Skip to main content

January Update!

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 get connected with us in this new semester.

 I am taking a class this spring in hopes to meet and befriend new students at TCC. For a multitude of reasons, we have found our ministry to be a bit stagnant in growth. Some of this is due to amazing students transferring, and I believe some of this is due to opportunities at TCC changing like organization fairs. We are faithfully at every event to connect with students, but these community college students have very strict schedules. We have found if they are on campus for Tuesday/ Thursday classes that they are not there other days. Our small group meets Wednesdays. I am hoping to create opportunities to meet new students this next semester. Pray God will connect us with people who want community or are curious about Jesus. 


Photos from the past month:

Our TCC students are the formal.


We decorated cookies during our last meet up. 

Above is a photo from our UTA leader team party. We did games that were family themed. It was so much fun. 


Here is my dear friend Emily holding Bonnie. 

Here is everyone doting on Bonnie at our winter staff retreat. 

Crisp morning walks. :)

This photo is so funny to me. Garrett is the student above wearing Bonnie. He actually watching Bonnie every Wednesday so Graham and I have a date. He loves her so much. It is so special giving college students the opportunity to care for a baby. This is such a ministry.  

We opened our home to host a New Year's Eve party. So many students live at our complex. We had over 13 students over. It was a blast. 



Ministry is inviting people into our life and family. Above is two of my fellow pastors meeting up. They asked if they could hold Bonnie while they met.  

Here's a happy Bonnie photo to close. Thank you so much for your support in ministry. I look forward to updating you next month with how the semester is going. 

Comments

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...

May Update!!

Greetings! Hello team. I have delayed writing this update. I believe that is because anytime I sat to write, a wave of nostalgia and grief came over me. My time with FOCUS has been the vehicle of all my favorite things about my life. It was my first job out of college. FOCUS is where I was raised up into a mature leader through multiple opportunities like seminary classes and many books. I met my husband and had a baby while doing this ministry. I have had the privilege of befriending and mentoring many students; some of whom have become pastors themselves.  These are just a few of the blessings I have lived while working with FOCUS. Your generosity and your care for college students made these beautiful things possible. I hope you see this transition as a celebration of life and ministry. Thank you for all your kind words and ways you guys have personally connected with me in this time. Thank you for seeing the college campus as something worth investing in for the kingdom.  ...

Summer

Hello, July!  I want to start off just sharing some praises! God has been incredibly kind (again). Graham and I have both hit our fundraising goals. Thank you how generous you have been. Thank you for believing in campus ministry. Thank you for seeing value in people like me getting to be available on campus to minister and share the good news. You are an important and integral part of this mission. I hope you feel just as blessed as I do. June was restful. Graham, Waldo and I got to go to Hot Springs.  Work-wise, we have already begun planning for welcome week in August. Welcome week is one of the most important rhythms of the year. Freshman and international student alike flood the campus looking to make memories and friends. This where my prayer warriors come in. Please be praying for the students we will be meeting. Pray that our leader team will have the boldness to invite people to our ministry. A little refresh about our ministry is that our student leaders ac...