Thanksgiving and on to Christmas!

I wanted to share this meaningful reflection on Thanksgiving from Brady Bobbink:

Every place I go shows the broad loss of Thanksgiving as a day of thoughtful remembrance. For those of us who desire to be authentic and maturing followers of the Abba Father of our Lord Jesus, the creator and sustainer of all, we will have to work more consciously and intentionally to root into our own hearts and the hearts of those around us the power and place of being thankful to the Lord. You will get little to no help from your culture on this one. Remember Paul writing to Timothy and the church at Ephesus, reminding him/them of this distressing reality: “ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves… lovers of money…not lovers of God… unthankful…” (ungrateful in other translations).

Thankfulness has a direct relationship to the issue of egocentric love. Thankfulness requires space in our hearts and minds for something other than the self and its incessant demanding desires. Oh, I know all about being a “self-made” man. But that is a narcissist’s fable –– an American legend. Fake news! No one makes him or herself. From the beginning we are made, and all the chances we have to use our physical strength, our creative minds, and the freedom of our will, are all gifts from the Creator’s love. Paul says it concisely in 1 Cor.4:7 when he asks, “What do you have that you did not receive?”

I think this year thankfulness will require more thoughtfulness from each of us. It is still Covid-time. There have been many losses both great and small. Things anticipated, maybe even taken for granted, have been lost. In such times we likely will not be propelled easily by our emotions to offer rich and deeply grateful thanksgiving. I get that! But I came across the quote from Helen Keller and she inspired me to slow down and see the rays of the Lord’s light in the midst of darkness and the faith to hold tightly to the vision of confident hope in God’s love and promises to us in Jesus. She said: “For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he has vouchsafed me knowledge of his works; deep thanks that he has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep, deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to –– a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.” –– Helen Keller

One of my most meaningful Thanksgiving traditions (going on 5 years now!) is that I get together with 2 good friends, Peter and Paul, and our wives/girlfriends for fajitas on Black Friday and spend a significant amount of time sharing about the things and people and qualities in one another that we are thankful for. If the giving thanks part of your Thanksgiving took a back seat to the feasting part, I encourage you to carve out some time in the next couple of weeks for purposeful gratitude before we plunge full force into this next season of of adding even more gifts to our list of things to be thankful for!

New to Jesus

One of the sweet blessings of this year has been the number of students, and especially young women, who are approaching Jesus for the first time. One of our women pastors is leading a Bible study for a team on campus. One of the young ladies attending doesn't have a Christian background, and when she was asked why she came, she said "I prayed that I would make this team, and when I did, I figured I should do God a solid and go to a Bible study." Now she is actively learning about Jesus and his plan for her. I love it! Reminds me of Paul saying "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." God can use even our weakness to show his glory.

Another story reminds me so much of these sweet words from the Christmas narrative: "Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'” A young woman doing graduate work at UTD doesn't have any Christian family or background, but was aware of a FOCUS ministry at her undergraduate university. She was into spirituality, tarot cards, and numerology, and this past summer kept seeing the number 122 in different places. Trying to understand, she googled "122 Bible verse" and Hebrews 12:2 popped up: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." So she saw a FOCUS yard sign on campus and signed up for Fall Camp online! She is now in a core, has become a Christian, and is eager for her family to come to know Jesus as well. Doesn't that remind you of those eastern astrologers following a star but finding Jesus!? God, in his grace, speaks to us in our language rather than demanding that we first learn his. God is good! I'm definitely crying after writing that!

A Couple of Highlights

We had our UTD ministry Christmas party and service last Friday. Our theme was "Christmas Morning." This is my sweet staff team. They are amazing! And how did we ever end up with twice as many women as men at UTD!?

These are the four student small group leaders I mentor this year. They are so sweet and encouraging to me. Working with them is a delight!

We did it! Thanks to my brother Casey's leadership, we were able to raise our entire goal in one student giving day + Giving Tuesday. A massive THANK YOU to all who took part!

Student Testimony & Prayer Requests

Comparing with Two Years Ago

For many reasons, we aren't a ministry that fixates a lot on counting and numbers. But we do take a look at our involvement numbers at least every October so we can compare year-over-year involvement in our campus activities. Looking at UTD's 2019 (pre-pandemic) numbers compared to 2021, the number of students involved in core are basically the same--275 to 274! (there is always some room for error since attendance changes week to week). It's exciting to see that coming out of such a crazy season, just as many students are consistently involved in these smaller groups where they are known and loved and are ministered to individually! 

