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.