Emily's Ministry Updates

  Hello June!!   I know I’m a little late on my update. I got married on June 5th and what can I say: I could not type anything leading up to the big day.   The wedding was sweet and went by really fast. I got a lot of advice leading up to the day. Lots of people told me it’s hard to find time to eat during the reception. I can proudly report that I did in fact eat the food we picked out. I ate doughnuts and coffee. I ate the small sandwiches.   So here I am… a whole lot later.   Thank you for your patience.   The summer is a different speed. If the school year is like a sprint, summer is a leisurely stroll. It’s a time of rest and preparation for the next year. I can’t believe I’m typing that. We are prepping for this fall. We actually made it through our crazy covid year. I know we aren’t completely out of the woods, but it feels nice to be doing the events I love in a normal setting like Summer FOCUS. We are hosting weekly services every Thursday for our...

  Hello again!  I was on a thankfulness kick last month. To start my update, I am still in this state of gratitude. The Lord has been moving me as I have been reflecting on ministry and how it is compared to last year. What can I say? I am a sentimental type of person. Outside of myself, I do believe we are called to remember in our faith.The Old Testament comes to mind. There are many stories of the Israelites acting foolish because of their lack of memory retention surrounding who God is and what he promised. God had been faithful, keeping his promises. Israel just couldn’t keep their end of the deal. I guess that is the gospel summed up, right?  Anyways, I have had the story from Joshua 4 in my mind. It’s where Joshua asks the tribes of Israel to grab stones and lay them down. The stones were to serve as a marker of when God made the Jordan River dry, so that the Israelites could cross into the promised land. Here’s what Joshua says at the end of the chapter starting i...

Happy Easter! Hello my ministry friends! He is Risen.  I have found myself this past month being really thankful. Much of this has come from my own remembering how I felt last year around this time.  Last year, we left on spring break and did not come back. I cannot believe we have hit a year marker of this pandemic. This March has been full of reasons to be thankful: I have been able to meet with many of our potential leaders. Many of these meetups have been outside in this beautiful weather and I have gone on many walks. We have met many students on campus through our outreach and outdoor worship events. These are just to name a few.  I am thankful to be able to be present on campus. Philippians 4:4-8 comes to mind as I look back on the year we have had and the season I am currently experiencing :  4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice ! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every ...

  Hello again. I hope you are all doing well as we come into this new month.  I am encouraged by what has been going on at UTA. I am starting to feel sort of normal when on campus as the days become longer and sunnier. We hosted one of our first outdoor outreach displays of the year. It was on a beautiful Wednesday. We posed the question of “How do you know if someone loves you”? It was our delayed Valentines outreach (thanks snowpocalypse). Anyways, we had students sign up in shifts and ask people if they wanted to answer the question. The response was amazing. There was one point where every one of our student leaders were in groups talking with new students. Students on campus are lonely and desperate to meet new people. It is exciting to be a part of such meaningful work: we are filling a need on our campus by being present, friendly and inviting people in Jesus community.  Many phone numbers were swapped and I trust the Lord is doing something there.  This updat...

My work as a campus pastor has clear seasons. January, our students are on break for a good part of the month. The past month was a time of prepping and praying for the work that is to come. This year, I have been leading a group of leaders that we call “peer team”. It consists of several pairs of ladies who are co-leading a small group. This has been a fun new role in my ministry. I love getting to be a friend and a partner with these women. Anyways, I was praying through each woman and how God might want them to grow this semester. I had spent the fall getting to know them and now this semester, it was time to see where they should be encouraged or spurred towards something better. I had this moment as I was thinking through each lady: I only have four more months before summer break! How are these ladies going to learn and grow in all the areas that I so desperately want them to?   I imagine you have felt this way about someone in your life. Someone who you care for and des...