Wrapping Up September

Friends and family, I hope y'all are doing so well! September has been so sweet and fun here in Denton. I didn't take near enough pictures but here are the highlights!

We went to a TWU volleyball game and I realized I don't think I have ever actually sat down and watched volleyball, what a fun game! Owen said it was too loud but still had fun.

We got to have a worship night at the adorable Little Chapel in the Woods at TWU! We definitely want to do this again, what a cool way to utilize the campus for God's glory.

Becca and I got gym memberships on campus so we can meet up with girls and hang out there.

Owen loves getting to join in on my one on ones and interrupt. This is Avery helping me keep him safe, she's such a sweetheart!

And finally, we had some baptisms! 

Diana getting baptized by her corefas from two years ago.

Sweet Nia getting baptized by Victoria. Nia has really been taking her faith seriously this year, she is on mission and reaching out to people at TWU all the time. 

MJ getting baptized by Catherine! MJ is one of the student leaders I meet with this year and watching her rededicate her life to Jesus and really seek to know his heart is such a blessing to watch.

And Chris! Y'all might remember Chris from previous updates, I've known her for almost three years now. I had the honor of studying the Bible with her and watching her mature and grow the last few years really is why I love campus ministry. She's a dear friend. I was honored to help baptize her!

What a sweet day and reminder that the Lord is working powerfully on these campuses. This year, God is moving in some cool ways and this seems to just be the start. Please be praying for these students!

Here's a few random family photos too! Owen is 14.5 months and officially walking! He loves slides and swings and playing hide-and-seek. 

Thank you guys for being a part of this journey with me! Please reach out with any prayer requests!

Love y'all!

Welcome to Campus, y'all!

Friends and family, 

I'm so excited to share this update with you! August has been an absolute sprint and such a blast.

We started off with a retreat for our staff! What a cool and passionate team I get to work with. They push me to be better and to pursue real discipleship to Jesus. 

Then we jumped straight into welcome week, which really ended up being welcome month! This is our time to invite new students into community on campus with the hopes that they will catch a vision for the gospel and the kingdom God is building. I'm struggling to find the words to describe how good this month has been. We've met so many people where all we have to do is mention Jesus and they are chomping at the bit to get involved. So many people are intrigued by Jesus right now. We prayed for God to go before us and prepare people's hearts and He has gone above and beyond. 

After the first week at UNT, we took our corefas (student leaders) on a retreat to build them up as a team and do some leadership training. These students impress me so much, their willingness to give up so much of their time to serve others is truly inspirational. And they are just a ton of fun!

Owen loved hanging out with his college friends.

And his bestie, Eli.

Our TWU corefas, minus two. These girls have already been such a blessing to their campus and to me!

We got to baptize a couple of the corefas and pray for them as a team. What a cool way to kick off the year.

After retreat, we got right back to meeting new students!

Becca, Owen and I hosted trivia.

And we made prayer vision boards.

...and painted a flower garden. We like crafts a lot at TWU, okay?

TWU stands for Texas Woman's University, which means that somewhere between 80 and 90% of students are women. But these guys showed up consistently to meet the guys on campus. Their faithfulness was such an encouragement and they ended up meeting so many guys who were interested in community and Jesus.

We served free coffee during the first week of school as a way to bless the students!

The babies were the biggest attraction, of course.

Okay okay, we did another craft - we painted tiny pots and cactus rocks!

 Orr corefas' faithful work came to fruition at our first Thursday Night Fellowship (TNF) where we were bursting out of the room with close to 300 people.

Finding a room on campus that would hold us was a real challenge but again we saw the Lord provide. The next week we were able to meet in a bigger room and the energy and life in the room was crazy. This is the liveliest group I think I've experienced in ministry in almost 10 years. But the thing is, it's not performative. As a whole these students are genuinely worshipping the Lord and wanting to submit their lives to Him.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind - retreats, campus events and hangouts, planning, praying, so much talking. Owen started daycare a couple days a week, seems to enjoy it, and got his first cold. I left him overnight for the first time during staff retreat and while that was hard, I got to actually retreat with God and work through big feelings with Him. That was a breath of fresh air. 

I know you all have so much on your plate but I hope you are encouraged by how active and present God is on these campuses. Whatever you have going on, know that the Lord is just as present with you. 

