Spring is Here!

March was such a great month.  Spring is here!  There is something so revitalizing and new about spring.  God takes the dead looking grass and trees and brings new life to them.  The flowers are blooming everywhere, the grass is green and the weather is warm.  I thank God for all of his amazing work in nature but I especially am thankful for the work he is doing in people’s lives.  I think that his work in us, bringing the dead to life, is even greater.  There is just so much for me to share.

This past Sunday, Stephanie Greene decided to be baptized.  She and I have been studying the Bible together for several weeks now and through her study she decided to be baptized.  She is one of the sweetest women I know and just has such a heart for Jesus and for his people.  While we have been studying the Bible together, she has also been studying the Bible with two international students sharing about Jesus.  I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in her life!  Her baptism was so special to me because we had it at my house and invited about 40 people to come and have lunch with us before it.  It was fitting since she was “getting married to Jesus.”

This past week we did a huge event on campus that focused on human trafficking.  It was our “not for sale” campaign.  We had booth’s on campus on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday that had information about this modern day injustice.  The booths had stories of different people who have been sex slaves here in the United States.  The students all wore “not for sale” shirts and engaged people in conversations about the stories they were reading.  Students were given information on what they could do and that God cares deeply about these issues.  On Wednesday night we met on the Union steps outside in the middle of campus and showed a video about all kinds of trafficking.  It covered modern slavery in other countries to sex trafficking here in the United States.  It literally broke my heart.  Then on Thursday night we had a speaker in the same place who talked about this issue.  The whole week was a huge success!

Several weeks ago one of the women from Collin, Cierra, told me that she wanted to put together something for all of the women from all of our campuses to talk about insecurity in women.  She felt like this was something the women from FOCUS really struggle with just like the women of the world.  So this past Saturday we had three different women from Northeast come and share with us about how sinful insecurity is, how to fight insecurity, and who God says we are.  It was such a great event with about 50 women from FOCUS.  We had lunch, heard the speakers, and shared in small groups.  Cierra did such a great job!  I cannot tell you how proud of her I am.  She saw a need and took initiative to do something about it!

So all of that was this past week!!

Spring Break was earlier this month which I think was much needed for the students and for me!  I think the time of rest really gave them a renewed energy to finish this year off strong.  Our women’s cores are still going well and there are still so many studies happening.  The fruit of the year is really starting to show.

It has really been another great month.  Please pray for the studies going on and that people make serious commitments to Jesus.  Pray that the students can end the year strong!

A Lot's Happening at UTD

This has been a really neat month for our ministry.  Jamiann volunteered (or actually was assigned) to head up Valentathalon this year.  This is an event we do every year right around Valentine’s Day.  It is an event for our entire UTD ministry where we do all kinds of zany games.  Jamiann recruited several people from our ministry to plan the event this year and they did an outstanding job pulling it off.  They planned a choreographed dance medley for a warm up which was led by 10 team leaders, several stations with crazy games for the teams to compete in, and finally each team had to pick a song and act out a marriage proposal while singing.  The entire event was so fun and really, really funny.  We put fliers at the campus apartments for the event and had several visitors come. 

This month our staff at UTD was able to meet with the Intervarsity (another Christian ministry at UTD) Director, Lisa, to begin make some plans to do some joint events with all the Christian groups on campus.  We were able to plan a joint worship night which we did last weekend on campus.  It was so exciting to see all of the different Christian groups come together to praise God together.  The thing that I am most excited about though is Lisa has a vision for doing a Not for Sale campaign on campus toward the end of March.  The different Christian groups on campus are going to get together and raise awareness for human trafficking around the world and really focus on the fact that there are things we can do about it.  We can be a voice for those that don’t have a voice.  We have the opportunity to show our campus that God does care and that Jesus is the solution to injustice in the world.  Please be praying as we prepare for this campaign on campus and we will tell you all about it next month.

Finally, one of the things I am most excited about is we have started inviting students to SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) for an intense week of ministry training in Bellingham, WA.  We send students who we think will be leaders in campus ministry to spend a week learning how to lead small groups, study the Bible, reach out to other students, and so much more.  It is an expensive trip but these students will learn things that will allow them to truly be missionaries at UTD for as long as they are there and they will learn ministry skills that will help them the rest of their lives. 

The small groups are still going well.  One of the girl cores has had 8 international students start coming to it this semester.  There have also been several girls step up to study the Bible with these students and they are really excited to do it.  Please be praying for all of the studies that are happening in FOCUS and that we will continually be making disciples. 

