20 Years and Another Great Fall Camp

First off, if you haven't decided yet, I wanted to make sure you got one last invitation to our 20 Year Celebration this Saturday. It's going to be a great event!

Fall Camp

Last week we had our Fall Camp for UTD, Richland, and TWU Dallas. We had about 180 people come out! Our theme for the year is "Be Brave," and we spent those 24 hours diving deep into it. I wish you could have heard 7 brave students stand up and share about different areas in which God has taught them to trust instead of giving in to fear. Students shared about the impact of eating disorders, parental neglect, expressiveness in worship, the hard work of forgiving, confessing sin and living in the light, among others. The students were so impacted by having their peers open up to the community out of love. It sparked a lot of vulnerability within our cores that weekend.

Karlo sharing.

Remember the parachute from middle school PE?

Students bonding and playing games.

Student Testimony

Gordon, seen here sharing at camp, wrote our student testimony this month.

"Last year, God really blessed me through FOCUS. I experienced a lot of growth and was presented with multiple awesome opportunities. So this year, I was really excited to be a corefa and have the opportunity to give back. Before the year even started, I saw God working on our campus. Welcome Week was a blast; I saw people in our community reaching out to others, loving them, including them, and welcoming them to UTD. Being shy and inexperienced with outreach and talking to strangers, Welcome Week was something I had dreaded. But the Spirit really inspired me and gave me an excitement for meeting others and getting to know them. The Spirit pushed me to get over myself and focus on others. Since then, I’ve been thrilled to see those freshmen and new students continue to be involved in FOCUS and to see them being invested in the same way I experienced last year. In my own core, I’ve seen real friendships being formed--friendships that are already vulnerable and open to talking about serious issues and struggles. In October, we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of FOCUS; I’m celebrating a community that is selfless in its pursuit of loving others."

Thank you for being selfless in your pursuit of loving others through prayer, through parenting well, and through investing financially in campus missions. You're impacting the future of college students! Whether, you get to make it to the 20 Year Celebration this weekend or not, know that I'll be celebrating your part in all this!