Accept - End of Year Ministry Update

Whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me

-John 13:20

Hello, friends!

    The school year has ended! Thank you so much for being my friends throughout this year, praying for the students at Collin, and supporting me financially. What God has done this year is amazing. Though, even if he had done something different, he's still good. Let's praise him!

Answered prayer at the new Wylie Campus:

A picture of the Wylie core (core = small group) from Fall semester.

Some of the Wylie core members who went out to play 3 on 3 basketball after core.

       During the summer, my girlfriend (also an apprentice at Collin this year) and I did a prayer walk around two Collin campus - Wylie and McKinney. We prayed that students there would make friends with one another, especially with Christians, and through those friendships that they would develop a friendship with Jesus. Little did we know that I would be sent to Wylie and she to McKinney! God answered that prayer, and grew friendships at both campuses.

    Not only that, but God stirred in the hearts of a couple students at both campuses to decide to follow Jesus! I met a young man named Matthew the first week of school at Wylie, and we quickly became friends. We met week after week, discussed life, talked and read about Jesus, prayed together, occasionally played Minecraft or basketball together, and watched movies together. A few weeks before the end of the school year, he announced to me and to another that he wanted to become a Christian, and shortly after he announced his decision to our whole core. He wants to get baptized with his girlfriend, who is still discovering Jesus. I'm so thankful that I get to be his friend!

Discipleship:

Me with my friend Michael. It's been a blast to be his friend and study the Bible with him this year!

A picture of three generations of disciples that make disciples. There's Drew (bottom), the man who discipled me when I was a freshman, and Jason (center), who I got to disciple this year.

My own development:

My girlfriend and I reading our New Testament textbook ("The New Testament in Its World" by Wright and Bird) as a part of our New Testament class.

That's me reaching for a tissue while preaching my end-of-year sermon. I'm still learning how to be transparent in front of others, so it's a big win that I shed a few tears for this sermon. If you want to watch, mine begins around 2:22:00 at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaxZNI8jrl4&t=1s

    Through the apprenticeship, God has taught me so much! Mostly, he's taught me my limits and weaknesses. I'm not a prodigy minister. I'm not able to learn as much material as quickly as I'd like. I am afraid of many things. I have lots of sin, and I'm pretty bad about even seeing it. But as a wise man many times repeated: I'm not here because I'm good, I'm here because God is good. 

    I'm thankful for all of my wonderful teachers and authors and lecturers that I got to learn from, even if I only understood 5% of what they had to say. I'll always be learning, and I know that what I learned this year will impact every relationship I build for years to come.

SICM:

A picture of most of the Collin students that went to SICM this year, plus a few students from other campuses. We took this picture on a ferry, with Seattle in the background.

A picture of all 10 Collin students (and 2 staff) that went to SICM this year, taken right by the border between Canada and the US.

    Every summer since 2002 and prior to quarantine, FOCUS has sent potential leaders up to Washington State to be trained at the Student Institute of Campus Ministry (SICM). Many of these students return from SICM to lead cores and to do one-on-one discipleship, and to bring the Kingdom to the lives of students throughout DFW. Thank you for supporting the next generation of disciple-makers on our campuses!