Back for Another Fall Semester! (plus big news at the bottom)

I always love this time of year, even though it's exhausting. We're doing events every single day and meeting hundreds and hundreds of new students. Our Denton director Ryan told me that they had about 375 students at their first FOCUS service last night (UNT starts a week earlier than UTD). I heard from Casey, who is leading our Dallas College planting team, that at a student orientation event this week, the president of the college came up to our table, handed his card to our team, and said "We're glad you're here. If you need anything, contact me directly." Wow! 

We also had a big breakthrough at Collin College on some of the challenges we've had getting reservations and rooms. Sarah was able to meet with a higher up person this week after reaching out to the Board of Trustees with the problems we're facing. By the end of that day, all of our requests had been approved!

I heard from one of the young women pastors this week about a conversation with a freshman in the dining hall: "Ella and I went together today to meet new people and we bumped into a girl named Nariah who came and joined us to eat. We got to get to know each other some and she pretty quickly opened up about her life and some of her struggles. She was asking us how to deal with negative thoughts that she has about herself--feeling like her past and present sins make her unworthy to be a part of Christianity. I got to ask her 'how do you think God views you?' And she paused and said 'honestly, I don’t know.' Ella and I got to share about God’s love and how that has to be where we start from to start unraveling  lies we’re believing and also got to pray over her. She was so grateful that we came over because she hadn’t made any friends on campus and is excited to come to our events and get involved!" (Eating in the dining hall without a dining plan is expensive but SO EFFECTIVE at connecting with new students, especially ones like Nariah who might not be bold enough to go to an event by themselves but still need to eat! One generous couple gives money every year to pay for bold young believers to show up and meet new students meal after meal. What a cool ministry!)

I love it because I get to hear SO MANY stories like this. We have a couple hundred young leaders going out on these campuses as missionaries, and they are impacting so many people at a pivotal moment in their lives.

Thank you for praying (and paying!) to make these stories a reality. The Lord is using our partnership to advance his kingdom!

These are the FOCUS pastors across our 16+ campuses this year! Phenomenal group.

At our staff retreat, I got to do some teaching on why we do things the way we do them, reflecting on the example of Jesus. 

For UTD, we had a training day for the 26-27 core leaders. Laurence is teaching about God's will for our lives in this picture. We have over 60 student core leaders at UTD this year, plus a bunch of other leaders for various outreach groups!

This will give you an idea of how crazy our first couple weeks at UTD is. We have events every day, plus daily tabling on campus to hand out coffee, meeting people in the dining hall, and just hanging out with people we've already met. These student leaders hustle!

Some of our leaders hanging out with freshmen the first day of move in.

We try to have a constant visible presence in areas where lots of people are passing by.

I wanted to mention this crew for a special prayer request. Taylor, Asa, Renee, Angel, and Tania (in the front) are our missionary team at SMU this year. It's a big deal because their long-time director Garrett has transitioned to leading a church. So they're on their own this year. But they are killing it! They have pushed past car breakdowns, a fall down some stairs, and lots of hot afternoons to be present and love new SMU students. Please be praying for them to remain in the Vine and bear much fruit.

And I'll just drop this here... Big changes coming in March of '27! Pray for me!

Student Testimony

I'm Recommitting for 5 years!

This Thursday night is our annual licensing and commitment ceremony for our pastors. You may know that our pastors commit for a certain number of school years at a time, which provides a lot of stability for the students. Well, it's my time to make a new commitment, and I will be committing to continue serving for another 5 years. While I fully plan to keep at this work for as long as I can work, 5 years is the maximum commitment that we let our pastors make at one time. It's a very meaningful ceremony, and I'd love for you to come by if you'd like to! It's during our final Thursday Night FOCUS of the summer, so you would also get to see the students, join in worship, and hear me preach! I'd love to have you join and pray for me as I prepare my heart for the next half-decade of ministry.

Thursday, July 30, 7:30 pm @ Care Church (1504 E Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75081)

More Details on the 30 Year Celebration!

More Good News

We had two baptisms this week! Bible studies from the school year are still finishing up. Thank you for helping make these positive decisions for the Lord a reality!

Madeline baptized Drea!

And Siena baptized Emily! The Phase 8 pool is now regularly used as a baptistery! 

