Yahweh, we love you!

 

Good afternoon ministry partners! I hope that each of you has had a wonderful start to 2025 and that as you’ve been following in His steps you have found peace and great joy. This month was so rich and full of God’s provision that I could write forever, but I’ll try and condense it haha.

At the beginning of the month, we had our annual winter staff retreat where all of our staff got together to have a time of fellowship and resting of our hearts with God before the start of the semester. It was wonderful to be around the larger team, I always feel so refreshed after spending time thinking, praying, and enjoying one another’s presence. This year we spent time in 1 Corinthians 13 and reflected on the different ways we can love like God loves. One of my favorite activities we did was journaling through the list of ways to love that this chapter offers and reflecting on if I (1) possess this way of loving and (2) how I can grow in each way. So for example, “Love is patient, love is kind, it is does not envy” and asking yourself: Am I patient? Am I kind? Do I envy? I encourage you to spend some time doing this as well, God will use it in big ways!

This month we also had our Winter Retreat with all of the students from the different campuses, and IT WAS JUST…. INCREDIBLE! We had over 700 students show up, which is the largest group we’ve ever had! We spend the weekend listening and learning from different ones of our campus pastors on what it means to follow Jesus. God really used these sessions together to spark conversations among the students and got the wheels turning in their heads about what God might be calling them to change in order to follow him more closely. One of my favorite messages came from Peter, who spent some time fleshing out Jesus and his relationship with Simon Peter. Jesus chose Simon Peter as one of his disciples because he saw in him a heart that God would use for his kingdom. Many times Jesus had to teach Peter that his ways of doing things was better than Peter’s way, even though it seemed counterintuitive. Peter swears to never deny Jesus, but later does before Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus restores Peter by asking him 3 times if he loves him, and later on Peter becomes a beacon of the gospel after Jesus returns to the Father. I was so encouraged listening to this sermon because it reminded me that God will use anyone who is willing to continue walking with him. He can work through our weaknesses and transform us into powerful and bold disciples for him. Throughout the weekend, I observed students growing closer to one another and deepening their devotion to God. It kickstarted the semester strongly, and we’ve been praying that God would use our time at retreat to lead students towards him in a closer way. Please pray with us!

Our Hispanic Mi Gente Ministry has been going really well too! Last night, we had our first event of the semester, a Hispanic Meet and Greet and over 50 students came! Our Mi Gente group has been meeting every Tuesday for the past few months to start fostering a community of Hispanic students that love Jesus that we can then welcome new members into. These students helped plan, execute, and invite people to the event. We spent a couple days tabling in the heart of campus and inviting new students to come join us and it was a massive success because many of them came to join us! Praise God for students whose hearts are fiery and excited to show others the love of Jesus. Please join me in praying that God would use our ministry to really bless students and give them a place to call home as they begin or continue to explore who Jesus is. Please pray that students who have had a poor experience with Christians or warped view of God would be open to Him this semester.

As we kickstart the semester, we are going to be going through a sermon series on different relationship kinds at The Grove on Fridays. We are spending some time in the following weeks talking about marriage, dating, church and children. Last week, Kylie kicked us off talking about spiritual friendship, with her main point being: Spiritual friendship is laying down your life for your friends. Our students absolutely loved it. Kylie gave example after example of how we can be a community that fosters deep spiritual friendships with one another as Jesus showed us how to do so with his disciples. The following day, my roommates and I moved from our asbestos-disturbed home to our new house. The days leading up to the move were stressful as we had to clear out our house, so I was a bit worried about moving everything. However, God shows up as he always does, and over 30 students came to help us move all of our belongings over to the new house. They helped us transport and set up furniture down and up flights of stairs, and carried box after box for several hours. I kept telling the students, “Thank you for laying down your life for your friends”. I’m tearing up just typing that. I really believe our students are starting to get it. To get what it means to be a community that loves Jesus and loves one another.

Thank you SO much for all of your support. I am truly so blessed to have each of you join me in God’s work here at UTD. Blessings to you all! Love, Andrea