The average attendance for our weekly large group at UTD is down some in the same time period, 183 to 160. (To be fair, the 2019 number was for two services, Tuesdays and Fridays, added together whereas now we are only meeting on Fridays. So it's possible that availability is a factor.) Our Fall Camp attendance (which we knew would be a tough sell with the pandemic still going) dropped from 177 (2019) to 138 this year. All of this is consistent with the growing social anxiety that is so common in Gen Z. 

As we head into our first in-person Pizza Theology in two years (on Nov 14!) as well as Winter Camp in January, we're hoping that we can persuade more students to take part in these key experiences or else ultimately find new, more effective ways of accomplishing the same goals. Will you join us in praying about that? We need a special measure of wisdom and creativity! 

Of course, none of these activities is sacred, not even core or a weekly service on campus. Our mission remains the same: To Make and Mature Disciples to God's Glory. We adapted during the pandemic, we're adapting to this new generation, and we'll adapt again and again as needed. The need is as great as ever, with so many more who have never heard the Good News about Jesus and who are so very confused by all the messages they are hearing from the culture. My prayer is that every Jesus-follower on campus will be creative and bold in shining the light of Christ to the people they encounter--loving them, serving them, taking an active interest in them. These students are doing very real ministry every single day, and I'm honored that you've chosen to be a part of it through your prayers and generosity!

Our Biggest Prayer Need Right Now

As we move back into a more normal school year, we are seeing more clearly some of the unique challenges presented by the pandemic. Students feel more overwhelmed than ever. I think it is partially due to more activities being added back as things open up, but their stress is amplified by the fact that online classes didn't really require them to keep a schedule last year. We are spending more time than ever teaching basic time management skills. Social anxiety, which was already on the rise, was magnified by months spent alone or with only a handful of others. This means our cores are full but attendance at our Friday Night Fellowship meetings has been mediocre. 

In addition, many of our new student leaders have never seen a normal year of FOCUS at UTD, so we are continually realizing the need to explain what we are doing and why they should take part and lead in those things. It's hard to know what they don't know because in most years that understanding is passed on through community rather than formal teaching.

While I think our team has done an amazing job answering those challenges (and more), there is no doubt that the missing year of campus life will have a ripple effect on student leadership development and on our overall mission for an indeterminant amount of time. As a result, I think our Number One Prayer Need is for wisdom and energy for our pastors as they reengage in the relationally intensive work of reaching out to and mentoring students into the kingdom of God. I can tell you this work is already off to a great start!

Thank you for praying for and resourcing this mission to the campus. It's a pivotal time and what you do matters!

Student Testimony

Fall Camp Photos

The guys who came to camp from one of the cores I oversee. Jackson (on the left) and Tony (2nd from the right) are the leaders. I get to meet up with these great guys weekly!

We did an outdoor worship in the round, reflecting on Eph 5:19 - "Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit."

I got to interview eight students from our community during the sessions, giving them the opportunity to share about key decisions they have made to follow Jesus and the challenges they've faced along the way.

Walk and talks are always a hit!

Playing with the big parachute. I can't believe how tiring it is!

Taylor (on the right) is my apprentice this year, and these are some of the guys from his core this year.

Challenges in Developing Leaders, Part 3

I've mentioned before that I sometimes use the Habitudes books by Dr. Tim Elmore to train young leaders. His habitudes are "images that form leadership habits and attitudes." One that I especially appreciate is Floods and Rivers. He writes, "Floods and rivers are both bodies of water. Floods damage. Rivers are useful in many ways. The difference? Focus."

We've all experienced the multiplication of noise and messaging in our lives. Many have written about smartphones and social media and the reality that most of us no longer simply sit and think anymore; we have no time to be bored! For people of all ages, streaming entertainment eats up not just time, but mental and emotional bandwidth. Students feel busier than they did a decade ago, but when we drill down to look at their schedules, we sometimes realize that Netflix, Youtube, and the like take up as much time as a half- or full-time job!

Beyond that, increased competition for college admissions and employment, alongside helicopter parents' fears of dangers both present and future, has filled young people's weeks with more and more scheduled activities, commitments, and expectations. They have to be involved in many extracurriculars, volunteer, perhaps work a job, do well in classes that assign quite a bit more work than when I went to school, and, somewhere in there, try to figure out faith and how to love and serve God. 