Onward Toward Maturity

Maturity is a hard concept to really get our hands around. We sort of know it when we see it (at least sometimes--I'm always wary when a young people describe themselves with "I'm mature for my age" ha!), but if asked how to measure it, we can struggle to come up with a good metric. Paul wrote that "[Jesus] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ" (Col 1:28). So the point of ministry is bringing people to maturity by preaching Jesus. Still easier said than done! 

At our summer FOCUS meetings, we are exploring the concept of maturity and what it takes to get there. Even at 47, I've found it very challenging! I wanted to share Austin Gage's sermon that kicked the series off with you. It's well worth your time to listen! 

Thank you for your prayers and gifts that invest in maturing these young adults. The world needs more people who look Like Jesus, and together we are a part of bringing that to be!

As for me this June, I'm in the thick of meeting with students to have conversations about being a leader in the coming school year. It's always fun getting to know these young guys and seeing their heart for the Lord and their willingness to make big sacrifices to be a blessing to others. Please pray that God will assemble exactly the team we need for the year ahead.

Update on the Lawsuit

I've had some people asking about the status of the lawsuit over the recent state law limiting students' First Amendment rights on campus. There's not much to tell. The federal court put an injunction in place back in the fall against many parts of the law being enforced at UT System schools. There is an appeal in process against that injunction which is slowly making its way through the US appellate court. Pray that the injunction will not be lifted! And that students' rights to practice their religion freely on campus would ultimately be preserved.

In related news, there is also some movement on an important bill in the US Congress. The Equal Campus Act of 2025, is set to be marked up in the coming week in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Its current language reads “None of the funds made available under [the Higher Education Act] may be provided to any public institution of higher education that denies to a religious student organization any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the institution (including full access to the facilities of the institution and official recognition of the organization by the institution) because of the religious beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct of the religious student organization.”

This would go a long way toward providing clarity and consistency across the nation, protecting all students' rights to exercise their faith on campus. I'm praying it becomes the law of the land!

Some Pics!

These are the 7 students currently at June SICM. Not pictures are the two campus pastors who took them. Even more potential leaders for our mission to these campuses!

Peder and James are two of the UTD leaders who I don't know very well, but they invited me to going hiking one morning a couple weeks ago. I had a blast getting to know them and especially hear how positively they think about the last year leading core and the impact they were able to have.

I got to have lunch and catch up with these two beautiful UTD alumni, Rohit and Kelsey. I miss having them at UTD, but it was encouraging to hear how their faith and commitment to the Lord is still growing. Plus, their kids are so sweet, well-behaved, and SUPER cute.

I also got to hit up the zoo with friends, including most importantly my little buddy William. When I got in the car on the way there, he said "Now we have the whole family!"

Summer FOCUS on Thursday nights is in full swing! Once again CARE Church is generously letting us use their building. They are amazing to us, and the students are loving it and bringing friends!

Student Testimony

Back from the Pacific Northwest!

We had an amazing time up in Seattle and Bellingham for our yearly trip to the Student Institute of Campus Ministry (SICM). I feel like a broken record saying it was our biggest group ever, but it was--by more than 30 students, even as we get more restrictive in our invitations. This number is one of the biggest metrics that I watch because of what it means for producing leaders for the coming years. As a pastoral staff, we only invite students if we think they can lead a core (one of our small discipleship groups) in the coming year. This year 150 students went in May and another few will be going to June SICM! I use the trip as a chance to build relationships with the next generation of leaders at UTD. You would be so encouraged to watch these students worship God, love on each other, and talk to random people on the campuses up there.

One quick story--while we were still in Seattle, an older man in the hotel we were staying in sought me out. I was worried it might be a noise complaint! But quite the opposite. One of our UTD students had met him, heard about his life, and prayed for him and his sick grandson on the spot. He told me that he wept during the prayer for the first time in years, that God's Spirit gave this student the words to pray. And then he gave a donation for our trip. I was so touched to know that when we showed up, the presence of Jesus showed up and started blessing people! This is the kind of thing the Lord is doing through your prayers and generosity. Here are a few pictures to sum up the trip:

Over 180 of us went, including the pastors!

Some UTD guys who I went hiking with outside of Seattle. I beat them up the mountain, but my knees couldn't keep up with them going down!

