November Update!

 

November is my favorite month. I am excited for the leaves to change and for the weather to get colder. Students are counting down the days till they can go home for Thanksgiving break. I cannot believe there are 5 weeks left of the semester. Pray for our students as they prepare for tests. Anyways, let’s get this show going. 

Ministry has taken a while this semester to settle for me. I am leading a small group at UTA and helping with TCC. I felt like the first two months were full of meeting people then October hit and I was left wondering how one person can hang out with all the people I’ve met. God has been bringing such neat people into my life this semester. My small group at UTA is going well. Our group consists of some ladies who are in their second or third year in our ministry mixed with new girls. So, our veteran members have been taking initiative to include the new ones. Sam and I have been thoughtful in considering what topics to talk about. There is an opportunity in our group to dive deeper because of the students we have. I am being challenged to pray and consider what does discipleship look like when you’ve been around the ministry for a long time. A question that has been in my mind is: What does it look like to still be discipled when you are not actively leading?

This semester, I have been so lucky to help with the TCC start up. God has been so evident at TCC this semester. Both at Southeast & Northeast campuses, FOCUS is officially a student organization. We have been able to advertise and attend different events to get our name out there. I have been blown away at the commitment our staff has had in reaching out on those different campuses. At the Southeast campus, FOCUS is one of the only organizations on campus providing community. Three of the TCC students from this campus came to our UTA Halloween party. 

At Northeast, there has been a consistent group of four students coming until very recently. We attended a fall festival and were able to get our name out. Our staff passed out candy and casted the vision to anyone who would listen to what FOCUS is wanting to do. The following week five new students attended the small group we held on campus. That was just from standing at a booth!! Be praying for these new FOCUS plants. Pray that students will make space in their schedule for the TCC core (we are meeting in the middle of the day since many students are working and have complicated schedules). 

TCC has been sweet to be able to see grow. I have helped some at the Northeast campus, and have found those first few faithful people so special. As a group, we went to the Ft.Worth zoo because one of the students works there. They had free tickets and decided giving them to us. It’s these early memories that blow me away. How does God draw in certain people when something is starting out? FOCUS at TCC is not glamorous. We just recently got a room. Yet, I see God in that. I see God in how people decide to come along early on. At the most recent small group, students were saying they were excited to be a part of something to grow their faith. Pray for these students and that they will come to know God better through these friendships and times spent together. 

Lastly, 

So as many of you guys are aware, our pastors raise support, but it takes so much more than that for us to do ministry! There is outreach supplies and activities, administrative support, we are currently planting new campuses like TCC, and then also health and retirement benefits! So we are kicking off our Keep FOCUS Growing fundraiser. This is an annual fundraiser that is focused on being around for the long haul and expanding our reach as a ministry. Some of our generous donors have banded together and agree to match up to $50,000 in total donations during this campaign! So if we receive a total of $50,000, they will donate an additional $50,000! If you are thinking about giving the first day to do that will be November 30th! This is also known as giving Tuesday! The best way to give will be through Facebook, and the various KFG fundraisers that we will be sharing, also a check with KFG in the memo button, or you could give a one time donation to anyfocus.churchcenter.com (where you set up recurring giving) and there is an option for Keep FOCUS growing 2021! Thank you guys so much for already being so generous in supporting me as a pastor, and thinking through this additional opportunity! 

Thank you so much for your support of this ministry.