Fall Retreat!

October was jam-packed, celebrating milestones and getting to retreat with the whole community for the weekend! Here's what went on:

Our friend Eli turned two! Darby, Drew, Eli, Shayla (not pictured), and I all have birthdays in October so we're constantly celebrating someone this month. 

Victoria, who you might recognize from a couple years ago, got engaged! So proud of these two for dating in a way that honored God.

And I turned 30! I don't know why this picture is so blurry but it reflects how much of a blur this day was. But I loved the chance to celebrate with this crew.

Fall retreat fell on my birthday again so I spend the first half of the day surrounded by college students - who would not stop singing to me! Seriously, any time a group saw me they'd immediately start singing Happy Birthday, it was so fun. 

Fall retreat is the biggest, most formative event we put on as a campus. It's where we get the chance to really emphasize friendships that center around the Lord. We have lots of fun together and worship with lots of energy! 

Hannah had her first experience coordinating food for 250 people - so many snacks.

If you ever wonder what I'm doing behind the scenes, it's checking people in, always.

Casey as Papa Smurf for the blue team

For the last few years our students have put on a gospel choir during the worship night, which is awesome every time.

Love y'all!

Praying and Going Out

Another month of God working is in the books! Here's what's been happening.

We got our women student leaders together and did a Question and Response time with our staff. They asked such insightful questions!

I visited one of our small groups (cores) to meet the new students and they have the best mascot, Ellie!

Some of our awesome TWU girls!

This is Laura, an international students from Spain! College ministry is such a weird cross-section where we can minister to the fresh-out-of-high-school freshman and the fresh-off-the-plane Ph.D student who doesn't know anyone yet. 

I've been talking to God about prayer. (You know, talking to God about talking to God!) I think there are a lot of things I’ve put in the category of “that’s just how it is”: people experiencing depression, anxiety, a lack of true friendship, intense sickness, etc. So I stopped praying against those things, not from a place of trusting God with them, but more from apathy or helplessness. The Lord has been convincing me over again how powerful prayer is and just how much He invites us to have a say in the world. He listens to His people and gives us authority over the earth, so why wouldn't I participate in that role more fully?  I tend to avoid the tension of waiting for something that will generally take a long time to see movement on, so I just don’t let myself sit in the discomfort. He’s been revealing different things for me to petition him for and soften my heart towards. It's been an exercise in faith but I've felt much closer to God in the process!

Two books I've found helpful in this process are Praying like Monks, Living like Fools by Tyler Staton and God Has a Name by John Mark Comer. If you read either of them, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Love y'all! If there's any way I can be praying for you, please let me know!

Welcoming Students to the Campuses

We kicked the year off with a really awesome and restful staff retreat out in Glenrose, TX. When I'm around this group of ministers, I'm reminded why the work we do is so meaningful. I hear their stories of life changes and baptisms, leaders being raised up, efforts to reach international students, and so much more - I can't help but praise God. Crazy to think this stuff is happening all over college campuses just within the metroplex! And even more ministries are working tirelessly throughout the country and world to specifically build up college students. What a wild mission we get to be on with the Lord. Thank you, dear reader, for being a part of this!

Freshman started flooding into Denton on August 11th and our staff and students have been working hard to welcome them to the campuses and invite them into friendship.

Crafts work great at TWU so every year we paint tiny little plant pots as we get to know new people.

We also invited people to paint on a giant community canvas together.

We had a multicultural worship night at UNT to celebrate kingdom diversity!

Owen loves outreach, especially when there's a giant beach ball involved.

We got to host so many events and hangouts and honestly met the sweetest people. So many students were looking for a Christian ministry to plug into and many more were so receptive to our invitations even if they aren't a Christian yet. 

Below is our TWU corefa team. They worked incredibly hard the last two weeks, meeting so many people, texting more who signed up online, and praying for their campus. Their time and dedication is often a no-brainer to them but our ministry couldn't function without their faithfulness and servant hearts.

The semester started off with a bang but God's just getting started. As I told the corefas, this is not yet the harvest. We are still tilling the soil and planting seeds. We get to look forward to what God is going to grow.

Love y'all!

Work Hard, Play Hard

This month has been jam-packed with fun in the sun. A lot of it has involved getting to know our incoming apprentices who will be joining our team in August. We will hit the ground running in August to get ready for the start of the year so we invited them to go on some adventures with our staff before all that kicks in. 