Brad Davis came with us again for the first time in many years. He cooked all week for 14 men in our Airbnb. The food was amazing, and it gave me more time to focus on the students. When Brad and I came to SICM for the first time, we got in a fight over him wanting to bring a purple starfish home with him, so here he is threatening to get one just to mess with me.

One great thing about being in Bellingham each year is that we are close to Vancouver, BC, where some of our favorite seminary professors live. A few of us got coffee with Iain Provan. We also got lunch with Rikk Watts but forgot to take a picture!

This was the house of guys Peter and I stayed with this year. Eleven future men leaders at UTD. The future is bright!

On the family front, Sarah got to go whale watching.

While we were in Seattle, a group of over 50 students went to a Mariners game. Pretty cool seeing our name on the jumbotron!

Unrelated to SICM, a dear friend and FOCUS alumnus Brandon Seitzler dropped by the Grove on night at the end of the school year with his sweet kids. They just happened to be walking by on campus!

Another baptism pic from the end of the school year! This young lady was with us at SICM, and I can't wait to see how the Lord works in and through her.

The prayer request seems out of date, but we have more students going to SICM in June!

An Update in Pictures!

It's been a great month! Lots of Focus on Jesus studies finishing up, and that means lots of students making new commitments to the Lord! If fall is planting season, the end of spring can be harvest season. Pray for lots of God deals in the three weeks we have left. :)

A quick update on the lawsuit--it's still making its way (SLOWLY) through the process. The state is appealing the injunction put in place. Our attorneys have received their appeal brief and have until May 20 to respond with their own.

Many of you already know about Rez Fair, our big event at UTD to openly celebrate Jesus' resurrection with a bunch of other ministries and local churches. I love this picture. On the right is Paul, who gave his life to Jesus during his sophomore year of college and now serves as a FOCUS pastor. On the left is Aaron, who was a sophomore in FOCUS my first year as a FOCUS pastor (2002!) and attended Rez Fair as the pastor of a church! 

One of the most popular things at Rez Fair every year is the competition to see who can hang the longest. Students love it! Who knows why?!

There's always live music, and Felipe (one of the guys I get to meet with every week) was drumming. Love that smile.

Our sweet sisters (and brothers) from the Catholic ministry were teaching people to make crosses out of palm leaves, a cool thing to take home with you.

Lailah and some other girls performed a praise dance. The whole day was a blast!

Here's Felipe again with his girlfriend Mykayla. I wanted to include this because lots of students join us at Northeast Church on Easter. There's always a petting zoo. It's "for the kids" but I think the college students like it more than the little ones!

Baptisms!

Hard to get good pics at night, but Kayla baptized Faith, and afterward Faith's father prayed one of the boldest, sweetest prayers over her that I've ever heard. Wish you could have experienced that moment!

Kole baptized Chase, and I'm so pumped to take this guy to SICM!

Ditto with Adam!

Last weekend I got to go to San Jose and spend time with 6 dear friends who are UTD FOCUS alumni. Plus 5 little future alumni. This was us doing family devotional before bed with the Smiths. 

Debra gets her own picture since she was taking the one above!

Thank you for making all this possible!

Save the Date!

 

I'm giving this top billing so you don't miss it! I want to invite you to join us to celebrate what God has been doing through our mission work here in DFW for 3 decades! More details to come, but I want you all to have the date now.

Teaching at Pizza Theology

This spring our pizza theology topic was a classic--How to Think Like a Christian. Helping young people think well is one of our biggest goals in laying the groundwork for lifelong faithfulness to Jesus. To that end, we repeat this topic around every 4 years, hoping to catch every student once. The challenge is packing it into 4 hours! We had what I'm pretty sure was our biggest attendance at a Pizza Theology ever, hosted generously by First Baptist Plano (they asked US if they could host!). Garrett and I taught, and you are welcome to check it out if you are interested! Here's the link to the first part.

Big crowd!

Students kept me busy with Bible questions all through dinner.

I also got to go to San Diego this month with my good buddy Casey Hopper. We met up with donors, alumni, and a really creative InterVarsity campus minister to get some ideas. Casey is going to be leading a new team to pioneer on some community college campuses next year!

Thanks for all you do and give and pray to keep this mission moving forward. I'm saving stories for next time to keep this from being too long!

Student Testimony

Bonus pics! We had a triple baptism last week. Another one tonight. And we have at least 3 guys getting baptized in the next 3 weeks!