I got to see yesterday what an impact we are having.  I am studying Focus on Jesus with Jessica right now and we were and Starbucks yesterday doing our study.  When we were leaving, a guy who worked there asked us if we were studying Focus on Jesus.  We told him yes and asked him if he was part of FOCUS.  He said he was a student at Collin College a few years ago and Focus on Jesus literally saved his life even though he was only at Collin for one semester.  It was just a neat reminder to me of what a small world it is and that Jesus really does change lives.  God is so good and I am so thankful that we all get to partner together to share the Good News! 

Winter Camp!!!

I feel like often God teaches me so much more through my time with people than I actually teach them.  The past couple of weeks have been no different.  I really do get to spend time with some great women who are so serious about their walk with God.  I am studying Focus on Jesus with 2 different women who ask some really great questions and who really want to do what God wants them to do.  They are so open, consistent and prepared each week.  The women in my peer team are constantly asking for advice and spend so much time really loving the women that God has given them this semester.  It just really inspires me to continually be a student of God’s word, to be open with the people in my life, and to constantly be a person who asks advice.  It is so encouraging to see the heart that they really have for the people they are reaching out to. 

We just got back from Winter Camp a couple weeks ago. We had over 250 students from our 4 campuses there.   Eddie Howard came from Colorado to spend the weekend with us.  He preached 5 sermons out of Joshua and did such a great job.  I have heard nothing but positive feedback from students.  It is so neat to see what just having a few short days around God focused people can do.  It was just such an encouraging weekend for the students who came. 

For me, the week going in to camp was really difficult.  My grandmother died the week before camp.  I literally walked in the door from staff retreat and my dad came to the door and told me she had died so we got in the car and headed to Tyler to be with my mom.  Then, a couple days later we went to Vernon for her funeral.  It was a couple days after that I ordered all the snacks and headed to camp.  So going into camp I was really worn out and emotionally exhausted.  God is so good though, he takes away special people but then he turns around and blesses us in special ways.  I got to be around so many people who loved on me, encouraged me, and praised God with me.  I really, really love Him.

Camp was also a really neat time to catch up and have conversations with people that I don’t get to on a weekly basis.  It was really encouraging to hear what is happening in their cores and in their lives.  God has really blessed me with some really neat friendships through doing campus ministry.  I am so challenged by them.  God is changing lives on our campuses and it is great to be a part of that.

So, in short, God is so Good!

Happy New Year!!

December was another great month for our ministry at UTD.  We had our Christmas party in December at the Northeast Church.  Our theme this year was Christmas morning.  We were expecting around 100 students and we had over 130 students come!  We served breakfast and had some great entertainment.  Each of the cores could participate in a competition to perform a Christmas carol.  It was absolutely hysterical…We have some creative students!!

The Friday night after our party we had a FOCUS Christmas service focused much more on the true meaning of Christmas.  We sang Christmas carols, read parts of the Christmas story, and shared thoughts.  It was such a neat time for our ministry.  Then it was off on break.

The break was a much needed time of rest but now I am ready to hit the ground running.  We just had a staff retreat this past weekend which I think got us all excited to go back and do ministry.  My favorite part of the weekend was on Friday night.  We used that session to simply pray for one another.  It was some much needed strength for me. 

This weekend is our annual winter camp.  We are taking all the students from all 4 campuses out to Bridgeport until Monday.  This is such a spring board for so many of our students.  Please pray that the students who really need to be there come and that that the weekend will really impact them.  I just cannot wait to see what God is going to do!!!


The students all will start back to school the Tuesday after Winter Camp.  Please pray that we have another great semester and just pray for all of our student leaders.  

In FOCUS, we try to have every student in our ministry go through a foundational Bible study one-on-one called Focus on Jesus (many of you already know that but just in case you don’t…). God has given me the opportunity this year to study the Bible with two different students.  Every time I get to study the Bible with someone I am amazed at how much he teaches me through that.  I have gone through the lesson called The Character of Christ 2 times in the last month so I have really spent a lot of time thinking about Jesus’ character.  When I compare Jesus to me, I just realize how short I fall but then reading about his mercy, grace, and forgiveness I am so encouraged.  He continues to work on me and I pray that my character can be more and more like his.  Both women I am studying with want to be their best for God and that really challenges me to be my best.  I have been so blessed to get to study one-on-one with them, to mentor the corefa’s, and to work with the women interns we have this year. 