Thank you for your prayers and support. They mean so much to these students and to me. Let me know how I can be praying for you!

Love y'all,

Getting Ready!

The new school year is almost upon us! 

My apologies if you stopped getting these updates for a bit; I found a mistake that meant it was only sending to some people. Hopefully it works now!

We're doing a ton of prep to get ready for the school year. One of our biggest get-the-ball-rolling seasons is August - the week before and the first week school starts or, "Welcome Week" as we call it. We see so many different students flood the campuses from all over. There's freshman right out of high school, transfers, nontraditional students, international students, students from the metroplex, and students from across Texas. During these first couple of weeks in particular, we try to be on campus as much as we can to befriend them and invite them to community and ultimately to follow Jesus with us. We find that starts with friendships so we try to facilitate that by planning some fun events and activities! I'm so excited to see what God does on the campuses this year. There seems to be some momentum building over the last couple of years so we're praying for people to experience a more full life. "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." (John 10:10) 

Worship during last week's Thursday Night Fellowship

Fundraising update

Y'all, I am so so close to my fundraising goal, I only need $50/mo! Thank you so so much for praying and joining me in this ministry work, I couldn't have made it this far without you. I say this a lot but I just find it so cool that people are excited about investing in college students in this way. The financial support many of you are able to give means that I am able to do Bible studies, plan events and retreats, invest in student leaders, and more. So thank you for giving as you're able and for praying!

If you were still considering giving or increasing your support, you can go to anyfocus.churchcenter.com to give. If you can give me a heads up that'd be so helpful!

The other major update is that Owen turned one year old! It's crazy how fast time has flown! 

We took Owen to the Dallas aquarium with some sweet friends/coworkers!

I'm looking forward to sharing this next year with y'all! As always, if there is any specific way I can be praying for you, please let me know!

June Update

I hope you're having a great summer and staying cool! Things slow down for our ministry in summer so I'm focused on fundraising, resting, and spending time with Owen. 

Soaking up the last month before this boy turns one, he's already thinking about driving though!

Instead of doing a ton of events in Denton, we try to help the people who have stayed in town connect with other campuses. This mainly happens through Summer FOCUS - our fellowship night but it includes all of our ministries across the metroplex. I love getting to see people get connected and form friendships with new people there! We've been talking about Embracing Life, fully engaging with God and people. I think these ideas are sticking with the students and with me. One night, we talked about Embracing God and that struck me. It's hard to really sit with God and let him love me. That kind of intimacy is intimidating but I'm becoming more convinced that God loves us that much. Like a dad with their kid, he wants to hold and love us. I'm still wrestling with that one!

I'm 88% fundraised! I've been super blessed by so many who want to be a part of ministry in this way. Thank you for praying! If you haven't had a chance to consider joining my support team or even increasing you're giving, here's a little reminder. But i just so deeply appreciate you being interested enough to read these little updates and maybe even praying with me for these students. Thank you for being here!

Here's a testimony from one of our TWU girls!!

Love y'all!

Celebrating the End of Another Year

We're starting the ending of the school year. This week and next week are full of final things, the last corefa meetings and our end-of-year party, and last meetings with graduating seniors. Bittersweet, to say the least. I'm so proud of this group of students. Our corefas have worked incredibly hard this year and have encouraged me again and again by their faithfulness. As a whole, this is one of my favorite group of students! They are full of life and zeal for the Lord. They have been generous with their time, spaces, money, and friendship. As I imagine them being the church's next leaders, I'm so encouraged and full of hope.

Some of our corefas took the time to encourage one girl who had a hard day with a giant group hug.

Celebrated the last corefa meeting with my sweet peer team. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet with these girls all year.

Our church had a retreat and many of our students came! We talked about belonging to the family of God, a sweet and challenging reminder to take an active part in community.

There were so many Bluebonnets where the retreat was!

Speaking of Bluebonnets, MJ (right) is from Houston and didn't remember ever seeing them so we had to stop and get a picture!

The tornado sirens went off during our corefa meeting so we continued from the hallway. 

Turns out there was just some hail nearby.

And here's a testimony from one of our Denton students. I'm so excited for her to go to SICM this year!

 

Love each of you and praying for you!