The Power of His Holy Word

Howdy and Hello, Friends!

October is upon us, and I get to share with you an update from September. A theme that God has made so prevalent this month is the power of His Holy Word. I'm talking Scripture, The Bible, Old and New Testament. It is obviously something any Christian should care about and invest time in, but I have found our ministry and students really heating up the value of having the Word written on our hearts.

Our first PRoS. 35 students and pastors reading Galatians on a Thursday night till 10pm. It was a blast

One way we have been heating this value up is through the most simple means: reading together! I am hosting a weekly Public Reading of Scripture (PRoS) every Thursday from 12pm-2pm on campus. Students come, they read along and listen, and afterwards we discuss what stood out.

So many young Christians nowadays know very little of the Bible and the numbers always seem to be decreasing, especially as our tendency to read as society shrinks and shrinks. If students do get in the Word, they often only read a chapter if that. Most students tell me they have only read a gospel or two themselves, and that when they do "quiet times" they read probably a paragraph or two to reflect on. Certainly I am thankful they have a yearning for even that amount, but we have found that many young college Christians have little to no knowledge of the themes and story of Scripture.

Even though I grew up Christian, reading was never my forte. I was uninterested or lazy. And it led to shame, which pushed me further from approaching the text. It was not until college and until my later time in FOCUS that I learned to love the story of Scripture. So it has been really exciting for me to sit down with these students, and give them a space to hear the Word of God aloud, let it fall on their hearts, and reflect on it through their weeks. We have had two times so far, and both times we have had over 20 students come and read with us for upwards of an hour.

We have also started a Scripture Memorization initiative. Every week we have a new set of verses to memorize based of our sermon for the week. Students share what they memorized and get entered into a raffle for a free Winter Retreat with us. Every week, we have had several students come and recite God's word to one of our pastors. It is so neat to hear His good truth's repeated to you from the students you are discipling.

Garrett was one of the first guys to say yes to FOJ this year. Eager to see how God matures him.

One of the main ways I get to interact with Scripture with our students is through our one on one Bible study, Focus on Jesus (FOJ). I am studying FOJ with 8 young men every week. In that time, we share about our lives and get to encourage one another towards Jesus. But we do that through reading together and asking each other how we are living what we read out.

One of the guys I am studying with is named Garrett. He has been such an encouragement to me this year. He is a sweet, funny, young man seeking to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. He is humble and teachable, and he really considers what the text says and how it should change him.

Be praying for Garrett and the other guys I meet with that we all might look more like Jesus as we study His word together.

Garrett is also ridiculous and loves to draw himself like this.

Sweet times with some good pals in Wichita Falls

This past weekend was one of the most fun in a long time. Emily's church from college, Tenth and Broad Church, invited us and 25 students out to Wichita Falls for the weekend. They hosted us, fed us, and sang with us. It was a huge blessing to Emily and I, and a really sweet time for our students to reflect on how God is using campus ministry to change their lives.

Mauricio, Vincent, and Michael from my core last year all got to come. It was like a reunion tour for us. It was awesome getting to spend time with them and reflect on how much God has grown them all from last year. Last year, they all came into ministry looking to be served. Now, all three of them are leaders who seek to bring others to Christ. I am humbled to be a part of what God is doing in their lives.

I'll close here and just thank you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting. Thank you for praying. God is doing some really neat things at UTA and I am so blessed to be a part of that. And you all are a part of that as well, through your continued support. God bless you.