 God is so good and he is so faithful.  I continue to be amazed at all he is doing all around me.  By this time in the semester, the small groups are established and one on one’s are really going.  Through the one on one’s especially, God really starts to change people’s hearts. This year has been no exception.  We have women who are really struggling with who they are going to live for.   The word of God really is living and active, sharper than a double edged sword.  I am so thankful that we have so many disciples in our ministry who are studying the Word with people. 

I am so proud of the women small group leaders (Corefas) for putting in the time to really invest in people.  By this time in the semester, the corefas are so busy with school and with all their other commitments.  This is also when they want to spend more and more time with people in their core, pouring into them.  Please pray that the women corefas  are able to learn to balance their lives between ministry, school, work, friends, family and purposeful rest time.  Also, pray for the people that are in our cores that they will really continue to grow in their relationship with God.  Pray that people will turn their lives completely over to God and make Him Lord.

We continue to have very large women’s cores at UTD.  So far God has given us what we need to minister to each woman one on one.  I am so thankful for that.  Please be praying for our students as they are ending the semester and about to be away from the community for a month.  This can be a very difficult time for people.

I honestly feel like this year is flying by.  I cannot believe it is already November and we have about a month and a half left until winter break.  So many amazing things are happening at UTD this year.  I feel like God blows me away week by week with all that he is doing in and through people.  There really are so many different things that I could share about on the women’s side of FOCUS.

I am currently leading a small group for small group leaders that we call peer team.  My peer team consists of four women who are students at UTD.  In peer team we started reading a book called Fuel and the Flame which really has reminded me why I love doing college ministry so much.   My peer team and I are really catching a vision of the foundation that we get to help lay in the lives of young women.  The corefa’s (small group leaders) in my peer team are really challenging the women that they meet with to have a deep relationship with God and to really be radical disciples of His!

I went and visited both of the cores that the women in my peer team lead this past month. I was BLOWN away by both groups.  The core I visited on Wednesday night has about 24 women in it.  The group has so many new people that the corefas can’t possibly study with them all.  The returning members of the group have really stepped up and are studying the Bible with some of the new people.  The corefas are meeting with all of these returning members, giving them weekly support.  They are basically leading a small group for the leaders in their group.  I am so proud of the hard work these corefas are putting into making sure that everyone in their group has the opportunity to study the Bible with someone and are raising up other leaders at the same time.  During core it was clear that the women enjoyed being together, have a heart to praise God, and are pretty open.

 I also got to visit a core that is on Thursday nights this past week.  It was so neat to meet so many new girls that were not in FOCUS last year.  I am so amazed at how this core seems to be growing each week.  The corefas are doing such a great job planning and really building community. God is doing some amazing things through these groups.

Today, Jamiann and I went up on campus and prayed for UTD and for FOCUS.  As I was walking back to my car I saw one of the corefas doing a one on one study with a girl in her core.  I think that God is working in so many ways and he does answer prayers.  Please continue to pray that God continues to work through these students to bring people to know him.

A New Year

The new school year has officially begun, and it has been such a busy month getting prepared for it.  Our new FOCUS interns officially started on August 1^st .  We have 5 interns working on three different campuses this year, which is so exciting!  I am very excited because I get to work directly with Jamiann at UTD, and then also get to spend some time with Brianna and Kelly helping them some while they work at Collin College and the University of North Texas.  I cannot wait to see what God is going to do through them this year.

This month has definitely been busy.  We spent a couple of days doing a staff retreat with the interns just getting to know them and building our team.  I feel like that was such a great weekend and I personally left encouraged and excited to work on this team this year.  After the retreat, our UTD staff spent some time getting ready for the students to arrive and planned some activities for the Freshmen.  The Freshmen moved in 5 days before the upperclassmen and there really was not a lot for them to do the first few days they were there.   We put on several events that week and all were well attended so we were able to meet so many new students.

The fruit of all of that work has started to show since we had our first large group meeting last week.  We had about 150 people at our first Friday night of the year!  We also had about 80 women sign up to say they wanted to be contacted about being invited to a small group (Core).  This year we currently plan to have 5 women’s Cores which will meet at different times throughout the week and are student led.  So with all the students that signed up and with all the students the Core Facilitators met during Welcome week, our women’s Cores are going to all be big. This will present some challenges but is so exciting!   This year, I get to work with some of the women Core facilitators to make sure they have all the resources they need to be successful.  I am so thankful that my dear friends Christa Smith and Amy Knoles will also help with some of them as well.

 Please be praying that we can have great cores and that the women are able to build relationships where they can grow in their relationship with God.  Please continue to pray that we are able to make disciples on all of our campuses this year!