus. I'm so excited about all the students from SMU and TWU Dallas that we have invited! To help fund this leadership opportunity FOCUS proudly hosts an annual benefit concert and artisan market, Spring Showcase! And this year we will be back in person. We are selling tickets now. You can purchase at anyfocus.org/showcase or you can buy them from me directly. We have so many students we are excited to send to SICM and this is a huge way to help them get there! 

Check out the graphic below for more details! There will also be an artisan market at 5:00pm!

Thank you all for your continual support! Stay safe and God bless you all!