Happy Trust - June Ministry Update

Happy is he who trusts in the LORD
-Proverbs 16:20b

Hello, friends!

    Summer is here. I think we all have mixed feelings about that. It's hot hot hot in DFW (at the time of me writing this, it'll be above 100 degrees every day this week!), but that doesn't mean it isn't fun fun fun too. For this month's ministry update, I don't have as many pictures as usual, but I still have some exciting news!

I am very engaging:


    Meet my fiancée, Alex! This picture is from right after we got engaged at the beginning of June. She's an incredible woman of God, a servant to all, and my love. There's nobody like her. Pray that our marriage will be richly blessed by God and a blessing to him and others!

Summer TNF:

    I don't have a great picture of our summer fellowship nights, but they have been amazing. FOCUS students from all the campuses across DFW flood in and worship all together, listen to a message inspired by the lessons from our 1on1 discipleship booklet, and stay after to fellowship. I've been really personally encouraged by the sermons. The week before last was on the topic of sin, where one image in particular really stuck out to me. A man accidentally burns his neighbors' house down, rendering them destitute. He walks over to the brokenhearted family, sincerely apologizes, and then goes back inside his own house to leave the family alone to rebuild. Was his apology enough? That is how we often treat sin; we may expose our guilt and apologize, but we convince ourselves that that is enough, and all the while the consequences of our sin remain.

PACCS:

    Over the summers, FOCUS encourages its members to join groups of 2 or 3 to meet regularly and go through the "PACCS" acronym: Prayer, Adoration, Confession, Commission, Scripture. I'm in a PACCS with a student named Graham, and I'm very excited about our friendship. He is a student that's taken much initiative with PACCS, virtually planning our agenda every week. God is certainly present in our times together. I know God is blessing a large portion of our ministry through these groups!

Happy Trust:

    Summers are the main time for support-raising for FOCUS ministers. It's easy to not trust God in various ways, but especially so during support-raising. What if people aren't generous? What if people don't believe in me? If people are generous and if they do believe in me, what if I misuse their generosity, what if I'm a bad minister that doesn't deserve it? All these doubts expose that I trust in people, not God. If God wants me to be a campus pastor, he's going to make it happen. And he's taught me again and again that it isn't about me! It's about the good, strong Creator that is redeeming the creation he loves indescribably much. So I'm happy to trust whatever he's got planned for my tiny slice of it, and there's no room to worry.
    Also, thank you so much for supporting me, especially in prayer. I know it was some of your prayers that God responded to to make me confident in him during this season.

Student Testimony:



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David's September Update

Image
O   Lord , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. Psalm 8:1-2 Hello, friends!      If it were up to me, September would be month 7. But I don't make the rules. I do make disciples, though. Here's an update on the ministry of the 9th month of our year. Thank you so much for supporting and praying for me! Core is the Central Middly Part of our Ministry: Top: a picture of our third week's core Bottom: guys from core take a picture at Andy's Frozen Custard to make me feel jealous that I wasn't there      I suppose our core started in August, not September, but now I have pictures. We like to say that core is the core of our ministry, because it is true. It's too easy for a disciple to become siloed off in a single discipleship relationship. I know that it's easy for me to think t
Read more

David's October and November Update

Image
He took him outside and said,  “Look up at the sky and count the stars —if indeed you can count them.”  Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring   be.” Abram believed the  Lord , and he credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:5-6 Hello, friends!     What do you call a bear with eight arms? Octobear.     What do you call a joke with November as it's punchline? It doesn't exist.     That's right, November's over, so now it's time for my monthly ministry update! I meant to give an update for October early this month, but now I might as well update on both months at once. Thank you so much for praying for me and supporting God's agenda on the college campus. He's been at work since the beginning and up to this day building little temples out of people and filling them up with his Spirit, making children for Abraham. One day, if you can believe it, we will be like the stars in the sky in quantity and quality. Core: Top: Andrew, Ugo, and Nick at the F
Read more

David's August Update

Image
Find out what pleases the Lord. -Ephesians 5:10 Hello, friends!      If you're new to my support team, welcome! If you've read (or just looked at the pretty pictures in) several of my update blogs, welcome back! It's time for my recap blog for August. Thanks so much for being part of God's blessing me, and God's blessing the students on campus. New School Year: Alex wanted an awkward "first day of class" picture, and whether you wanted it or not, now you get it too. This semester, I'm taking just one class (Intro to Humanities) in order to be considered a student and get access to areas like the campus gym and campus events. I chose this humanities class based off the recommendation of one of Focus' student leaders, who told me it's a great class to openly discuss religion. I asked many local establishments for donations in preparation for Welcome Week. I was blown away with how many that were so generous! This is a thank-you note to Starbucks,
Read more