All of this is a huge challenge in trying to develop young leaders. Rivers are effective; floods aren't. But rivers only go certain places--there are many more places that they don't touch at all, at least directly. They have defined borders that focus their flow. You can build something on their banks because they are reliable. Developing young leaders today is less about filling their free time, and more about inviting them to participate in disciplines of subtraction--choosing what they won't do so that they have time and energy to focus on what's more important. Cutting things is almost always hard, sometimes painful. Sometimes they are things we enjoy. Sometimes it will disappoint parents or friends or teachers. But God has set our limits. As Job said, "A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed" (14:5). And he does not expect us to do more than we can do. He wants us to steward well the limited resources he has given us, and invites us to discern what is truly important. 

This isn't something we comprehend in the span of a sermon or class. It's not something that can be taught in a single year. But as we develop young leaders, we would do well to carefully invite them to consider their limits and focus their energies on important things, lest they look back someday and see a life flooded with much activity, but little fruit to show for it.

Student Testimony

Some Pictures from our August SICM

This was the dining hall where we both ate meals and had our teaching times.

It was a beautiful camp!

Our First FNF at UTD in a Year and a Half!

Back in JSOM 1.118. Just like old times!

Challenges in Developing Leaders, Part 2

Last week, we took nearly 200 students and pastors to our very own SICM, Texas Edition! It was a great experience, but we hope to be back to SICM in Bellingham, WA this coming May.

Lunch with a bunch of the campus ministers from various ministries who are reaching out to UT Dallas. This isn't even everyone! The Lord is truly answering our prayers to sent out workers for the harvest. The friendship, unity, and camaraderie in this group are evidence of the Spirit at work.

Last month, I started sharing reflections on some of the challenges in developing young leaders, specifically those that result from the way they see themselves. There are also challenges that stem from the way I see them. The first and most obvious challenge is that my view of someone isn't always accurate! I have my own subjective experience of people, which can be both a strength and a weakness. Sometimes I hold people back because I don't see their true potential. Other times, I push them into positions and opportunities they aren't ready for yet. 

Being older and in a position of power/leadership means people will naturally treat me somewhat differently, and that can hinder my ability to see how they interact with their peers/people they lead. That difference can cut both ways. Years ago, I remember a fellow pastor telling me that a key student leader didn't treat others the way he treated me. I (foolishly) shrugged it off, thinking I knew this kid better than others, but reality came back to bite me. He treated me well because I had something he wanted, but he wasn't kind or selfless toward those with nothing to offer him. On the flip side, I think of a young leader who was hard for me to relate to but was very effective with his peers. I had to be reminded that I didn't appoint him as a leader for me! 

There are people I naturally connect with and people who are harder to connect with, and that can color my perceptions of their leadership skills and potential. The temptation is to recognize and appreciate my own strengths in others and to miss or underappreciate their strengths in areas I'm not as good in. If I give into that, I won't be able to raise up a diverse leadership--I'll only see potential in people who are like me. I've recently found the Strengthsfinder assessment helpful in recognizing strengths in others that I wouldn't pick up on by myself.

Another temptation is to think people are more like me than they actually are. We tend to see other people's actions and assume similar motives to our own. In other words, I ask, "Why would I do that?" and then assume they are doing it for the same reason. This short-circuits true discovery and understanding. That dynamic can also play out in character areas. We tend to see our own strengths and flaws in others. People who are honest and forthright will be naturally trusting, assuming others are honest and forthright. People who are less forthcoming, guarded, or manipulative will assume others are being the same way. But these are often not good assumptions. Wisdom calls us to look deeper and perceive reality in all its complexity. 

There is great power in being humble enough to recognize and admit that our perceptions are limited and that we are always (necessarily) making assumptions that are more or less valid. All of this should drive those who want to invest in others to take an active interest in them, to keep our eyes and ears open for things that don't seem to fit our current views, and to be purposefully inquisitive.

It can be helpful to know our own tendencies so we know in which direction to adjust. Are you more likely to see people as better than they are or to be too critical? Knowing this about yourself can help you know whether you need to practice assuming the best about others or practice asking some extra questions.

Jesus changed the world by developing leaders. He saw something in these men and women that had been overlooked by others. While Martha was frustrated that Mary wasn't in the kitchen, Jesus saw that her heart for learning was just as strong as in any of his apostles. While the crowd saw Zacchaeus as an unlovable traitorous tax collector, Jesus saw someone who would go to embarrasing lengths to get to see Jesus. In fishermen, he saw the potential to be fishers of men. In the gerasene demoniac, he saw a missionary to Gentile cities. I could go on. Only God sees our true potential, but he invites us to join him in empowering a next generation of leaders. It's a challenging and complicated task, but God is at work in the middle of it, blessing and refining everyone involved. Don't get discouraged if you find these things challenging. Just keep learning and growing! 

