Happy Easter!
Hello my ministry friends! He is Risen.
I have found myself this past month being really thankful. Much of this has come from my own remembering how I felt last year around this time. Last year, we left on spring break and did not come back. I cannot believe we have hit a year marker of this pandemic. This March has been full of reasons to be thankful: I have been able to meet with many of our potential leaders. Many of these meetups have been outside in this beautiful weather and I have gone on many walks. We have met many students on campus through our outreach and outdoor worship events. These are just to name a few. I am thankful to be able to be present on campus.
Philippians 4:4-8 comes to mind as I look back on the year we have had and the season I am currently experiencing:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
This verse speaks to both sides of me: the part who struggled rejoicing in circumstance and the one who can’t stop rejoicing. I want to encourage you that no matter what side you’re experiencing that we had a good God who can handle both sides. I pray that what’s happening on campus can serve as good news that lifts you up.
March is the best for many reasons, but my favorite is that spring break happens. This spring break I brought my peer team to my hometown, Bonham. It was a blast showing them around. We stopped at my favorite places: the antique shops, the best mexican restaurant in town and my grandma’s house. You’re probably wondering why go to a small Texas town? Why not go to a cooler destination? Well, we wanted to take photos at a local spot. Target has been selling them prairie-style dresses and we wanted to take prairie girl photos. The photo shoot was a blast! Ministry is both in bible studies and in goofing around. I love how in ministry we have the opportunity to create fun experiences for our students. I’ll put more down at the bottom, but here’s a couple photos:
Speaking of our outreach events, we hosted our own special outreach week in March. We posted whiteboards near the UC and posted the question, “What do you think God is like and why?”. Monday through Thursday we asked the same question and we got a range of answers. What struck me was how many students we met who were eager to give their numbers to us. It feels like I can’t stress enough how many students are desperate to meet new people. One of the days, I was outside and spoke with a girl for nearly an hour and a half. She was a transfer student who came to campus during COVID. We talked a bit just getting to know each other and later I asked how it had been meeting people. Her response was simply that she hadn’t. Her roommate never showed up and she just sort of turned inward. She has been going to class and hanging out in her dorm. Many of the student leaders who did outreach heard the same story. I was encouraged to see many new faces at our Thursday night service after this event. It’s never too late to get involved. Pray that we can be faithful with the students we met during this outreach week. Be praying for students who are on campus who are alone and that they can find community.
I have two announcements to share with you:
First, FOCUS is all about reaching DFW and planting vibrant college ministries on campuses. Through praying and discerning, this year across our different campuses, we will be planting 5 different college ministries. This is very exciting. Arlington is near many Tarrant County Colleges, so our ministry will be planting at two different TCC campuses this fall. I want to ask for you to partner in praying for these ministries and our staff. The fact we are poised to expand to other campuses is a testament to God! We hope to meet the need we are seeing on campus of lonely students who want friends. We know that on TCC campus all of their students have been online. We want to be the ones who greet them and bring them in our Jesus-loving community!
Thank you so much for your support. It means the world to me.
Here's some pictures from this month:
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