Through Cold Nights To Sunny Days

 Happy March! I hope you all are enjoying nice weather as much as I am!

a cute afternoon picnic

February was so fun at TWU! So many students seem to really be connecting with each other and taking faith seriously. I've had to chance to study a range of material with different students to challenge us in our thinking. One book, People To Be Loved by Preston Sprinkle, has helped us think through Christianity and same-sex attraction with a lot of nuance and love while seeking God's heart for people. I've loved getting to see those girls confront what they've grown up thinking and take those questions to the Lord. I'm also reading Liturgies of the Ordinary by Tish Warren with another student as a way to reflect on the rhythms of the day in light of God's presence. It's easy for me to go about my day on autopilot but what if I saw making my bed or brushing my teeth as a chance to connect with God and remember just how loving and faithful His is? I find books help me to be more reflective and I am more ready to listen to God's voice throughout the day if I have some of these ideas on my mind.

Owen has gotten to hang out with so many friends recently! He loves when Becca visits him.

Becca and I are trying to build a presence at the campus rec center to meet people and workout together.

Owen got invited to a student's birthday party. I'm pretty sure he thought the balloons were just for him.

And we had lunch on campus again where he played his favorite game - hide-and-seek - with friends and strangers alike.

We had the honor of celebrating Black History Month with a special TNF service put on by some students in our ministry. A big theme for the night was Kingdom Diversity. We wanted to celebrate the ways God has made us all unique but with the purpose to worship God and love people.

The fire alarms went off during the service so we had to evacuate into 20 degree weather. But instead of complaining, these amazing students just went right on worshiping!

And below is Caitlynn's story! I've had the pleasure of getting to know her this year at TWU and I'm so excited for what God is doing in her life!

Praying for each of you. 

Much love,

A Packed January

Staff Retreat

Our staff kicked off the year with staff retreat. We even managed to squeeze it in before the snow! We spent the week reflecting on 1 Corinthians 13 and what love is about. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." So simple, but if we really made this truth the center of our lives, recognizing how God loves us and striving to love others this way, how radically would we be changed?

Sweet friends! 

Something we talked about was this artwork. Man is on the left and God on the right, stretching so far out of heaven to reach man. But the man is laying back with barely any effort to reach out to God. He's limp-wristing it. How often do we love with a limp wrist? Maybe there's some effort there but are we always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, and always persevering? I fall short of this so often. This was such a helpful topic going into the spring semester. I want people to know deeply what it is to be loved for who they are and not what they can do.

Snow Days

Owen had fun in the snow!

His first time sledding was a success too.

Winter Retreat

Our biggest event of the year was amazing! Over 700 people came to worship God, hear about what true discipleship looks like, and invest in each other. I've heard from so many that this was probably their favorite retreat yet!

Owen and Jon came and Owen loved getting to hang out with the other staff kids. 

These are the other moms on staff with super young kids! It's been so sweet to figure out this working mom thing with them. 

Baptisms, TNF, and other things!

I had the honor of baptizing one of our TWU girls, Caitlynn! The water may have been close to freezing but this girl is on fire for the Lord! 

Thursday Night Fellowship is back and going strong! Winter retreat gets people fired up, which brings so much energy to our time together as a campus.

And finally, there's been some fun things at TWU! I got to bring Owen to campus and have lunch with some sweet girls. They promise to teach him the way of energy drinks when he's a bit older.

We also had a time of scripture reading on campus, completely led by students!

It's been a whirlwind but God is not stingy with his blessings by any means! I hope you are encouraged by the energy and true discipleship God is bringing to these students, because it's life changing.

Love y'all, thank you for being such an important part of this mission!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! And that everyone stays warm in the coming days.

We wrapped up the fall semester with a Christmas party for our students to celebrate the work God has done this year. Songs, snacks, trivia, and dancing (of course) made for such a fun night!

I finally got a picture with my team of corefas! From the left, Jackie, Mary, me, Avery, and MJ. Love these girls!

Owen and Jon made a quick appearance, too!

Our Denton staff got together for dinner and games. I crushed it at MarioKart, for the record. A nasty stomach bug made its way through our staff and church so there were many missing but still much fun was had. 

