Renewed day by day

Hello donors, I hope you all have been doing well, especially after that snow storm we had a few weeks ago! I pray that your electricity bills are not too high, and that your homes are not too damaged. Thank you so much for being so consistent and generous in your giving. The Lord is moving in amazing ways, and I’m so excited to share some of it with you!

My supervisor Sarah (the one holding the puppy) is having a baby girl! A group of female core leaders got together to celebrate her.

Quarantine/Snowmageddon
Towards the beginning of the month, my roommates and I had a couple COVID scares, so we quarantined for two weeks. Although it doesn’t sound like a long time, it felt like an eternity! I find that I tend to measure my self-worth based on how much I get done, so being quarantined really got to me and forced me into a frustrating state of mind. However, I think that God really used that time to remind me that I am not in control of my circumstances, and that He is. It gave me an insight into the lives of the students on campus that may feel isolated and stuck in circumstances that they can’t seem to control. In quarantine, I prayed that God would help me come back into my normal routine with full force, ready to find and love those students.

Throughout the apprenticeship, I have been working on being more aware of God’s presence, and noticing that it is everywhere, enveloping me at every moment. God made this so apparent during the snowstorm. I had never seen snow before, so watching it cover over every surface had me in awe of what an omnipotent God we believe in, who in his infinite creativity made snow. He reminded me that just like the snow that we could see, He was and is all around us even in the unseen.

Here are some photos from the snow!

Pizza Theology
Every semester FOCUS hosts an event called Pizza Theology, where we dive deeper into a certain topic. This semester, our topic was “A Theology of Entertainment”, so one of our pastors, Garrett, spoke on how we as Christians should think about our use of entertainment. My core got together to watch it, and it was really helpful to get to talk through what stood out to us and ask our pending questions.

Something Garret said that really got me thinking was that sometimes we feel the need to use the media to inform us about what is going on out in the world politically, socially, economically, etc. and that we feel ignorant and out of the loop whenever we are not informed of these things. He said that as Christians, whose mission is to love and care for God’s people, it might be more important to know what is going on in the lives of people around us, since God has placed us in very specific situations where we can really make a difference in people’s lives. I would challenge you to take some time and talk to God about your use of entertainment and ask him for guidance if you feel him leading you to make some changes.

After Pizza Theology, we had an apartment warming party for Katie, who just moved on campus.

Classes
In our apprentice classes, a theme that keeps coming up over and over again is vulnerability. We have been reading a book called “The Vulnerable Pastor” by Mandy Smith and reflecting on how God can work powerfully through our weaknesses, probably even more than through our strengths. It has been uncomfortable to force myself to think about the things that make me feel weak and vulnerable and to trust God to use even the most broken parts of me for good.

I’m reminded over and over again that God chooses to be the most vulnerable by chasing, loving, and blessing us while knowing that we will reject him over and over again. By sending his son Jesus, he chose to make himself vulnerable by putting his son in our hands, knowing that we would use and abuse him, and eventually kill him. He chooses to use us to make his name known, even though he knows we have weaknesses and that we will make mistakes. Ultimately though, it’s not about what we can and cannot do, but what God chooses to do through us. I am beyond grateful that God has chosen to use me this year for campus ministry, and I pray that God will reveal to you how you can be on mission for him!

We’ve been doing outreach on campus near the resident halls. The giant beach ball is an eye catcher!

Spring Showcase!
Every year, FOCUS sends a group of potential leaders to a week-long seminar in Washington state to train and equip them for campus ministry the following year. With the pandemic, we were unable to attend last year, but this year we will be hosting our own version of the retreat. We will be inviting a large number of students, including those that were invited last year. I would like to invite you to our fundraiser, Spring Showcase, a 2 hour virtual show with all kinds of performers. By giving and attending, you will be investing in our future leaders and helping to equip students missionally on campuses across DFW and beyond!

I will leave you with this student testimony for the month of March. God bless you each, and thank you again for investing in the kingdom and trusting that God will do big things on our campuses!