Winter Retreat and The Start of the Semester

We just got back from Winter Retreat yesterday, and it was such a great weekend! We had our largest group ever (somewhere around 830 people), an amazing experience learning from guest speaker Marty Solomon, and so much time to practice loving one another and worshipping Jesus.

Marty gave five keynote talks taking us all the way through the book of Genesis. As much as I've studied this book in the past, I was not prepared for how much I learned! I told a friend after his third talk, "I don't think I've ever heard a sermon preached about Isaac (the patriarch) much less cried through a sermon about Isaac," and yet that's what happened. Marty brought a Jewish perspective to understanding this very Jewish book, and opened our eyes to see more of God's heart in these stories. It gets me excited to listen to his Bema Podcast where he goes into more depth on these things.

If you'd like to listen to (or watch) these lessons, they are available on Spotify.

Marty really used the space available to him on the stage. The students were so engaged with his teaching!

I wish you could have experienced the energy in the room during worship. This is definitely a new generation rising up!

There's no great way to capture all the people at the retreat, but we packed the place out! I'm wondering if we can get one more year of doing Winter Retreat with all of our campuses together.

I also spent a good amount of time doing outreach to a future generation of FOCUS students as staff and alumni visited with their kids. What a treat!

One new experiment at the retreat was our optional "Ask Unc" session ("unc" is what Gen Z likes to call older people), where students lined up to get one on one time with Ronnie or Garrett or me. I had students wait nearly 3 hours to get 15 minutes asking me questions. It showed me that we need to do more of that! There is truly a hunger for wisdom and God's word in these students.

I also got to do some Bible teaching on dating and marriage at the retreat, something we try to do every other year at least. (You can find those talks on our Spotify as well as Marty's) We had some scheduling challenges that made it feel a bit rushed, but I've already gotten some good feedback and great questions from students.

Thank you for all you do, all your prayers, and your generous gifts that empower me to spend my time investing in young adults. It's bearing good fruit, and what we've done together so far is only the beginning!

Student Testimony

Quick Notes from the Past Weeks!

First off, we had an amazing Pizza Theology with Dr. Rikk Watts. It's very worth listening to or watching if you love learning about the Bible. You can get to it here:

Rikk has become a wonderful friend to our pastoral staff. When he's in town, he makes himself constantly available to share his wisdom and insights from God's word.

We also had such a successful Keep FOCUS Growing fundraiser!

Our pastoral staff at UTD this year. This group is phenomenal! The level of talent and heart blows me away regularly.

CARE Church generously hosted our UTD FOCUS Christmas Party. We had dinner, games, crafts, Karaoke, and conversation. The theme was "The Night Before Christmas"

In keeping with our theme, after the party we had our first ever Christmas Eve candlelight service (on December 5!). I wish you could have heard these students earnestly singing carols proclaiming the deep truths of the faith. I loved it!

A UTD FOCUS Christmas tradition is announcing a time for a picture with Temoc (the UTD mascot). Whoever can show up at that time is welcome to join!

Obligatory picture with William. We are each other's favorite person and he came to the Christmas party for a little while. :)

Alumni Testimony

Once a year we share an alumni testimony instead of a student one. Jared is one of our UTD alums and is such an encouragement to me as I see him living for God after college! Thank you for your support to make stories like this one possible!

A Tough Season

This past Saturday my mom died and went to be with the Lord after a nearly decade long battle with cancer. I got to spend a considerable amount of time with her and my dad in her final weeks. As someone who lives life around young people, I don't encounter death very often. I remember talking a few years ago with one of my old small group guys who was an assistant pastor at his church. He was sharing how he had officiated many funerals but never a wedding, and I, not surprisingly, was (and still am) the opposite. It has been a chance to see in my own heart and prayers how confident I truly am in the hope that we have in Jesus. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." This is the hope we are spreading on campus, and it is exciting to see more and more young people embracing the Lord, as my mom did when she was young. Her example of lifelong faithfulness, especially as someone who worked with FOCUS over many years, has spoken loudly to these young people. THANK YOU to the many of you who have prayed for our family during this tough season. We have been well loved!

Keep FOCUS Growing

This annual fundraiser helps cover a bunch of background expenses in addition to setting aside funds for future growth. Many years ago, the Lord clearly laid on our hearts the commission to build campus ministries at every campus in DFW, including the community colleges. Few others are trying to reach community colleges anywhere in the US, even though somewhere around 40% of undergraduates attend them. We've had ministries at some campuses for years, but these campuses are harder for a bunch of reasons--quick turnover of the brightest students, challenges to funding, little to no on-campus life, etc. I told our campus directors recently that I believe the Lord has assignments for us beyond DFW, but we have to complete our first assignment first. For next year, I'm starting to build a team of some of our brightest, boldest, and most creative young people to pioneer on multiple community college campuses, and to do a lot of learning and experimenting. I'm hoping this week to raise funds to support those ministers and give them a strong budget for reaching new students in new places! If you can give $5 (or $5000!) it will be matched by pledges from other donors at anyfocus.org/kfg2025.

