Highlights of Fall 2021

Merry almost Christmas!

     I'm pretty sure I feel this way every year...but I am shocked that an entire semester has gone by. 

     To wrap up the semester, I wanted to share some highlights of where/how God has been moving in our ministry.

     This is MaLiyah (and the rest of us celebrating her birthday). I know I've mentioned her before because she was in my core last year and had kind of an odd story since she came mid-year- while many people join FOCUS after the first few weeks of school because they were met at some sort of welcome-event. 

I AM AMAZED at God's work in her. MaLiyah is someone that I definitely see as a spiritual leader in our core and in her family now. She loves the Lord and is actively taking steps to grow in areas she sees a need to- such as investing in deeper friendships and reaching out to new people to share her life and faith with them. Being naturally more reserved, MaLiyah has really stepped out of her comfort zone in order to be a better disciple. I am thankful for her friendship and the Spirit's work in her.

       This is our UTA women's leader team. They have also been such an encouragement and testament to God's work. Some other girls who were in my core last year, Lizzy and Sarah, are in this picture now as leaders! It has been so neat watching God grow them as disciple-makers. They have both grown A TON in their leadership and I am so proud of them for the initiative they have taken this semester in pursuing young women the way they were pursued last year. What a beautiful depiction of our faith- once we are blessed with it, we go and bless others with it! In addition to those girls, it really is amazing to look at this picture and see all of the ladies who are committed to serving God and college students on UTA's campus. Our ministry could not run without our core-fa's, and it's my prayer that the skills and character developed here will be taken into whatever place they go after college.

     This is my friend, Stephanie. Stephanie is in my core this year and while she grew up with Christian beliefs, this is her first time in Christian community. She is loving the friendships she's made as well as how she's been prompted to think about her faith more critically through discussions in core and sermons at TNF. Stephanie just decided she wanted to study the Bible more deeply and in a one-on-one setting next semester and I am eager to see how Jesus continues to reveal himself to her. She will be studying with my friend, Melina. Please pray for them as they do this!

     And last, but certainly not least- PRAISE GOD FOR HIS WORK AT TCC NORTHEAST!!! Our core has been growing and the group pictured above has been consistent for the past 4-6 weeks. What's even more exciting is the fact that the majority of these students are completely bought in and want to be a part of this ministry taking root and growing on this campus. Many of these students have expressed that they didn't expect anything like this at Tarrant County College and are incredibly grateful for our the community we've created. I truly believe we are bringing LIGHT and LIFE to this campus.

I pray each of you has a wonderful and restful Christmas and break from work!

Here's how you can pray for us:

- WINTER CAMP! It's coming up in January- pray for students to be prompted to come and for God's hand of protection and order to be over it.

- For myself and our students to be truly replenished over the break...not with laziness and selfishness, but with slowing down and connecting with God, his people, and the rest of his creation.

TCC Taking Off

Hello and Happy November!

    The main thing I want to share about today is our plant at Tarrant County College, because I have GOOD NEWS. God is truly moving there and I believe he wants to do something. Here is a picture of a few of us at the zoo together:

Rowan works at the zoo in Fort Worth and got us all tickets- SO sweet. We love community building.

    The 3 students in the picture along with the other campus pastors on my team have been very consistent in coming to the core we started at TCC. They are also all doing a one on one bible study with either Graham or myself. Rowan has been such a neat girl to meet with. Though we have very different interests, I truly enjoy and learn from our time together. I am SO encouraged by the work the Spirit is doing in her through our core and FOJ studies. She shared this past week that she used to only think about God's existence every now and then...but now she considers him and even thinks about communicating with him on an almost daily basis. WOW. She really seems to desire to be like Jesus and is very open to looking more like him so far. I am excited to see how her devotion to Jesus continues to grow over the rest of this year.

Finally became an official student org that can reserve rooms! Thank you to those of you who prayed about that!

    I know that impressive numbers are not what our ministry is striving for, and I certainly believe God's work is present and valuable in just the 3 of them- BUT something super exciting is that FOCUS was able to table at TCC's Fall Fest the other week and we were able to reach a lot of students through that! And as a result, we've had 6 new people come to core and multiple others who gave us their phone number and email that aren't able to come this semester because of class interference, but are interested in coming next semester! I'm feeling very hopeful about this ministry.

