Winter Retreat was Awesome!

Have we thawed out yet? I hope y'all are well and stayed warm this week! 

Winter Retreat

Right before all the ice, we had Winter Retreat! There were about 800 people in attendance, pictured above. This is my favorite big event we do, a whole weekend dedicated to connecting with God as the year begins. This year, we had Marty Solomon speak. If you haven't heard of his podcast, the BEMA podcast, I highly recommend it. At retreat, he talked about the story of Genesis and has an inspiring way of bringing the story to life. If you want to listen to the talks, here's the link.

The talks, the worship, and the many many walk-and-talks all culminated to such sweet and fruitful conversations. I think students are more eager to learn the story of Scripture - the story that, as Jesus followers, is now ours. They have caught a glimpse of the story God has been weaving from the beginning. What grace that we all get to be a part of it! Many I talked to want to learn to trust the story, to watch for how God is working things out even in the midst of suffering.

Owen got to participate in a dance class! We plan lots of fun activities, like dancing, improv, and crafts so the students can have fun and make friends.

My peer team this year. From left to right: Caitlynn, Glenda, Cassy, me, Mary, Chloe, Stephanie. Each of them have been such a blessing to me and I'm grateful to work alongside them on campus!

As a fun throwback, this was my core at winter retreat in 2016! I was a sophomore here, crazy what God has done in ten years!

UNT, TWU, and NCTC pictured together.

UNT

And TWU!

Bonus snow pics!

Prayer Requests

- I would love your prayers regarding my personal financial support. Jon and I are navigating some financial shifts and I'm hoping to fundraise about $500 in new monthly support. While fundraising mid-semester can feel a bit daunting, I'm choosing to trust that God knows our needs and will provide.

- I talked with a number of students at retreat who are in pretty tough circumstances. They're facing intense grief, anxiety for their families, processing past abuse, and more. Would you pray for these students to trust God and the story He's writing?

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to stop in and wish each of you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. You are such an encouragement to me; Thank you for reading along!

We got to wrap up the semester with such sweet moments I wanted to share with you!

Chloe, one of my corefas, had her last Christmas concert! TWU puts on a good show with their whole music department and it's so special. It also takes me back to my choir days, for whoever knew me then! They do a really awesome version of Silent night where they turn off the lights, leaving just the (fake) candles and the choirs walk down the aisles humming so you feel surrounded. As they sing it really does feel like a silent night, a chance of stillness to connect with the Father who gave us his son as a baby that changed the world. In the midst of the Christmas chaos that was a real blessing to me.

Our staff got together for our annual Christmas dinner. I can honestly say that these people here are some of my closest friends and they can make me feel so known. They keep me light-hearted and Jesus-centered and encourage me to love people deeply. I'm so grateful for them and this chance to work with such high quality people.

Bonus Owen picture!

I hope you have had a restful and joy-filled holiday. Thank you for being such encouraging partners in this mission to reach college students, making and maturing life-long disciples. 

Love y'all,

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have had a wonderful thanksgiving with such good food and company!

November has absolutely flown by but I wanted to let you in on what's been happening in my ministry this month! 

We got all of the campuses together for another Pizza Theology, where Rikk Watts walked us through reading John. I love getting the chance to hear form someone like Rikk who has a passion for reading Scripture well in order to know God's heart for people. Every time he speaks to our group, I'm encouraged all over again to not give up growing in my own understanding of God's Word!

The theology part!

The pizza part, with Chloe!

I also got the chance to catch up with some sweet friends a couple days ago! 

Left to Right: Hannah Winks, me, Chris, and Becca

Y'all might recognize Chris, a student I discipled a few years ago. This group got back together because Chris was on leave after finishing Coast Guard basic training. She's about to head to Virginia then California for CG culinary school! It was so sweet to see her and to see how she's become a full adult since I first knew her. God has truly shaped her to be a more stable person for His glory and I could not be more proud of her!

I have run into students in pretty hard life situations this month, some dealing with fears and frustrations around immigration, one in a potentially dangerous relationship, and at least a couple dealing with being pregnant. All of that feels heavy and I've needed to make lots of phone calls to get help for people. I share this to ask for your prayers for these women and for wisdom for me as I try to walk with them. 

Help Us Keep FOCUS Growing!

If you haven't heard, we're in the midst of our big fundraiser so we can keep the lights on and reach new campuses in the DFW metroplex! There's some info below and you can click the picture to check out the giving page. Would you consider giving?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I need you to know how much I appreciate your love and support. You make ministry lighter and partnering with you is so meaningful to me. Thank you for your role in my life and ministry, I couldn't do this without you!

Love,

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!