So funny story: I had been trying to set up time for months with Andrew Lewis, one of my core guys circa 2006, who I hadn't seen in many years. In October, as Sarah and I were standing taking pics beneath the Eiffel Tower, I got a text from him asking if I was in France! He just walked by me on the street and saw me! So We got to meet for breakfast at a little cafe, get to know each other's wives, and catch up. What a sweet surprise and blessing!

Student Testimony

Good News on the Lawsuit!

I'll send an email with more info to all of our supporters soon, but the federal judge in our case gave an initial injunction against the enforcement of key parts of the new law at all UT System campuses. The case will continue to move forward toward a resolution that affects all of our public campuses, but in the meantime, the judge has made clear that he thinks parts of the law likely violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution. We don't know yet whether the state will appeal this ruling. Keep praying for the ability of all Christians to freely live out their faith on campus!

The Getaway

We had our annual fall retreat a couple weeks back. The students had a great time, and we had a record number there. One moment that was so special: Jessica, one of our younger women pastors, taught on how Jesus tells us to deal with conflict in our relationships. The students were locked in as she spoke! And then afterward, a number of them made moves to make things right with people. After reflecting on Jesus saying, "if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift," as well as his call to forgive, one of the girls reached out to her dad who she hadn't spoken to in years to express forgiveness and restart their relationship. God is moving and healing relationships!

We're running out of room in our picture spot at The Getaway! Plus, our UTD students show some confusion over which way the "whoosh" is supposed to point. :-P

You're Invited to Alumni Night at The Grove!

I'd love to invite all of you to join us at our last Grove before Thanksgiving. We will be doing a regular service (for the most part) so you can see what these students are up to!

Keep FOCUS Growing is Coming Up!

November is KFG Month! All month long we will be taking gifts and pledges to help cover our administrative costs and funding for pioneering new campuses so we can keep expanding! More news to come.

Student Testimony

Thank you for giving and praying to make stories like these possible!

Something New - A Lawsuit Against Our Campus

This month I have something heavier on my mind, and I want to ask for your help and support.

Some of you may have caught this in the news, but the FOCUS student organization at UTD (which is led by student officers and is legally separate from FOCUS, Inc. that I work for) has decided to join a group of plaintiffs (including journalistic, religious, musical, and political student groups) in a lawsuit against our campus and the UT System. At issue is the enforcement of a new Texas law that leaves the university very little wiggle room in cracking down on first amendment rights on campus. Many news outlets have covered this, but you can read what the Student Newspaper at UTD (also a plaintiff) has to say here: "We're Suing the UT System. Here's Why."

The Campus Protection Act (also known as SB2972) is a response by our legislature to the disruptive pro-Palestinian protests on campuses in late 2023 and early 2024. I believe this bill is an overreaction that takes away the fundamental rights of conservative and Christian students far more than it would prevent rare protests that may get out of hand. 

While there are some commonsense provisions included, the law ultimately removes First Amendment rights on campus from anyone who isn't a student or employee (even from those auditing classes or working on a contract basis), even though the campuses are publicly funded areas. It takes away First Amendment rights from 10pm to 8am every day from everyone--one of its biggest problems, especially on college campuses where students often finish classes at 9:45pm and then start their extracurricular activities! It further takes those rights away for two full weeks at the end of every semester, six weeks per year total. This includes forbidding student groups and even professors from having guest speakers of any kind on campus during those weeks. The Bill of Rights was not designed in such a way that the government can take our rights away for long, arbitrary lengths of time when they aren't infringing on anyone else's rights in any discernible way.

This law was also rushed through at the end of the legislative session, cancelling all opportunities for public comment, so we didn't even hear about it until it had already passed the Senate and was a day or two away from passing in the House. 

Public universities and colleges are not known for protecting the free speech rights of conservative or Christian students--quite the opposite! And this law, while it may have been well-intended, gives campus administrators many new tools to silence or end Christian communities on campus as well as the power to block all pastors from campus. How far they will go in enforcing it remains to be seen.

Will you join me in praying for the protection of our Christian students' rights on campus as this lawsuit proceeds?

Additionally, if this concerns you as much as it does me and you live in Texas, will you consider contacting your state senator and representative about how this law could be used to hinder the Christian message on campuses? You can find out who they are here.

In The Thick Of It...

Today finds us basically in the middle of 14 days of daily events at UTD as thousands of new students show up on campus last week and this week. It's going so well! This group of student leaders is FANTASTIC so far. They are passionate and excited. So many of them didn't really grow up in serious Christian homes, so they aren't burdened by the sense that Christian leadership is something they ought to do. Instead, they are excited about what others did for them in years past and want to be that kind of blessing to a new class! It reminds me so much of John saying "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). 

The scripture we reflected on as a team right before our first freshman outreach event was 2 Corinthians 3:12 - "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold!" And bold they have been! I've already had a number of new students, even multiple non-Christians, thank me for what FOCUS did their first week in welcoming them and giving them the opportunity to make friends and have fun. One student told me last night that he has just looked forward everyday to the next FOCUS event. 

Peter, who co-directs this ministry with Mandy and me, sent out this encouragement in Slack to our core leaders after the second day, and I think it paints the picture well!

