Wrapping up 2018-19

I finished up a year of mentoring this great group of guys alongside my apprentice Drew.
They've done some really meaningful ministry this year!

This time of year is always bittersweet for me as students graduate and transition out of FOCUS. The relational style of ministry we do means we often form deep connections with students over the course of years, and then those relationships have to change. But it's also exciting in that it opens the door for new relationships when thousands of new students flood our campuses in just a few short months.

Thinking Ahead

We're already in planning mode for the next school year, and to that end, we've been debriefing some of the experiments we tried this year. We've been reflecting on our second weekly service at UTD on Tuesday nights (a big success!), but also on whether we have the staff in place to sustain it. We've looked at how our goal of being a more visible community on campus through conversational outreach displays has gone (another big success!), but also whether some of the time we put into that might be better spent in other types of evangelistic outreach.
One of our biggest questions for the long-term is how to grow a ministry without losing the relational element that we value so highly. When a group gets about 200 or so, it's so much easier for students to hide in the background, coming to things but remaining unnoticed by leaders. It's so much harder to pick out the visitors in a crowd. Doing the second service this year has helped with that, but also created new challenges with maintaining unity and direction when we're never all in the same room at the same time!
One idea we've considered over the years is splitting into more than one ministry on the same campus and allowing them to grow independently. Until recently, I'd never heard of anyone trying it, but then we found out that Chi Alpha at Sam Houston State did just that this year. They actually split their 800ish person ministry into FIVE ministries on the same campus!
Last week, my senior UTD staff went down to ask them a million questions about the experience. They were so sweet to us and excited to share what they are learning. We aren't looking at trying this out next year. In fact, we may still be years away from taking such a major step (if ever). But these are the kinds of conversations that put more tools in our toolbelt for the future and that forge new connections with others who share our mission and values.

We had some good BBQ in an HEB with Jason Bell and a couple of key people from his Chi Alpha team!

Spring Showcase & SICM Update

We raised around $22,000 to help send students to SICM, up from around $16,000 last year! Thanks to all of you who participated, prayed, or attended, and to all who give and pray regularly to make this possible. Please be in prayer for the SICM trip that leaves this Friday!