Dwell Richly

 Hello August, my old friend.

Above is a photo from our staff retreat featuring our new apprentices! It was such a bless to get to refocus on Jesus as we approach welcome week. It is surreal to think this is my sixth year of campus ministry. Thank you guys for your prayers and support. I wouldn't be here with you and of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Our retreat centered on a book called " In the Name of Jesus" by Henri Nouwen. In the book, he takes the reader through the three temptations of Jesus and how those apply to pastors. He summarizes as them as the temptation of being relevant, popular and powerful. I found myself reflecting on how I have chosen those temptations over trusting and relying on Jesus. I ultimately found myself feeling convicted of how much I desire control and influence over the people I minister to. My desire comes from wanting the best for people, but ends up perpetuating the belief that I have control or power. I am praying that I see this year of ministry as a humble partnership. One where I seek God and look to see where He is moving. I want to honor people's decisions like Jesus does. Pray for me. 

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.- Colossians 3:16

The verse above is our verse for the year. Across our ministries, we are re-devoting ourselves to ministering out of scripture and not ourselves. I have so been guilty of sharing pop-psychology when meeting with my students; I think we all have been guilty of this from time to time. So, this verse comes as a reminder. We want to be people of scripture who have it written on our hearts. Pray our students will experience a sincere devotion to scripture in our community. Pray the Spirit will be with us as we go out proclaiming the good news.  

Here is a photo of me and some students. We were working an orientation. It was a blast. That particular day, we met lots of girls who seemed to be interested in ministry. Pray those girls come by once school starts. 

Here's an after event we hosted at our summer service. Students stayed afterwards to read all of Ephesians. 

Here's Waldo and I about to pray over campus. We have been covering UTA in prayer as we wait for the new students to move in. 

A summer treat: Here's a photo of a sample plater of some yummy Latino baked goods. 

Now, this last photo is incredibly special. My dearest mother-in-law hosted our UTA girls for a tea party. This was a end of summer celebration. We had tea and a three course meal. Our students felt charmed and loved by the party. This group of girls have all been coming to a over the summer bible study. We had to end the summer with a bang to celebrate!