January

Howdy and welcome back to the blog! God has been doing all sorts of things in January, so I am excited to share everything with you.

Worship at Winter Camp 2022

First thing I want to share with you is about Winter Camp. God really looked out for our community by keeping Sky Ranch staffed and functional so we could still have camp. Beyond just getting us to camp safely and soundly, We had little to no outbreaks of flu or covid. BEYOND THAT, God moved in the lives of so many students that weekend. I had a handful of students I got to bring to camp: Kade, Eric, and Hart. 

Me, Kade, and Eric in the big chair at Camp

Hart and I in the big chair

Each of them had a great experience meeting more people in our community, worshipping as a body, and hearing Rikk Watt’s teachings throughout the week. Kade and I had so many encouraging conversations about God. He is truly seeking God’s will for his life and loved getting to meet other Christians seeking like he is. Kade and I will be studying the Bible together through the Focus On Jesus study. Eric loved getting to worship. Hart and I had a great connection at camp. I think God purposefully brought him into friendship with me so we could have these conversations about his old friendships and faith.

TCC worship (feat John in the back)

Core is going well at TCC. We had a worship set after core one week outside. It was both really encouraging to see Eldrian lead us in that, but also to see our small group be excited to praise the Lord together. We were praising outside in the courtyard, when the Spirit moved through us. If you look in the back of this photo, you can see my new friend John walking up to us. He saw us playing music, and wanted to see what was going on. He was really enthused when he saw we were worshipping. We got to talking and were able to connect for an hour. He has been coming around to our meetings and I am excited to hear more of his story. Be praying for John and the work God is doing in his life.

Some of our students tabling at TCC to meet new friends. This is Rowan and Angel sitting down.

I have been setting up more FOJ studies with guys at TCC. I am very excited about the growth of FOCUS at TCC. We are in a phase of maturing our students to be leaders for the coming years, which is fantastic. One of the big ways we prepare our students for leadership is through SICM, the Student Institute of Campus Ministry. This is a week long class about campus ministry evangelism and discipleship put on by our friends in Bellingham, Washington. I went my freshman year back in 2017, and am still actively using what I learned there in my ministry today. 

So we are in the process of inviting students to that, as well as raising financial support for them to attend. A big event we put on to fundraise for our SICM students is Spring SHOWCASE. There are musical performances, improv, and an art market that myself and other staff members are curating. The show features many different members of our community, whether they are performing or donating their creative works. This is a very fun, high quality event that raises support for a good cause. I have attached all the information and links necessary to purchase tickets, so please consider attending!  

https://anyfocus.org/showcase/

Final note for this blog is that we have been doing a sermon series on evangelism for the first three weeks of school. Because I pushed us doing this series in staff meetings, my boss asked me to do some of the sermons. I gave my first one last week and will be co-teaching the practicals of evangelism this Thursday. If you could pray for our students at UTA and TCC to be bold in their class rooms and jobs, that they would partner with the Holy Spirit and His good works, that would be great.

Thank you again for all your support and for partnering with me to love these students like Jesus would want us to.