Me and Eldrian doing some outreach/tabling on TCC's campus!

    It is very evident that the staff/faculty WANT student life to be there. What an awesome opportunity for our ministry to really partner with the university and make a positive impact on this campus. I believe a Jesus loving community can have a symbiotic relationship with their college campus. On top of that, I remember at the beginning of the school year, I had at least 3 (if not more) students tell me how lonely they felt at school. This breaks my heart, but I think it also affirms the idea that FOCUS can really meet a need on the TCC campus by befriending and loving students in a way that points to Jesus.

    PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR MINISTRY AT TCC!!! I am specifically at the Northeast Campus, but we have 2 other campus pastors at the Southeast Campus where God is moving as well! Pray for God to use our ministry to be a light on the campus and pray for Kingdom-work to happen at TCC. Community colleges often are overlooked and not seen as a place where one can develop fruitful relationships and have meaningful experiences, but that is a lie we are fighting against. Thanks for being a part of this mission in your financial gifts, prayers, and encouragements!

PS: Check out this student testimony for encouragement and 

more specific prayer requests within our ministry!

Fall Camp!

Happy Fall!

We're a just little over a month into this year of ministry now, but we are making headway!

     As a brief update, we just had our Fall Camp with UTA and it was awesome! We had about 80 students (a good mix of new students and students who are returning to our ministry) come and worship, make friends, hear student testimonies, and enjoy God's creation that weekend. I really believe Fall Camp is a time where people begin to see themselves not just as an attendee of an organization, but really a member of our body which really opens doors for discipleship!

Big group games- YAY. Orange team did in fact win, in case you were curious.

This is me, Sam B, and Loren. Sam and I lead core together and Loren is in ours! We have loved having her around and I can see how the Lord is so kindly providing her community and teaching through our ministry.

Worship at Fall Camp

Here's what one of the freshman in our ministry said about Fall Camp when she was asked to share about it at our Thursday Night Fellowship:

This is my first year being in FOCUS and honestly I can say nothing but good things. This past weekend I had the privilege of going to fall camp and had a blast. I’m not gonna lie, I had been contemplating going to camp just new cause I wasn’t sure what I was going to get out of it. But it wasn’t about what I was getting out of it, it’s what God was planning to do through me while being there. I enjoyed playing sand volleyball which brought me so much laughter. My walk and talk allowed me to be open. I got to know everyone on a deeper level and enjoy God’s presence. One of the important things I learned while at camp was about the Lords sweet word which is like honey there was a table set up with a the scripture from psalm 119:103 which says “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Also on the table was a bottle of honey. As I tasted the honey the sweeter it became! It was nice to have the physical resemblance of what Gods word taste like. Gods word is truthful and Lord has so much love for us and he will continue to guide us no matter what. I know that God has so much in store for me.

And when I allow him to speak through me it’s sweeter than what I would think.

This is just one story of quite a few that came from Fall Camp this year. The Lord is at work at UTA and I am incredibly thankful for it. I'm eager to share how he continues to move over the next few months.

PRAYER PLEASE!

• TCC Northeast just approved FOCUS as an official student organization! We've had about 3 students coming to our core there regularly so pray for healthy growth as we are now allowed to advertise through flyers and tabling and such!
• While my core at UTA is going well, there has been some hesitancy in studying the Bible one on one...so just pray for open hearts to explore the scriptures!

Chaos for the Kingdom

WHAT A MONTH.

S.I.C.M. Followed by Welcome Week

    So, many of you probably remember when I was raising support as a student to go to Seattle, Washington for a leadership/discipleship training called S.I.C.M. (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) in 2017. Due to Covid, we planned this year's S.I.C.M. for our students out in the hill country of Texas at Camp Eagle. For those who don't know, this is a 5 day training that equips students to go out as empowered disciple makers on their college campus (and beyond)- in their classes, their dorms, their cores, etc.

Here are our UTA ladies at SICM!
I know the Lord will use them to make a difference in the lives of the girls around them at UTA!
And we are loving the disposable camera photos.

We spent a lot of time in a classroom-like setting, hearing from different ministers about the tools and techniques we can have ready to use to be effective disciple makers and whole-hearted, spirit-filled disciples.