Owen has decided to create a ministry based solely on waving to passing cars outside our house and saying "cah-cah" (car). We spent a lot of our downtime doing this, much to the entertainment of our neighbors I'm sure.

December is a slow month with the students being gone on break, but we will hit the ground absolutely sprinting in January with Winter Retreat. This is probably our most impactful event! Please join me in praying for good weather and smooth planning but mostly for students to come and be impacted by God's presence. The trip is $175 for four days and this can be expensive for many college students so would you also pray for that not to be a barrier? I can't wait to tell y'all how it goes!

This is one of our sweet Denton students with a heart for the Lord!

Love y'all!

P.S. Owen's contribution to this blog:

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought I'd take this chance to write about some ways I'm grateful. I hope you'll do the same, no matter what kind of season you're in. I'm reminded that our praises and thanksgiving to God cannot and should not be dependent on our feelings or our circumstances.

I'm grateful for each of you! No matter how brief, you have impacted my life. By following along with my ministry experience, I am grateful to share with you the highs and lows of life. Thank you for reading, praying, encouraging, and/or giving. 

I'm grateful for our Denton students. I've mentioned being a bit shocked by how many new students we've had this year but their zeal for the Lord is such an encouragement to me. I may have a (tiny) bit of experience following God but they keep me on my toes and remind me that our God is sooo creative. He's not asking us to follow Him the exact same way year after year. There are new areas where He is moving and leading people all the time and praise him for that! 

A group of students playing Cornhole at a Friendsgiving.

I'm so grateful that God has placed a desire to learn and grow in faith in so many of them too! Here's the crowd at our Pizza Theology - 400 students willing to spend 4 hours studying 1 Samuel.

I'm grateful for the Denton team, who love me so well in my weaknesses. They accept me as I am and point me to Jesus. And they love my kid, too!

I'm grateful for our church community. They so eagerly want to know what it is to love God and love people.

I'm grateful for my husband Jon and the sacrifices he makes that allow me to do ministry. His kindness and generosity often inspire me.

Thank you, Lord, for sweet gifts too many to count. I ask that you would cultivate gratitude, contentment, and humility in my heart and life.

Keep FOCUS Growing

With much humility and trust in God, I ask that you would pray for and consider giving to our annual Keep FOCUS Growing fundraiser. This is our keep the lights on campaign, as well as a chance to invest in new campuses as God opens up opportunities for us around the metroplex. Hopefully y'all can see how ripe for the harvest the field of college ministry is! This Tuesday is Giving Tuesday, a great chance to invest in this corner of the kingdom. Check out anyfocus.org/KFG for more info.

Love y'all so so much. Happy Thanksgiving!

October: An Amazing Fall Retreat!

 

Fall retreat was so COOL! God is moving in Denton. We had way more people show up than we initially expected (260, are you kidding me?!) but more than that, so many students are excited and ready for God to transform and reshape their lives. 

We do a big game competition every year and split the small groups into teams to work together for bragging rights. This year was so fun! Here's a couple of the teams, they really get into the team spirit.

Janae (right) and Lilli (middle left) are two girls I get to study the Bible with. They are so sweet; I love watching them grow closer to God.

MJ and Owen

Some of our staff sneaked away to the local Sonic ... and ran into a bunch of our students! We had a good laugh about that.

These students are a breath of fresh air. Trying to pastor a community that has grown so rapidly in a year comes with some challenges. How do we communicate to so many well? What do we emphasize? When there is inevitable conflict, how to we help people handle it with wisdom and grace? When people disagree, how do we find unity to glorify God?

This season of ministry has been humbling, in the sense that I am constantly being faced with how necessary humility is when serving God and loving people. I could do things my way and follow what seems best to me. But ultimately that leads people to me and not God. If I'm going to lead others, I have to do it by showing them how to sit at Jesus' feet. I have to constant hold what is true and right and good over what is comfortable to say to people. That's challenging at times but the fruit of that is so much more meaningful than anything surface level I can produce. I'm so grateful that God would want to teach and shape me in these ways. 

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5. Such good news!

Exciting news for next month, our Keep FOCUS Growing campaign is coming up!

I would very much appreciate if you would prayerfully consider giving to this fundraiser! I'll be sending more details out in November but please reach out if you have any questions!

Love y'all! Let me know if there's any way I can be praying for you!