Checking In

Hey all,
I'm thankful you're taking the time to read this. I want to give you guys some more peeks into what we've been doing at Collin, and there's a lot that's been happening this month!

First, I want to again thank you guys for all your support and prayers. I can't thank you enough for continuing to be a part of God's work on these campuses. I am truly convinced that God is working in the lives of these college students, and that for many of them, this will reshape their life as they go out and live in our society. We still want to bring people to the realization that Jesus is Lord and make fired up disciples who will go out into the world and spread that good news over and over. So thank you again for being a part of that.

March was a great month for a lot of reasons. Early on in March, during Collin's spring break, me and a few of the other guys from our FOCUS ministry at Preston Ridge got to drive down to Big Bend National Park. We camped for a couple days and hiked around the park. It was a great couple of days out in Nature and it gave us some good time together to talk and relax. Here's a few pictures from that trip:

One of our campsites 

The crew: L to R Me, Cody, Austin, Garrett and David

Hike next to the Rio Grande

We came back sunburned and sore but with great memories and pictures.

The last week of March was our Impact week. Students from Washington state came down to Collin on their spring break to spend a week with us doing outreach on our campus and learning more about how to build ministry at their Community College back home. I absolutely loved this week. There were 6 of them that came down, and they were such a blessing to have. They really were so eager and willing to be meeting students on our campuses, and they did a great job of emphasizing going around campus and walking up to strangers to talk with them about their life and about God if they were interested. Since they came, many of our students have expressed how much more those students coming down to meet people on our campus has pushed them and encouraged them to want to do the same, so praise God for that. I'm glad I got to spend time with them for the week, they were a big encouragement.

Some of the outreach crew during last week's time on campus. 

Jack, one of the folks we had from Washington, checking out this massive tree at the FT Worth Botanical Gardens. We took the whole crew out last Friday night to give them some time to relax after a long week for them.

The other big deal that has happened is our annual Spring Showcase! This is a fundraiser we've been having every year to raise money for all of our students going up to the Student Institute of Campus Ministry in May to spend a week learning about how to be ministers on their campus. We have a bunch of students going this year from all of our different campuses, and we used this opportunity to raise money for their trip expenses. The show has a bunch of different musical acts with extremely talented people who come and perform to help send these students to SICM, and this year's show was awesome. Hundreds of people came and bought tickets for the show, and bought artwork and photography from the art sale we have with it. So many people volunteered their time and efforts, and we're so thankful for that. It's such a neat deal. 

Here's all of our current FOCUS staff at Spring Showcase

As you go about your next few weeks, please pray that our student leaders are finishing the year well. They have tests coming up and their classes will be wrapping up in the next month so pray that they have the gas to really do their best for this last stretch in ministry and in school.

That's all for this month! Thanks again for all your support, and I'll talk with you guys again soon!

Ryan