    About a week after returning from S.I.C.M., Maverick Stampede (also known as Welcome Week) at UTA began. Our campus pastors, as well as our student leaders (core-fas) attended and participated in a combination of events hosted by the university as well as by us (F.O.C.U.S.) on campus for the first 2 weeks of students being on campus. We have found that the BEST and MOST IDEAL time to meet students, befriend them, and invite them into our community is during these first 2 weeks. It was sad, but affirming to me when I heard of so many students feeling lonely and isolated...it's obvious why this is sad, but affirming still because disciples here have the opportunity to show people the love of God and his good gift- the body of believers who care for one another! Here are some things we did:

This was one of our events where we played Spikeball and Ultimate Frisbee. Some people we invited as we met them in the dining hall, some people passed by and joined when we asked them if they wanted to play, some came because they met a core-fa at a different event, and so on!

These are some of our students tabling outside- a little more formal than games, but especially helpful in making our ministry visible to those who as looking for one already!

Depending on how well you keep up with my blog ;) you may recognize 2 of these ladies- Thu and Lizzy. They joined me and 3 freshman girls to get ice cream the first Saturday on campus.
I can't believe Lizzy and Thu were the new girls in the pictures last year...what a neat reminder of the powerful work God can do in just one year! Now they are meeting new people and being godly friends to them!

This was our "soft start" for core. My co-fa and I hosted a s'mores night and it was an awesome turn out! I pray that each of these girls sticks around to experience core and hopefully a piece of God's kingdom through that.

And finally, this was our first TNF (Thursday Night Fellowship) of the year! Another incredible turn out. I am so encouraged knowing that many of these students experienced worshipping God and being in a Jesus-centered community for the first time in a very long time or for the first time EVER!

    So as you can see, there was A LOT going on in August. These have truly been some of the busiest 2 weeks of my life, but I know it is for good reason and this labor is not done in vain. I am so proud of the way my fellow campus pastors and our student leaders have worked this past week to expand God's Kingdom. We have casted our nets wide, and now it's time to go deep with those who have chosen to stick here for a while.

Here's How You Can Pray:

- Pray for doors at T.C.C. Northeast to open for us to become and official student org and pray for our core there to be successful in whatever way God desires it to be. In addition to Maverick Stampede at UTA, I have also spent a bit of time at T.C.C. reaching new students there too.

- Pray for mine and Sam's core (yes, I am leading with ANOTHER Sam this year) to be a place where believers and non-believers are welcomed, experience God's love, and receive his truth.

- Pray for our student leaders to remain zealous and faithful with the new students God puts before them.

- Pray for FALL CAMP!!! For our staff to prepare something that will really serve and bless our students and for new students to be drawn near to God and to the Christ-like friendships they encounter here.

 

Re-Introducing Campus Ministry

Hi readers!

     I'm so excited to have some new people on my support team this year- WELCOME! And thank you for partnering with me in what God is doing at UTA and in DFW!

I wanted to start off the school year by sharing about campus ministry- what it is and why it's so important.

     As many of you know, I'm a campus minister for F.O.C.U.S. (Fellowship of Christian University Students), so to introduce this specific ministry, I wanted to share our vision statement.

"The vision of F.O.C.U.S. is to plant vibrant, intellectual, outreaching, Jesus-loving communities on every college campus in the DFW area, and to be a resource for the world, equipping and sending campus missionaries."

     College is a really pivotal and formative time as many students are gaining more independence, learning about who they are now and, making decisions that impact who they will become in the future. The people in this season of life are more open to exploring new ideas than most others. What an incredible opportunity and responsibility we have then to invest in these people and point them towards the truth about who God is and who He wants them to be while their hearts and minds are uniquely open and receptive!

What's the Language??

As you continue to read some blogs- you may notice some words come up often, so here's some vocab:

Core: these are our smaller, typically gender specific groups where we pursue purposeful friendships by sharing about our lives, praying for one another, encouraging one another, and eating or playing games with one another. It also is a place where we explore what it looks like to walk with Jesus by facilitating conversation about the scriptures, worship together, and have space to ask questions.

Core-fa: This is what you're called if you lead a core; and your Co-fa is the person you are paired with to do so!

F.O.J.: this is our one on one bible study called Focus On Jesus. It's just a tool that goes over the entire story of scripture (focusing in on key books and passages) while also discussing what the implications are for real life outside of "bible study". There are 10 lessons to this study and often when people finish, they go on to study with other new people!