Student Testimony

I got to start a friendship with Mick last year, and I'm so excited to have him return to UTD and lead core this fall!

Thank you for all you do for the kingdom and all the ways you invest in young people! 

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9

Time to Pray!

New students will be showing up on campus starting August 17, less than 3 weeks away!

Will you commit along with me to pray daily for 3 weeks for God to use this season to grow our impact on the campus and empower us to reach and bless more students than ever before?

I'm excited to see how He moves in response!

Challenges in Developing Leaders, Part 1

Our summer programs are going, our pastors are raising funds for the coming year, and we are prepping to bring on new apprentices and host our own Texas SICM in August. It's a pretty standard summer, and we are anticipating things getting back to normal on our campuses this fall!

In the meantime, I'd like to share some reflections on what I see as one of the most important parts of my role in FOCUS: developing young leaders. A lot of good happens just by empowering young people (who have already been gifted and empowered by God's Spirit) to go out and minister to their peers. But there are also a lot of difficulties along the way. The first I want to reflect on are the difficulties caused by the way they see themselves. 

First off, so many young Christians coming out of churches, even churches with vibrant youth ministries, do not see themselves as leaders and have been given little opportunity to lead in the church. To them, Christian leadership is about expertise and knowledge. They don't feel like they know enough to lead their peers. I think the disconnect is that so many of our ministers receive their training but forget their true calling as leaders in the church--"to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (Eph 4:12). Too often ministry is only a matter for professionals. Even on my pastoral staff, I often hear people wanting, as a first step, to refer students to professional counselors. 

There is absolutely a place for extensive training and professionalism (especially for specialized needs), but that place is not making the members of the church into spectators rather than active ministers using their gifts to build others up. When we do empower others, we often provide very little training or higher-level development, or we simply hand out material and say "if you can read, you can lead." Reading the questions aloud in a small group is a very limited form of leadership. Few skills are being developed and very little pastoral thinking is happening. To grow, we have to do things we are not already good at. And to do things we are not already good at, we need someone to tell us that we could be good at them (and not lie to us about being good enough already).

As a leader with more years of experience, I can offer these young people perspective. I've seen people with their same level of skills and knowledge lead in powerful ways, and grow in the process! I've seen people who might not look like our cultural stereotypes of leadership bless people powerfully and move organizations significantly through their leadership. I get to share those stories and invite people into greater responsibility. I get to tell them I see them as a leader even if they don't yet see it in themselves.

Another area of how people see themselves that gets in the way is our understanding of our personalities. We are obsessed with personality tests! Now, I enjoy and use them as well, but here's the danger--we think they tell actually us something about ourselves. But as Brady Bobbink put it, "No, we tell the test something and it just tells us back." Garbage in means garbage out. There are things that I think I'm not good at or don't like that I've actually never really tried. There are things about my self-perception that hold me back. And when a test enshrines that (incomplete) information on paper, I assume it MUST be true. Sometimes as a leader, I get to share the things about another leader that they have not yet seen in themselves.

As Christians, my call is not to become the best version of an Enneagram 8 that I can be, or to fully live out my Myers-Briggs personality type--it's to become like Jesus! I can find out my strengths from the Strengthsfinder assessment, but that doesn't mean I can't learn new skills, and it doesn't mean that God won't have me minister in my areas of weakness, even if it's not fun! As much as God loves me, I don't think anything in the scriptures communicates that his highest priority is me having fun at all times. :)

Jesus ministered in both strength and weakness. He came in power and amazed people with what he could do, but it could be argued that his most important ministry was done at his weakest, on the cross. I know the cross has changed me personally a lot more than the fact that he walked on water or won arguments with teachers of the law.

When Paul was defending himself against the "Super-apostles" in 2 Corinthians 11, notice the defense he gives. He doesn't tell about all the churches he planted, the letters he wrote, the people he converted. Instead, he boasts in his weakness:

Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

God wants to use each of us, and as Paul says in the next chapter, God's grace is sufficient and is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12:1-10). Weak or strong, God calls each of us to bless others. Skilled or unskilled, God calls each of us to lead, at least by example. Regardless of how much we know, we can all share the stories of what God has done and is doing in our lives.

One of my favorite things about campus ministry is that I get to invite students into leadership and then equip them and support them and help them clean up the messes they inevitably make. God seems to be okay with such messes. They are where his glory shines brighter than ours.