God is here and He is moving!

Hello ministry partners! The fall semester is in full swing now! It has been so exciting getting to see God move in powerful ways. I’m so pumped to share with you what has happened this month!

At the beginning of August, all of the FOCUS staff went on our annual retreat and we spent a handful of days preparing our hearts for the school year. It was so special getting to gather and encourage one another for this year of working alongside God to bring his good news to students all across DFW.

The week before school started, freshman students began moving into the dorms and so began our journey to meeting the new students! Every year, we have set up board games inside of the residence halls to meet new freshmen and start building relationships with them and so that they can begin building friendships with one another. This year, the residence hall staff was really strict and did not allow anyone who was not a resident to be in the dorm lobby, which was a bit frustrating given that UTD is already a place where many students feel lonely and disconnected from one another, and it felt like the enemy wanted to squash any attempt at people making friends. However, God ALWAYS comes through and we were able to set up games outside of the residence halls and SO MANY STUDENTS CAME! Our student leaders were incredible at meeting students, engaging them in conversation, and building friendships with them, I am so proud of them! I was reminded of the Scripture in Genesis 50:20 which says “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

Throughout this week, it has just been so evident that God has already prepared a path for us and that he has already been moving in the hearts of students and we just get to join him in the story!

Every year, we also host ethnic outreach events where we invite Black, Asian, and Hispanic students to events specifically tailored to make them feel welcome and seen on this campus. I helped Lailah set up for our Black People Meet & Greet event and I led our Hispanic Social with my Honduran co-worker, David! There were so many black and Latino students who showed up and had a great time! I teared up when I saw the sea of students laughing, eating, and talking with each other. I couldn’t help but think “These are all people that God cares deeply about”. At the Latino social, I was able to gather over 15 phone numbers and I have made plans with several of them to hangout and get to know them better. I am excited to invite them each into a relationship with God and with his people.

This year, I have a very special role on the women’s side of our ministry which I am really excited about! I will not be leading a small group (core) this year, but I am going to be visiting each core on our women’s side and visit 1 on 1 with each of the girls! This past week, I visited 2 cores and OH MY GOODNESS! I am getting teary-eyed just thinking about how powerfully God is already moving in both of these groups. In this first core, the student leaders facilitated the conversation around Matthew 4:18-25, where Jesus invites the first disciples to follow him and begins spreading the good news. Some of the questions that were asked were: “What do you think Jesus is inviting his followers into? For those of you who have accepted this invitation, how might Jesus be calling you to follow him in this season? And for those of you who haven’t accepted this invitation, how does a personal call from God make you feel?”

As we went around answering the question, it was so clearly evident that God was present in each answer. One freshman said “I think that God is calling me to have an open heart and to let him in… I think that he’s trying to show me something. I’m not sure what it is, but I think this is the start.” A senior said “I think Jesus is calling me to leave a part of myself behind and to follow him. I think I’ve been avoiding him for a while, but recently I have felt a pull towards trusting in him.” Another freshman said, “I don’t really know how to explain what is happening, but I feel so welcomed in this group and I know that I just met you ladies, but I feel that God led me here to this place and I’m very overwhelmed by how present he feels right now.”

I MEAN, WOW! Can you believe that? I know that this is just the beginning of all that God has planned and that as the year goes on, He is only going to show himself even more powerfully. I am so immensely grateful to each of you for choosing to invest in students here on our campus, I cannot wait to share more stories from this year.

Please be praying for the rest of the cores this week, that students would feel so welcomed and loved in their groups and that vulnerability would begin to take root in their relationships. Please pray as we continue to meet new people, that God would lead us towards students who are in desperate need of Him. Please pray that we would be faithful to those God puts in our path and that everything we do would point others to Him.

Thank you so much for reading this lengthy update, I just had so much to share! I pray that God continues to bless each of you everywhere you go.

Blessings,
Andrea