T.N.F.: Thursday Night Fellowship! This is our time of worship, teaching, and fellowship (community and relationship building). Our entire UTA F.O.C.U.S. community gathers together for this time.

So hopefully my blogs will make a little more sense moving forward. We are about to kick off the year with school starting in about 2 weeks and all of those things- Core, TNF, etc- will begin soon!

Here's how you can Pray:

• For our Welcome Week! This will be the first 2 weeks of school where we have A TON of events happening to meet new students while they're looking for things to be involved in and friends to stick with. Pray for us to meet students who are in need of Jesus and for God to give our student leaders and campus pastors boldness and zeal to reach people. This begins August 20th!
• For protection from COVID-19. Our staff at UTA is completely vaccinated, but not all of our students are and even if they were, it's quite possible the University could put limitations on our ministry abilities and opportunities. We've seen God's faithfulness in these limitations this past year, but we certainly would prefer to get back to normal!

     I'm so excited to share about how this first month goes as we encounter new students and invite them into our community and ultimately into God's Kingdom!!

Here's our UTA team that will be doing that this year! 

     So that's my vague overview of F.O.C.U.S. and some of the key things we do, but I would encourage you to read this story about how this ministry personally impacted someone. I have stories like these on all of my blogs and I encourage you to read them and celebrate the work God is doing here!

Summer Ministry

What Does a College Minister Even Do During the Summer??

Well...this one got married!! 

Austin and I are SO excited to begin our lives together, and we actually will BOTH spend this upcoming school year doing campus ministry full-time! 

    One of the things I loved most about my wedding was getting to see so many people I love all in the same place at the same time. I was so encouraged to see multiple girls from my core this past year, in addition to those even from past years of my core, celebrating with me and Austin. It's rewarding to see that the work done in college ministry is not done in vain and the relationships built and invested in are really worth something. It reminds me of this axiom we teach our leaders, "If you love enough people, enough people will love you." My heart was so full of affection for God when I looked out during the ceremony and saw many people I've befriended and poured into- they were there, expressing deep and genuine love for me in return.

This is my co-fa from this past year, Sam. She's been such a good, helpful friend to me and I was beyond blessed to have her around all day getting ready for the wedding and of course during the actual wedding festivities. She sets an example for me in service and authenticity.

These are my apprentice friends that I spent the year learning with and doing ministry along-side (all at our different campuses)! They also came to support me and Austin! I would not be the wife and minster I am without these guys.

And these are all girls from my core this year that came to the wedding!! It was so sweet how many of them drove from multiple hours away to be here. God definitely used them to make me feel loved and special that day. I know he will continue to grow them and use them to show His love to MANY more people too.

What Else?

    I'm still meeting up with students! Some I meet up with over FaceTime since they have gone home (to Houston or Waco or Austin or even Connecticut) over the summer. And some are still around so we can meet up in person over the summer.

    I started FOJ with MaLiyah, a girl who joined our core in the spring semester. She's living in Arlington over the summer, so we have been meeting consistently to read and study the Bible and talk through our lives and how we can love God and people better through them. 

FOJ is a one on one Bible study tool FOCUS uses and if you're interested in using it to study the Bible with someone you know, here's a link!! https://fojapptest.z19.web.core.windows.net/study/table-of-contents

    Lastly, this summer I am FUNDRAISING! As many of you know, I raise support for my salary to be able to do college ministry full-time. I'm at about 75% of my goal with about 3 weeks left to keep reaching out to people. I'm so grateful for the people who are currently on my support team. I am immensely blessed!! I trust that God will continue to provide, but it's easy to feel anxious about this subject when it feels I'm pressed for time. I would greatly appreciate your prayers!!

Here's some things you can pray and praise for too!

Looking Ahead

Transition Season

     So the semester is officially over...not only for my students, but for me. I'm no longer an apprentice, but a senior staff member. I no longer live in Arlington- I've now moved to Richardson (but don't worry, I'll still be doing ministry in Arlington). And soon I will no longer be a Repa, but a Nelson. There's quite a bit of change happening in my life. I'm in a season of new beginnings that I know will have some difficulties, but for the most part, I am really excited about this season!

