Reflections

We had a wonderful time Saturday celebrating all that God has done over the past 30 years in FOCUS! If you got to attend, I hope that I at least got to say "Hi!" If you didn't make it, you can still watch the whole thing (including the music) here or a clipped down version with just the talking here.

Thank you to all of you who have served, led, given, prayed, encouraged, participated, and otherwise been a part of this mission work!

I like to say FOCUS's values have stayed the same over the past three decades, but obviously that isn't exactly true. I think they have stayed the same at the core, but have matured. They are the same in the same way that I'm the same person that I was 30 years ago--yes and no. 

There's so much about those early years that I'm thankful for and so much that I remember so fondly. 

I often talk about our values as a ministry being 1) Jesus is Lord, 2) Real Friendships, and 3) Raising up Leaders. I think those describe us so well and help focus what we do day in and day out. But I think another real value in the FOCUS community is flexibility. Things that are rigid crack or break under pressure while things that are flexible can bend and adapt. The same goes for people and organizations.

Jesus may have been getting at the same principle when he talked about old and new wineskins: "And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins" (Luke 5:37). For old wineskins, their stretching days are over. They are too brittle and inflexible to receive something new. 

Over the years, God has taught us many new things and led us in new directions. 20-year-old me would be surprised to see the unity we have among Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians in FOCUS while still being deeply committed to Jesus and the Bible first. I could not have foreseen the coordinated dancing of Gen Z students in worship or their excitement to sing songs in Spanish with Hispanic brothers and sisters. But all of these are consistent with our core values--they just had to be flexible.

In my youth group, we used to sing a little song called "My Eyes Are Dry," and it has stayed a part of my own devotional times over the years.

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me

But what can be done

For an old heart like mine

Soften it up

With oil and wine

The oil is You, Your Spirit of love

Please wash me anew

With the wine of Your Blood

I love and pray this image of God softening me, and us collectively, as the years pass. I don't want to be an old wineskin. I want to be ready and flexible for whatever new and better thing God has for me. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" they say. But we're not dogs, and we aren't learning tricks (thank you Ronnie). I don't know if I'll make it 30 more years to be at the 60 year celebration, but if I do, my hope is that FOCUS doesn't look either exactly the same or completely different. My prayer is that we continue to grow up, looking more like Jesus and walking faithfully with him through changing times while staying true to the calling he has already given us.

I haven't shared a picture yet of this great pair of core leaders I get to meet with every week this year--Logan and Chase. I love meeting with them! They ask great questions and love God and their guys.

Student Testimony