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Giving as you've been given

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 Dear family and friends, I pray that in the midst of the sometimes bust transition between spring and summer that you are filled with the peace and joy of our Father. As the school year comes to a close, I pray that you are met with His nearness and providence. You are so loved.  Our students here at Collin have their finals next week, so we have had our last peer team meeting, our last correa meeting, our last TNF for this year is this tomorrow, and we had our last core last night. In all of these times fo reflecting, it is so evident that God was near and Good to us this year.  In our last core, we got the chance to share about a few different things, but spent some time with this question: What has God given you this year that you want to give to others? Elaina, who is transferring to Hardin University in the fall, shared about how she wants to be the friend that we were to her to those she will meet at her new school. Elaina has grown in depth, and I'm so grateful th...
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None Like Him

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Hello all! "I could search all of heaven above And never find another like You, another like You I could search all the earth below And never find another like You, another like You There's no other more beautiful Never find another like You, another like You There's no other more wonderful Never find another like You, another like You Who is like the Lord?" These are some lyrics that have been encouraging to me this month. I think they also characterize how I’ve seen God show up this month on campus. He has been faithful to show up in ways that only He can. If  interested, the song is "No One Like You" by UPPERROOM.  In mid March, for a full week, we had a group of students come down from Washington from a ministry that we, FOCUS, have had a long term relationship with. Their ministry, CCF, is a community who loves Jesus and is seeking to make Him known on campuses up in the Northwest. This week, during their spring break, was such an encouragement to our m...
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Springtime Sprouts

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 Hello team! What a speedy month. Those couple of days February doesn't have makes a difference 😅  SICM, Showcase, and sprouts are the themes of my last month. Here's what I mean!      For those who remember, a group of students and staff met together for a week long conference, SICM, back at the beginning of August. In fact, I flew straight from my last performance with Dallas Black back to Texas to head straight to the retreat center. SICM, Student Institute of Campus Ministry, is a week long training for students who have bought into the mission and vision of Christ. These students are eager to be disciple makers on the campus, and SICM is all about equipping them to go and be a part of what God is doing on each of their campuses. In a typical year, we invite students early Spring and they fundraise for their trip, which happens mid-May. Last year was an exception for a couple of reasons. It is almost to the 10 year mark since I was asked to go to SICM my Fr...
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Meeting Jesus

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  Hi guys! What a full, full month. Out of the various aspects of ministry that started back up with this new semester, one thing stands out to me: people are meeting Jesus.  While I’ve seen people meet and know Jesus in our community throughout the year, there’s been some pretty stand out moments that I want to share with you guys.  First, we had our annual winter retreat that we call Winter Camp! We took around 450 students from all of the campuses we are at, and spent a weekend at Sky Ranch learning and laughing and worshipping. Each year we get to have a speaker, and this year we had the Rikk Watts from Regent College come! What a serious blessing. He spoke about the historicity of Jesus and the real man that He was (and is!). Rikk spoke on how Jesus really did change everything, and how history leading up to and after Jesus shows that. Our students were so impacted to learn about and think through the real man of Jesus in a real place in history. And, on par with eve...
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Ending as a Beginning

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 Happy 2022 everyone! I am so grateful to be entering this new year with you guys. This past month was full of wrapping things up (😉) and I reflected on how the closure of one can often be a start to another. As you all went through the holiday season and as you start this new year, I pray that God meets you in both your endings and your beginnings. Here are some of the ways we wrapped up last month: Our students at Collin got to celebrate Christmas together in true Collin fashion. We worshipped and reflected about Jesus together, ate lots of queso, and built Christmas forts. Each core had one hour to plan and execute their fort, and my core came up with the theme, "There's No Place like Gnome for the Holidays." While we didn't win, we did get an honorable mention, so I'm pretty proud. It was a sweet night to see all the students who have been impacted by Jesus and His body in some way or another from all the Collin campuses (we are at all 4 this year!) As we con...
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Thankful for all Y'all!

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 Hi! I hope that the beginning to the Holiday season was full of joy for you! It's wild to me that December is already here. There were so many neat ministry moments this past month. I've continued to have new girls come to core each week, and we have a fun consistent group of gals at this point in the year. There have been some formative moments with the girls that I meet with each week for FOJ, and I've seen our community show up at large as well. Going off of last month's update, I have continued to see the growth that only God can produce. His Spirit really is at work at Collin, and specifically in our ministry.  Particularly this month, I've been learning the power of showing up. To show up and trust in God's timing, provision, and direction. I've also watched students learning how to show up in spiritual friendships and also in loving God with their mind and schedule. I pray that God would help you show up in whatever sphere or context that you may be ...
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He makes it grow

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Hi everybody!  It's been another full month, and I can't believe we are already in November. Here are just some of the ways that I have seen God grow those around me:     Fall camp!  Each year, each campus of FOCUS puts on a weekend retreat that we call Fall Camp. It is one of the first times in the year that all the students can have fun, learn, and worship together outside of our normal weekly fellowship gatherings. This year we, from all five of Collin campuses, took a group of about 60 students to Mount Lebanon for a packed full 24 hours. Several of the girls from my core who came spoke about powerful interactions they had had with the Spirit during that time. One girl in particular has a Muslim background said at the end of our time that she, “Wants to get to know God better, and build a relationship with Him.” There was another girl who showed up at camp not knowing anyone, but was able to build a friendship with all the girls in my core. I’m humbled ...
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