This is who's last name I'll be taking...
We CANNOT wait

     FOCUS is also undergoing some transition...for starters, like a lot of other organizations, we are easing out of the pandemic, so our ministry is looking more and more like normal. On top of that, UTA FOCUS staff is planting a ministry on a new campus!! We are stoked to start working on Tarrant County College's (TCC's) campus! We really believe this is something God has laid on our hearts for a little while now, and opportunities have recently come along to actually make it happen. So many students go to community college and don't get connected to anyone or anything- it's a very different atmosphere than a university, but ministry belongs here too. Jesus is for these students too. It's a great place to begin establishing roots in students so that they can continue walking in faith when they transfer to UTA or wherever else they may go afterwards!

TCC Southeast Campus (we will be planting here and on the Northeast Campus!)

     Thinking through what it looks like to start on a new campus, I was also introduced to a parallel idea- pursuing a new group/demographic on an existing campus. This really got me thinking about a people group our ministry really lacks- student athletes. Many of you know I ran cross country and track for UTA my first 2 years of being there. This gave me a lot of opportunity to cross paths various athletes. I met, studied with, and attended the same events as not just runners, but basketball players, baseball players, volleyball players, etc. This was both a fun and difficult experience. My heart breaks at the lack of Jesus in this people group. Being an athlete and a disciple is heavy work- both require a lot of time, attention, and devotion, so it doesn't surprise me that it's rare to find student athletes who are sold out disciples of Christ.

I think ministering to athletes will mean adjusting the way we do certain things, but "how can they believe if they have not heard?" (Romans 10). God has put it on my heart to be more thoughtful of this specific group on our campus. I think being a former athlete gives me a unique opportunity to connect with some of these students. While nothing official is set in stone about when/how we will reach more athletes, it's something on my radar that I'm excited about and wanted to share with you. I invite you to pray through this with me!

     Meanwhile, we will still be hosting our large group fellowship on Thursday nights!! Oh how we missed Summer FOCUS last year!!

Can You Pray For...

• My intimacy with Jesus through all this transition- to rely on him more than myself through it
• Our students to stay faithful and connected to God and one another over the summer
• My fundraising!! I'm only at about 20% of my goal and could use a lot more financial support for the upcoming school year.
• My wedding and first month of marriage!

And as always, here's a student testimony and more prayer requests for our ministry as a whole! This student is from UTA so I actually got to watch from a distance what God was doing in his heart/life.

Thank y'all for reading!

Wrapping Up

     What the actual heck. I am in shock that it’s the last month of my apprenticeship with FOCUS. What a ride it’s been!

This was our LAST Thursday night together with our UTA community before students head home for the summer

     I wanted to start with sharing a post from social media that my friend, Sarah, posted to remind myself and each of you reading why college ministry is so uniquely valuable:

"My first year of college was sort of hard for me. I had a hard time making friends because of my introverted personality and looking for a church that was welcoming. I tried different churches around the area by myself and just couldn’t find the one I loved.

This year was different. The second week of school, I was walking to my room from work when this girl called me over to a booth that was set up and asked if i was interested in joining a campus ministry called FOCUS. I was hesitant but wrote my name on the list. Apparently, my roommate also saw the booth and wrote her name down that same day. Later, the girl we met at the booth invited both of us to a small group bible study called, core. Lizzy and I were unsure about it and said to each other that we would never go back if we didn’t like it. But here we are right now going to core and Deep Dive every week because we loved it! The people in FOCUS are amazing. They are so welcoming that they want to get to know you and want to be your friend. They are so kind, loving, and show how Christians are special...

Through this campus ministry, I have seen myself grow a lot. I’ve come out of my comfort zone to meet new people, invite people to join FOCUS, and also got to lead a bible study with my friend, Melina! I am so grateful for the girls in my core who encourage each other and love each other. Despite covid, we got to gather together to worship and learn about God, go on a trip to Oklahoma, And also do fun activities! We might not be in the same core next school year, but i know that we will continue to spread our loving energy to the new people we get to meet and i am so excited to see what God has planned for each one of us!"

This is Sarah and I celebrating our last FOJ one on one bible study!
She's so right to notice her growth this year!

A ministry that impacts people for Jesus like this wouldn't be possible without all of our supporters. The cause you’re giving to is one God is really working through and one he really cares about. We appreciate you!

