Getting Ready to Pioneer New Campus Ministries!

 

I love this picture! What are the chances that parents visiting from India would want to take a picture with the FOCUS bulletin board at UTD?! Ignateus came as an international student from India a number of years ago. He already had a rich faith from growing up in the Catholic Church, but transitioning to college in a different country can be risky for a young believer. Thankfully, he found FOCUS and got very involved. He's graduated and lives in another state now. He continues to serve the Lord faithfully, and his faith continues to be an encouragement to me. When his parents recently visited from India, he gave them a tour of UTD and, with no student events happening on campus, made sure to snap this picture of them with the FOCUS board to celebrate his time in our ministry.

Pioneering Workshop

We are preparing to start new ministries at FIVE NEW CAMPUSES this fall! They are all community colleges, which are some of the most underserved campuses (by ministries) in the nation. Part of our preparation was taking our entire staff team (about 50 people including the incoming apprentices) through a two-day pioneering workshop. Paul Austin is the Pioneering Director for Chi Alpha, a national association of campus ministries for the Assemblies of God, and he came to share his many years of wisdom and experience with us. It was SO GOOD! In addition to talking about new campuses, he spent a lot of time helping us see how we can reach new demographics on our existing campuses, so there was so much valuable learning and discussion for every one of us, regardless of experience level.

Our staff team is a big crew now!

Here's a reflection from Austin, who helps lead our ministry at UTA:

"I was impacted by Paul's philosophy of campus evangelism being most effective when we as an organization seek the wellbeing of the University we are on as well as the wellbeing of other organizations on campus. My perspective on our relationship with other student orgs shifted from being primarily competitive, to seeking to be symbiotic with the campus, which I believe to be an approach much more like the heart of Jesus."

Student Testimony