The girls took a day trip to Tyler, TX! We squeezed in my van so we got to hang out and ask each other questions the whole way. We also made a stop at Ham Orchards where I got the best peach ice cream. I'm so excited to work with these women. I love getting to see their heart for people and the Lord every day!

(Back, left to right: Ryan, Alex, Shayla, Darby, Drew. 

Front, left to right: Casey, Keanna, Hannah E, Hannah W, Cathryn, Me)

This is our staff for the year! We invited the incoming apprentices to join us for a planning day and went to dinner afterwards. I think we all felt a bit body slammed by a luchador (see picture) after all the talking and working out details we needed to do but it was so productive and sweet to do it together!

The "hard work" is in full force too. We're getting our corefa (student leader) team set up for the year. These are the people who will end up driving so much of our mission on campus. They are truly the hands and feet of Jesus. And their excitement and zeal is infectious. 

This past weekend, we put on a new event called Activate, a conference designs to help get people excited and prepared to do ministry in their context on campus. I gave a little workshop on how to do an inductive Bible study, there were talks on evangelism, prayer, seeking advice well, being rooted and ready, handling sticky situations, and the Holy Spirit. From the feedback I've heard, I think this was exactly what was needed to get people fired up for the semester. I'm so excited to see the fruit of that.

I'm anticipating such a whirlwind when August starts. We'll have our staff's annual retreat and then we'll jump straight into three full weeks of outreaching at UNT and TWU as students are moving in. Would you join me in praying now for God to be working in the hearts of these students, tilling the soil and preparing it for His good word?

Fundraising Update!

I'm in the midst of my fundraising season for next year. Currently I'm looking to raise another $600 a month. I love that I get to partner with so many generous people who are excited about the work God is doing on these campuses! If you are interested in giving or increasing your support, you can do so at anyfocus.org/ReagannSmith. Our fiscal year starts over Aug 1st so if you'v ebeen thinking about giving, now is a great time! As always, I so appreciate your support and prayers. 

The other thing I'm looking to do this season is make more connections. If you have anyone in your network who loves God and might be excited to hear about what I’m doing, I would love to talk to them! 

* You might notice that the site linked above has changed. We have switched giving platforms over to CharityEngine. We've been able to migrate over all the data so you shouldn't have to do anything on your end. If you ever need to change anything though, this will be the new site!

Owen Update!

Owen turned two this month!

He also got to ride a pony at a friend's birthday party, which he loved. We are now completely obsessed with horses, including the "nay, horse" movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

Love y'all! Thank you for being here and reading along!

Summer is Here!

Is the summer flying by for anyone else?? Wow, it's been a whirlwind! Our staff has been hard at work getting things ready for next year. We had a couple of big planning days to dream up big ideas with God. We want to really welcome and bless the people coming on campus this fall! 

We were a bit tired and loopy by the end. I love hanging out with these goofballs though!

The main thing we do for the students over the summer is Summer FOCUS. It's our weekly fellowship meeting but people still in town from all our campuses across the metroplex get together. It's amazing seeing students give up part of their summer, often taken only to be for lazy days, to come worship God, pour into others, and be known.

I also gave a sermon at our church, Denton North. I'll link it in case you want to check it out! We're in a series on 1&2 Samuel and as we've been reading, I've been consistently reminded of God's goodness and grace. These people are broken and often seek chaos, revealing a deep need for the Lord to restore them. The main point in my sermon was literally to cling to God. In the midst of turmoil, uncertainty, and unrest, all David could do was fix his eyes on the Lord and keep going. This isn't the practical application I'm often looking for, but God is the one to need us where we're at and carry us through. Praise God for his faithfulness because I drop the ball far too often.

Reagann's Sermon

Last thing!

I'm in the midst of my fundraising season for next year. Currently I'm looking to raise another $900 a month. I love that I get to partner with so many generous people who are excited about the work God is doing on these campuses! If you are interested in giving or increasing your support, you can do so at anyfocus.churchcenter.com and find my name in the dropdown. As always, I so appreciate your support and prayers.

The other thing I'm looking to do this season is make more connections. If you have anyone in your network who loves God and might be excited to hear about what I’m doing, I would love to talk to them! 

I hope you are well. Love y'all!