Emily's Ministry Updates

Our 2024-2025 UTA Leader Team!!! We have five more weeks to go!  March flew by. Did it for you? This past month was jam packed with small groups, people getting discipled and many students making decisions to follow Jesus more closely. This is the time of year where the rubber meets the road for many students. There's just something in the air. People know they have little time left before summer. It's the perfect time to encourage someone, or challenge them. I know for myself and all my other pastors, we are in the thick of those conversations. Be praying that students make decisions that will help them walk more closely with Christ. Pray that the summer won't rob these students of what they've learned this year in ministry.  I want to start by saying thank you for supporting me in campus missions. I wanted to share a big life update with you all. At the end of May, I’ll be transitioning off FOCUS staff. This decision has come after a lot of prayer and thoughtful conve...

Hello again! It's time for a monthly update. Above is a photo from a galentine's we hosted for students. It is a mix of girls from TCC and UTA. Our students had a blast planning our get together.  This past month we had a guest speaker come and talk with our weekly meeting. They are called the Traveling Team. Their whole mission is connecting students to mission work in the 10/40 window. The 10/40 window is a rectangular area that covers 10 degree north and 40 degrees north latitude. This area is full of countries that have high concentrations of unreached people groups with no access to Christianity. The Travelling Team's whole presentation was to inspire students to consider how they may help this window either by serving a mission or becoming a missionary. I love how we got to highlight another ministry's passion to our weekly service. FOCUS's main vision is making our students missionaries on campus. We don't have natural pathways to point students to the am...

Our annual winter retreat is over! Above is our students from TCC. We had a blast. God has really blessed our small group with friendship and cohesion. We are reaping all the benefits of this. Camp really accelerates friendship. It must been the staying in bunks and have tons of free time. Pray for our TCC ministry and that new people come around. Pray that the visitors that come by feel welcomed.  Of course, it was Bonnie's first retreat too. I want to say to any parents that read this: I respect all that you do. Bringing a kid on a trip is no joke. Tell me why babies don't sleep great in new spaces? It's all a mystery to me, but we made it through. It was worth it being able to share Bonnie with our students and make these memories. She was a little celebrity with so many people asking to hold her. I don't think she touched the ground that whole weekend.  I am excited to say I started a new one-on-one study with a freshman. She is eager and wants to grow in her knowle...

Happy New Year! We are back! Students are on school and we are preparing for our annual winter retreat. I hope yall had a restful Christmas season. Ours was made sweeter by having little Bonnie around. I found myself looking forward for future Christmases as Bonnie grows and becomes more aware. It is so exciting to think of the ways we will get to point our little girl towards Jesus using the excitement and truth of Christmas.  Anyways, our last semester ended with a bang. We threw an awesome formal for our students. It is special getting to plan these events that make college so memorable for them. Below is a photo of our TCC students. I was blown away by how close these students have gotten over the year. It can be hard getting people to buy into being friends. TCC has really grown close and it's always the highlight of my week meeting with them. Pray that we will use our community on TCC's campus to be a light to students who don't know Christ. Pray for new students to g...