     As I’ve written before in a previous post, I am staying on our UTA staff with FOCUS and will continue my role as a campus pastor there for the 2021-2022 school year (WOOHOO!), but I wanted to share some things I learned specifically in my apprenticeship year before solely looking ahead.

1. I can and should be assertive with others because Jesus was assertive.
2. My value is not in my performance- it’s okay to mess up and own up to my shortcomings.
3. The Bible is full of different genres and contextual elements that affect what it communicates to us about God and how we should respond to it.
4. God’s ability to move and work is not limited by my expectations (thank goodness).
5. People being displeased with me doesn’t necessarily mean God is displeased with me.
6. Jesus’ first concern isn’t what’s right or wrong, he’s primarily concerned with bringing LIFE. He’s not a moral police but a life-giver.

I hope maybe one or a couple of these things ministers to you! Feel free to comment, email, or text me if you want more details about any of those things...or ask how you can hear my sermon on May 27th where I'll talk about some of those lessons more in depth!

All of our apprentices this year with Ronnie!! He's a pastor in our family of churches and has spent weekly time pouring into us. Love him, love my apprentice friends.

Prayer requests:

• Over my fundraising! If you are interested in financially supporting me for this upcoming school year, please contact me! And whether or not you are able to contribute financially, if you could pray for me to reach my support goal, that’d be great!
• That I would finish well- taking advantage of last moments with students before they go home, being purposeful with the time I have left with my roommates (I get the keys to my new apartment May 31st!), and soaking up all I can from my last few classes.

• 
  

  That's my core! And that's a wrap!

Filled Up to Pour Out

 SPRING IS HERE!!

     With that in mind, I'd love to encourage you guys to go check out one of my favorite worship songs- Springtime by Chris Renzema. Give it a listen! It points me towards God in the small things like sunshine and flowers during this time of year.

    I've been sharing a lot in my blogs about the growth that is happening internally in our ministry- how the girls in my core are growing, learning, and maturing- but it's been really powerful watching the external effects that come along with that.

    About a week or 2 ago we had an entire week devoted to outreach at UTA. It’s so easy to get tunnel vision mid-year and forget that there’s still people all around our campus that God wants to meet and bring into his kingdom. Maybe it’s easy to feel like that in your workplace or school too. For that reason, I’m so glad one of our pastors at UTA, Emily, proposed that we spend a week focused on reaching new people.

     We had a display propped up by the dining hall with the question, “What do you think God is like and why?” People passed by and some had no interest whatsoever, but some were willing to stop for a conversation! Sometimes it seems like not much comes from something like this, but I don’t doubt that God used multiple conversations by these boards to plant seeds. Some people we’ve even gotten to invite into our cores and fellowship times too! Beyond reaching new students, it was a neat opportunity for our current students to practice evangelism and boldly make new friends. I was so thrilled to watch some of my girls step out of their comfort zones and engage in conversations with people they didn't know. Often, it was weird and awkward, but I don’t think God needs people with expert social skills or eloquent words to do something significant.  

     During our core time on Tuesday night that week, instead of having our usual discussion/worship, we went on campus and invited new people who passed by to play games with us like volleyball, Uno, and corn hole. 4 girls came by and played volleyball with us for a while. Their names were Laura, Janae, Allie, and Aubrey. They all expressed difficulty making friends this year and were so shocked to see something happening on campus. I was able to get their numbers to stay in contact- please pray for the spirit to place desire in their hearts for God and/or for community! Another guy named Scott came too. Scott doesn’t believe in God, but he seemed to enjoy his time spent with us that night (and again on Wednesday night when he hung out with another core while they were eating on campus). Please pray for him also!

    Pouring out was good and fruitful work, but I’m so thankful we had the chance to fill up before hand. My core took a weekend trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma! It was such a fun time and I genuinely believe God used it to deepen relationships in our core so that the girls have more freedom to be vulnerable with one another and experience community to a fuller extent. 

Prayer:

• For your own outreach- ask God to put someone or a group of people on your heart/mind in your office or break room, your neighborhood, or wherever else you find yourself often, to reach out to; invite someone new into your life that you can reflect God’s love to
• For the people we met at outreach this past week
• For our last month with students to be impactful!