Brandon's FOCUS Update: December 2024

This time of year we are often thinking of the Incarnation, the idea that God became a flesh and blood human in Jesus. We focus on the memory of Jesus as a baby in poor surroundings. The Incarnation plays out through the entire story told by the Gospels--Jesus teaching and healing and most of all loving people, then dying, being buried, and coming back to life in a new flesh and blood body before his ascension.

I've been studying 1 Corinthians this semester with two of the student core leaders I meet with weekly, and something new jumped out at me in chapter 6. In the midst of a warning about sexual immorality and a reminder that our bodies will be resurrected like Jesus' one day, Paul writes, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?"

I'm so familiar with Paul's metaphor of the body of Christ in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, that we each have different gifts to share and roles to play so that his church can be healthy. But here in 1 Corinthians 6:15, Paul says something more specific--my body is a member of Christ. The incarnation continues in me as his Holy Spirit comes to inhabit my physical body.

What people need is not to encounter more ideas. Our world is FULL of ideas. We're on idea overload! What people need is to encounter Jesus, his physical presence, his touch, the sound of his voice. The original children's minister at my church would always say that children's ministry was about being "Jesus with skin on" to kids. Now, setting aside the gruesome image of a de-skinned Jesus that would sometimes pop into my mind when I heard that, I think he had it right.

One of the great revelations of the gospel is the Incarnation, that "in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col 2:9). And we participate in that! The things we do matter--the meals we share, the affection we show, the times we just show up to be present with people in celebration or mourning or the humdrum of daily life. Our bodies are members of Christ. When we show up, he shows up.

That's what campus ministry is all about--these students need to encounter Jesus on campus. Not just as an idea, but as a person. And it's what your ministry is all about too--your kids, your spouse, your friends, your coworkers, the stranger standing next to you in line--they don't need another idea; they need to encounter Jesus, embodied in YOU. As we reflect on the mystery of Christ in a manger, reflect too on the ongoing mystery of the Incarnation in your own life as a disciple, "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27).

Managing Expenses

We are over halfway to our goal with our annual fundraiser, trying to secure all of the matching funds that have been pledged. One of my goals as we have built the organizational structure of FOCUS is to stay lean and mean. The bigger organizations get, the more bloat and red tape and bureaucracy tend to take over. I recently spoke to the area director of another campus ministry, one of the large national ones, and she told me that their first year staff had to raise about $120k to be on campus their first year! (For comparison, our first year staff are usually raising about $30-40k.) Now those staff weren't making 6 figures their first year; well over half of that went to ministry budgets and the national office. In contrast, our pastors only raise their personal support. They typically don't even cover the cost of their own benefits as we supplement health insurance and a small amount of retirement matching.

All that means that we need money given in other places to cover ministry budgets on campus, pastor benefits, administrative expenses, etc. Those are a small percentage of our budget overall, especially compared to many other ministries. The student offerings help out, but don't come near to covering those expenses. And that's where the annual fundraiser comes in. Without this money, not only would we not be able to Keep FOCUS Growing, but we'd eventually need to shrink some. We carry no debt so that we are flexible and ready for the unexpected, and we live on (and plan for the future based on) the free gifts of those who are excited about the mission to transform the lives of young people on campus for the future of the Church.

If that's exciting to you and you have the means, I invite you to make an extra gift this year (that will in turn be doubled by another donor!) at anyfocus.org/kfg. Let's Keep FOCUS Growing another year!