Greetings!
Hey guys, another month has gone by already! It's still crazy to me how fast these months feel. I hope this February finds you well though. I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that have been going on.
First thing that comes to mind about this past month is Winter Camp! Man what an awesome time it was. This is a yearly event that we do, and it is a way that we celebrate what God has been doing in the FOCUS communities across DFW every year. All of our campuses send their students for a Friday-Monday right before school starts. They have the whole weekend to spend time with each other that they wouldn't normally get, learn about a topic through the sermons in the many sessions we have throughout the weekend, and worship and praise God for the changes He is making happen in so many of the lives that are there. For many students, this is an event that really shapes their understanding of how to be involved in a community, and it gives them a much bigger perspective than just what's been going on at their own campus by showing them all of the students from across the metroplex who come together. Here's a picture of the group that came out this year:
I'm in there somewhere. This was my fifth year getting to go to this, and it was a new experience not being on the student side of things. Putting on a weekend long event for over 600 people certainly has a lot that goes into it, but praise God that things went smoothly.
One of the neat things that often happens around this time of the year is that many students respond to God's call of them to dedicate their lives to Jesus. This often happens because many of those one-on-one Focus on Jesus studies I mentioned in earlier posts wrap up around this time in the year. Many of these students who are in these one-on-one studies are getting baptized and choosing to call Jesus Lord for the first time in their life, and that is such an awesome thing to witness. Be in prayer for these new disciples of Jesus, that their roots would continue to grow deep, and that they continue to respond to the Spirit's work in their lives as they begin reaching out on campus more and more.
One of the new things I'll be doing this semester is meeting with a few of our male student leaders weekly. We call these meeting Peer Team, and It's really been one of the highlights of my week. This is designed for us to build a relationship and for them to continue to grow in their walk and in their ministry. I've loved the time I've gotten with these guys so far, and am excited to continue that this semester. Be in prayer for these guys as they continue to lead cores and do outreach on campus in the midst of being students at Collin College. The students in our ministry spend many hours a week doing ministry on campus and one-on-one, so just pray for them to be energized and motivated and to be growing in their personal relationship with God as they continue to lead in our ministry
We have something exciting going on this month, and that is that we're planting a FOCUS ministry at Southern Methodist University!! This is our first time being at a private school, so there were some challenges to that process of getting in there for sure, but God really moved in some awesome ways to provide people who would help us get started there. This week is the first official meeting, and we've gotten some students who go to our other campuses to bring friends of their at SMU to this event to start building relationships with students already on that campus. I'm just excited to hear what happens there in the next few months, and I invite you to join me in prayer for God to continue working there and that we would just be looking for how to join Him in what He wants us to do there.
Thank you guys so much for reading and for your continued support through this year! Please let me know if there's any ways I can bless you guys!
-Ryan
Hey guys, another month has gone by already! It's still crazy to me how fast these months feel. I hope this February finds you well though. I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that have been going on.
First thing that comes to mind about this past month is Winter Camp! Man what an awesome time it was. This is a yearly event that we do, and it is a way that we celebrate what God has been doing in the FOCUS communities across DFW every year. All of our campuses send their students for a Friday-Monday right before school starts. They have the whole weekend to spend time with each other that they wouldn't normally get, learn about a topic through the sermons in the many sessions we have throughout the weekend, and worship and praise God for the changes He is making happen in so many of the lives that are there. For many students, this is an event that really shapes their understanding of how to be involved in a community, and it gives them a much bigger perspective than just what's been going on at their own campus by showing them all of the students from across the metroplex who come together. Here's a picture of the group that came out this year:
 |
One of the neat things that often happens around this time of the year is that many students respond to God's call of them to dedicate their lives to Jesus. This often happens because many of those one-on-one Focus on Jesus studies I mentioned in earlier posts wrap up around this time in the year. Many of these students who are in these one-on-one studies are getting baptized and choosing to call Jesus Lord for the first time in their life, and that is such an awesome thing to witness. Be in prayer for these new disciples of Jesus, that their roots would continue to grow deep, and that they continue to respond to the Spirit's work in their lives as they begin reaching out on campus more and more.
 |
| One of the baptisms from this past month |
One of the new things I'll be doing this semester is meeting with a few of our male student leaders weekly. We call these meeting Peer Team, and It's really been one of the highlights of my week. This is designed for us to build a relationship and for them to continue to grow in their walk and in their ministry. I've loved the time I've gotten with these guys so far, and am excited to continue that this semester. Be in prayer for these guys as they continue to lead cores and do outreach on campus in the midst of being students at Collin College. The students in our ministry spend many hours a week doing ministry on campus and one-on-one, so just pray for them to be energized and motivated and to be growing in their personal relationship with God as they continue to lead in our ministry
We have something exciting going on this month, and that is that we're planting a FOCUS ministry at Southern Methodist University!! This is our first time being at a private school, so there were some challenges to that process of getting in there for sure, but God really moved in some awesome ways to provide people who would help us get started there. This week is the first official meeting, and we've gotten some students who go to our other campuses to bring friends of their at SMU to this event to start building relationships with students already on that campus. I'm just excited to hear what happens there in the next few months, and I invite you to join me in prayer for God to continue working there and that we would just be looking for how to join Him in what He wants us to do there.
Thank you guys so much for reading and for your continued support through this year! Please let me know if there's any ways I can bless you guys!
-Ryan
Woohoo! I'm so excited about SMU. God has really provided some incredible connections there. I'm also excited about what you get to do at Collin. Having you there is really a help to those students as they grow and mature in their faith. Keep it up! Love you Ryan.
ReplyDelete