Yall are killing it at these events! @Brooklin Moore is just meeting girls left and right, she said she was scared yesterday. But you’d think she had been doing this for years and years. I heard yesterday that @Janice mun said “it’s time to pounce” and got some girls that already said no to joining a game. You can’t say no to Janice. @Felipe Cardozo taking the initiative and bringing his own soccer goals to bring in the soccer boys. @Gavin Cox , @Ava Golisano , and @Claire Mullen I see y’all pushing yourselves to meet more and more people and have good conversations with them. I mean, there’s so many of you to name. But I saw a team that has the vision and worked together. We were vastly outnumbered today and yet when I was walking around you all spread yourselves out so that somebody was in every group. None of this huddling together because it’s comfortable. Nah, y’all are kicking butt and getting numbers. We may have been spread a little thin, but we were spread evenly. With all that, keep coming out! I’d estimate that between yesterday and today we’ve met about 700 students and I bet over 1,000 have been invited to join. Less than 2,000 students have even moved into these dorms. Literally half the dorm population has had their first day shaped by us. That can change not only an entire individual’s experience of UTD, but it changes the very fabric of UTD itself. That this is what FOCUS is about, this can be what UTD is about, and hopefully people see that this is what God is about. He’s working on this campus through you and me, and we’re so excited to have them join him. Y’all are awesome, can’t wait for more nights spent on mission together!

Classes started today, so be praying for these students to keep that same spirit of love and boldness as they encounter their classmates and professors this week!

Some Pics So Far

This is our FOCUS staff of pastors for this year. They are spread out over 14+ campuses loving and students and sharing the good news of Jesus!

Freshmen move in over 4 days, and each evening we had a large outdoor hangout with lots of games and activities. Hundreds came each night to make new friends!

Every day of move-in week we had a table with cold waters, campus maps, and Christians waiting to walk new students around campus to help them find their classes! I've made a number of friends over the years through this simple event, students and alumni who got connected through that simple act of kindness.

All of the freshmen eat in the dining hall, but it's expensive for people without a meal plan! One of my donors gave $800 for our pastors and key students to be able to eat in the dining hall over and over, typically sitting with a student who is by themselves and then inviting more and more who come in to join. It's a culture changer and one of our most successful outreaches! Of the girls in this picture, only one is a FOCUS student (Ella, giving the peace sign, is one of our women corefas this year. I got to mentor her in leadership during her freshman year last year. She's great!)

One of my personal projects this year for Welcome Week was planning a new event called UTD Olympics because UTD let us reserve all three Galaxy Rooms during this week for the first time in over a decade! For those of you who remember Valentathlon, I took a lot of inspiration from that. It was...chaotic lol. But the students had a blast! We had 200 students come and participate. One of the freshmen girls came up to Mandy at the end and said, "Now THIS is the college experience!" Haha!

Another one of my key roles is teaching a Bible class along with Andrea, one of my fellow pastors. The event was called "A College Level Look at the Bible: Unpacking the Book of Jonah." 80 students came to a 2-hour class in the middle of the afternoon Saturday! They were SO ENGAGED. Asking and answering questions both during and after. And a lot of those students have been talking to me at every event since.

Student Testimony

Kathryn is a great young lady, and I'm getting to study the Bible one on one with her boyfriend now, who recently became a believer. Thank you for praying (and paying) for this all to be possible!

Leveling Up Questions

I'm in that part of the year where I'm getting excited about a new group of students and a new team of student leaders. We want to see them grow and change, and to that end it's important that we are always setting an example of growing and changing. This summer I've been going through Proverbs. It's been a few years, and some of them hit differently as I get older and wiser! I'm loving reading them in the NLT (New Living Translation) because it really captures the bluntness at times. I've found myself laughing at statements like:

Punishment is made for mockers,
and the backs of fools are made to be beaten. (19:29)

And:

People ruin their lives by their own foolishness
and then are angry at the Lord. (19:3)

I've found myself reflecting on statements like:

Each heart knows its own bitterness,
and no one else can fully share its joy. (14:10)

And:

Without oxen a stable stays clean,
but you need a strong ox for a large harvest. (14:4)

There is a consistent theme about the pain that comes from not embracing wisdom and understanding. I've been reflecting on how valuable these messages about money and relationships and honesty and hard work are for the young men I get to pastor, and how best to communicate them.

If you haven't read the Proverbs in a while, I highly recommend listening to a chapter or two a day and reflecting on them. I've loved the Streetlights audio version.

There's a huge emphasis on listening and learning in the Proverbs, and learning to ask questions and listen is a large emphasis in our training of young leaders. There's obviously a character component here: Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions (18:2). But there is also a skill component--we need to learn better questions and question-asking skills. 

To that end, my wife recently shared with me a podcast episode that I plan on watching/listening to with all of our student leaders at the beginning of the school year. I picked up some great tips and ideas for a wide variety of relationships and situations. I think it would be well worth 42 minutes of your time as well!

Student Testimony

Our ministry at SMU is so exciting to me. We are seeing huge opportunities in the sororities and in a number of their D1 sports teams, in addition to the ministry we've been doing for the past few years. Thank you for making stories like this possible!