Teaching + Preaching

Trying Out A New Format

We've been experimenting with a new format for our sermon time for Friday Night Fellowship at UTD. We have so many goals for that time--growing biblical literacy and knowledge, equipping students to read the Bible well, teaching the basics of the faith, addressing relevant topics, helping students grow in their relationships with God and other people, etc. But when we try to do so many things, the messages can get muddled and hard to remember. So, we've been trying a new format where we have a 10-15 minute teaching time followed by an 18-20 minute preaching time. We are in a series on the book of Philippians, and so far so good!

Teaching Time

The teaching time is designed to equip the students to better study God's word on their own. We are both demonstrating the kind of information that is available and how to use it. As we study Paul's letter to the Philippian church, we've looked at the history of the city of Philippi and how its status as a Roman colony bears on both the story of Paul's work there in Acts 16 and the letter he wrote the church. We've pieced through Acts 16 to understand the background of Paul's relationship with this church. We've talked about letters as a genre and some key insights into the purpose and situation behind this letter that we can glean from reading it. And this week, we'll be outlining the letter and identifying some key themes to keep an eye on. One of my favorite parts of the series was when Cort showed some pictures from Philippi itself. Did you know the actual jail that Paul and Silas were chained up in (and miraculously freed from) in Acts 16 has been uncovered? He also showed us the river where Paul met Lydia and baptized her. These and other insights are helping the scriptures become more real for the students, and we're getting great feedback.

Philippian Jail from 1st Century

Krenides River at Philippi

Preaching Time

As a team of pastors, we've been going through a book on preaching by Andy Stanley called Communicating For A Change. It has been really helpful to process and discuss it together. Stanley believes in one-point sermons. He argues that even the preacher doesn't remember their 3 or 4 points a couple of weeks later! As we've been experimenting with this throughout the semester, I find that I can remember many of the lessons clearly without having to look anything up!

• A "good life" is not a life worthy of the Gospel
• Humble people honor people
• Ask God every day to see as he sees
• Plant sequoias and wait expectantly
• In Christ, your Family is bigger than you think it is and runs deeper than you think it does

It's a process and we don't know where this all leads, so please pray for wisdom for us. But in the meantime, we are having fun and the messages seem to be connecting with the students!

Special Prayer Request

We are down one key staff member, Amy, for the time being as she steps out to take care of aging parents with unexpected health issues. Mandy and others will be stepping in to take up the slack. Please pray that students and apprentices that Amy normally mentors would be blessed by that transition and that the Lord will give Amy extra wisdom and grace through this tough time.

Student Testimony

Thank you for all you do, pray, and give to bless college students! The Lord takes what little we can do and grows it into beautiful things.

The Power of Personal Testimonies

We had a great turnout at our UTD Fall Camp a couple weeks ago! Our community is growing in size, depth, and diversity.

Rather than preaching sermons, our tradition at Fall Camp each year is for our students to share from their own experiences in following Jesus. You would have been so touched to hear these courageous young men and women get up in front of nearly 200 of their peers to share about decisions the Lord has led them to and the obstacles they've had to persevere through. They shared about depression and struggles with other mental health issues like OCD, about fighting through cancer and years of treatments, about tough breakups and major life transitions and moving across the world, about the challenges of keeping commitments and opposition from family members who don't love Jesus. Then we sent all the students out in pairs to walk and talk and share their own experiences. The overwhelming thing I heard on the backside was new students expressing something like "I realized that if they can be leaders and not have it all together, this is a community that I can be a part of and be honest with." It's so sad that people have the impression that they need to have it all together before they come into Christian community, but the good news is that more and more are realizing that Jesus invites them as they are, and this community is one that will love them through the ups and downs of life.

FOJ Story

Last month I asked you to pray for our new FOJ studies. One of our core leaders shared this story with all of our leaders, and I think you'll find it encouraging! (If only I knew how to make all of these the same width so it looked good. ;)

Student Testimony