Mountains - March Ministry Update

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

Hello again!

    Wow, 2022 is already a quarter over; it's April already?! I feel like I ever say that months are hectic, so to mix it up, I'll say that March was a month full of opportunities for my ministry on the campus. 

    Before I recap the month, I want to tell you that I'm very blessed to be able to partner with you all, with our student leaders, with my staff team, and mostly, with God. I really don't feel like I deserve this opportunity and am so thankful to get to be used at Collin College for the furthering of the gospel. For this and many other reasons, I'm super excited to have the opportunity to stay on FOCUS staff as a senior staff member after the conclusion of this apprenticeship year. After talking with mentors, and with much conversation with God, we've decided that I will remain at the Wylie Collin campus to continue to build up the community there for at least two more school years. Exciting!

The Collin FOCUS staff team, which includes 5 apprentices and 5 senior staff.

My first TNF sermon:

A picture from the crowd with my header slide in the background.

A selfie for our social media. I'm using my most serious face for maximum effect.

You can spot one book that I quote "Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God" on the podium.

    For TNF (Thursday Night Fellowship) this semester, we've been debunking common lies. I got to preach on the lie of individuality! In a nutshell: instead of believing that we are independent creatures who need not rely on one another, we belong to the Church, which is God's people. I got positive feedback, and I learned a lot from the experience of preaching. For instance, have tissue handy if you have a runny nose!

SSI week:

The Washington students on their first night in Texas, after enjoying 

Andy's Frozen Custard with a few members of our team.

A "bad tat" that I got in order to be a walking advertisement 

for our outreach event, where we offered students temporary tattoos 

and to talk about faith. Think it looks good on me? Yeah, me too.

Monday's team for outreach on the Wylie campus. Me and

the small group's co-facilitator, Orion, didn't get to make it in the picture,

so one of the other team members photoshopped us in. See us?

On the last day the Washington students were in Texas, after

outreach was done for the week, we explored the Bishop Arts district,

including this spooky Dallas drainage tunnel.

    A sister ministry of FOCUS, CCF in Washington state, sends down a couple teams of students and staff during their spring break to do outreach on FOCUS's campuses. How cool is that? We call this week "SSI" (I don't think anyone knows what it stands for, and there are too many acronyms to keep track of, anyway.) This is the first time since the pandemic that we were able to have an SSI week. I'm super glad they spent their break to come to reenergize us by helping outreach! We met so many students who were interested in faith and/or Jesus community. What a God deal.

Pizza Theo:

    I don't have a picture for this one, unfortunately. Every semester, we have a DFW-wide longer teaching to dive deep into a more difficult topic, with a break for pizza in the middle. This semester, we discussed "God and the Bod". We tackled the lie of spirit/body duality, opting for a more complete view of God's creation (God made us physical, that means something! God himself became and remains physical, embodied, in the person of Jesus, and that means something!) and discussed hard topics like abortion and transgender issues, taking cues from the book "Love Thy Body" by Nancy Pearcey. We asked, what would it look like to think about these issues with a high view of human, image-bearing bodies in mind?

    It was a challenging talk which sparked good conversation. I'm thankful our team doesn't shy away from these important issues, but also that they avoid oversimplification. If you're interested in hearing the talk yourself, you can email me and I can send you the link to the video recording!

Spring Break:

Logan atop a nearby hill celebrating the 

warmth of the sun early in the cold morning. 

Cedric is wearing a chair.

    During the coldest and windiest days of spring break, four of our student leaders and two of our staff took a camping trip to Caprock Canyon state park. It was so good to get to enjoy and deepen our friendships this way! We met some wild buffalo (safely!), cooked on a cast-iron skillet over the fire, and avoided the chilling wind inside a God-blessed tent. Where does my help come from? The Maker of Heaven and Earth.

Core:

    Our small group, which we call Core, is doing well! Not much to report. We gained a few members after SSI week, and have continued to develop nearer to Christ and to one another. I love them!

Some of our Core members play the windiest game ever of 3on3 after a study 

on the Sermon on the Mount. In case you're wondering if he makes the shot,

the wind takes the ball about 3 feet to the left of the goal.

Prayer Request and Student Testimony: