Skip to main content

Camp

 Happy 2023!

The photo above is of our entire ministry team! Isn't that amazing and crazy? We are all on different campuses making Jesus known. I am coming out of our break, and I am feeling refreshed. As I type this blog, our ministry is prepping for our annual winter camp. I am so excited for our TCC students to experience this. I am blown away by God's faithfulness. 


Last year, we had four students attending the TCC ministry. Two of them attended our winter camp. I felt like they were the pioneers. They were the people who came back and shared how awesome camp was. They became our spokespeople. This year, we are bringing twelve. I am so excited for this group of students. Be praying our ministry grows closer and gets to know God better. Pray this camp will be transformative in their faith. Our sessions at our camp will be over the wisdom literature. I am excited to see how God moves through the texts. So many students have been wanting us to dig into these scriptures. Pray they see God more clearly through the texts. 


Personally, I have been reading two books I've been assigned. FOCUS is huge on continuing our education. We read a book called Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson and Inside Out by Dr. Larry Crabb. Both have been incredibly thought-provoking. Working the Angles exposes the gross truth that modern pastors can look impressive and spiritual without actually connecting with God. I found this to be convicting. It's just so true. We can praise people for outwardly doing many spiritual things, but they might not be praying or connecting with God personally. The book causes me to hold a mirror to myself. I don't want to be a pastor who doesn't have time for prayer or direction from God. It also brought up an interesting snare in the modern church: many high-level leaders are not receiving guidance. They have become spiritually lonely and isolated. The book heavily encourages seeking spiritual mentors. As I was reading, I found myself being thankful for the ministry I work for. I have been spiritually supervised and guided throughout my time with FOCUS. The second book, Inside Out, focused more on how spiritual healing comes from the inside out. I am still working my way through it with my book club. 


I am praying that God continues to show me how to love my students well. Pray for Graham and me as we consider what God wants at TCC. Pray that we can be bold as we dream about what to do. I have been thinking through what outreach to do. I want to be even more present on campus. Send any ideas if you have them! Pray for this semester. We will be considering who to send to our annual leadership training in Seattle. Pray that we can be bold. 



A hard part about ministry is that people graduate. 

Here's Amelia. She is the glue at TCC. She makes life more fun. 

Here is me and one of my gals from TCC. We have become coffee snobs together. 

Speaking of spiritual direction, here's the woman who keeps me sane. 

Here is me with two ladies from UTA: Success (Left) and Laura (Right). Laura and I spent weekly time together. She is the best!!

Here is TCC at our Christmas Party!


Thank you so much for supporting me. Thank you for your prayers too. I am grateful to have a team like you behind me. Also, I feel like my ministry has gained much power since getting Waldo. He is a people magnet. 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August Update!

  This update is full of prayer requests and news! Let’s get started.  I just got back from our summer staff retreat with our entire staff team. One of the key parts I want to underline is: we have not had our entire staff together on a retreat since my apprentice year. Our staff has boomed in size because we are taking on nineteen apprentices this year. Nineteen. It’s exciting to experience a surge of new people and to see our team grow. I had a strange moment during the retreat where I realized some of these apprentices were students when I started back in 2018. Now, I get to partner with them in reaching our campuses this fall. I guess that’s what happens the longer you work at a place.  One of the most exciting updates I have is that we will be pioneering five new campuses this fall. Each team is focusing on a different campus. One thing that has blown me away during my time in FOCUS is how the Lord has worked on community college campuses. I remember visiting a Colli...
1 comment
Read more

Below Freezing Baptism

Happy Snow Day! Of course, January would end white and icy. Graham, Waldo, and I are holed up in our third-story apartment. Pray, we figure out when to take our dog out in this weather. Waldo doesn't really want to put his paws on the ice and I can't blame him. While the month started off restful, the end of the month was full of activity fairs to meet new students. Graham and I were constantly printing off flyers and buying candy to prepare. We got a lot of free lunches, so I can't be too mad. Be praying we meet students who want community. The spring can be awkward for students because they assume everyone has friends except them. Pray they have the boldness to overcome that.  We had our annual Winter Retreat this past month. A short story time: this retreat was my only interaction with FOCUS before working with them. This is where I learned about the ministry internship and saw this amazing community in action. I had never seen so many young people praising Jesus ...
Post a Comment
Read more
February is a little slim on photos. Forgive me.  The photo from above is from my small group making valentines for our ministry. Here's one of cards: I know, it's baby Yoda. So basic. Much of this past month has been much of the same: meeting up with girls and doing bible studies. We have seen some recent growth in our ladies side of the ministry. This has been encouraging, but it feels like we are bursting at the seams. It feels like there are always more people to meet up with. Pray that we are able to build up new leaders to help with this growth.. Especially pray for God to bring ladies to lead.  Something exciting and new is that I have picked up some studies at DBU. Yes, there’s a FOCUS at DBU. It’s small and still growing, but we are there. It has been mostly pioneered by students from other FOCUS campuses. The staff at UTA has recently over the past three years joined in to help this group. For me, this is the vision of our ministry: equipping...
Post a Comment
Read more