Something to be praying about--FOCUS @ UT Arlington

One of the convictions that I started college with is "Look to see where God is working and join Him." It comes from Jesus saying in John 5:19 that "the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing." If Jesus can't do anything meaningful on his own, then it's a good bet Brandon can't. It was with that conviction that I joined FOCUS at Richland College my freshman year, even though I was a UTD student. It was because I saw God working in their lives that I chose Leah Farmer (Lorenz), Mandy McWilliams (Lanciani), Kris Green, Beth Johnson (Lynas), and Tiffany Palmer as my close friends that first year, even though only Mandy was a fellow UTD student.  But, the Lord brought them all to UTD at the start of my sophomore year, and FOCUS at UTD was born.

Fast forward to 2014, and that UTD ministry has helped start ministries at 5 other campuses and trained scores of leaders for the kingdom. God always knows what He's doing!  Over the course of this year, I've started seeing His hand moving toward UT Arlington. I've had at least 10 people call me or one of my staff to ask about the possibility of starting a ministry there--students who plan to transfer there or go to grad school there, students with friends or siblings going to UTA, alumni interested in doing the FOCUS internship if they could help start a ministry at UTA.

UTA has been on our radar for a long time and has always been a part of our vision--to launch campus missions at every campus in the DFW area. But the timing has been up to God. Over the past few years, I've only been asked about UTA a handful of times, so having so many people talking and praying about it this year definitely has me asking if now is the time! 

I recently met with the InterVarsity director at UTA, and he was super excited about the possibility of us sending a team. He said the various campus ministries are working closely together in unity to reach the campus for Christ, but he estimated that they are impacting about 1% of approximately 33,000 students. The need is great and the workers are few!

Will you join with me in praying and seeking God's will for FOCUS concerning UT Arlington? You might use this page of UTA facts to focus your prayers and get to know the campus. This would be a big move across the city. We would need to send the right team of staff and student ministers. We would probably need to start planning in January in order to be ready for the 2015-2016 school year.

Also toward that end, we will launch our first annual "Keep FOCUS Growing" Initiative in the second half of November. Our staff has fundraised to get us through this year, but we are asking God to provide the resources if He wants us to launch a major new campus ministry. So we'll be inviting our students, alumni, current supporters, and anyone else to consider giving a special gift to help us grow our impact in 2015. Keep an eye out for #FOCUS140 in the coming weeks. 

Thank you for joining me in prayer and for joining with me financially in this work. You are making a difference in students' lives!

I want to end with a picture from our second annual Church and Campus Leadership Conference yesterday. We spent the day training hundreds of leaders and future leaders on visionary leadership. We had a lot of new students (including many freshmen!) invest a whole Saturday in order to become a better leader.  That's a good sign for what's to come! 

Coming off of Fall Camp

About a month into the school year, we take the UTD students out to a camp to deepen relationships and help them catch the vision of being followers of Jesus in college. This year our theme was "Defining Moments." As you know, life is full of moments, but some are moments of disproportionate influence on our present and future. When we were planning the weekend, one of my staff members said, "When I look back on my defining moments in high school and college, I wish I'd been better prepared."

I wish you could have heard the four students who shared their testimonies of defining moments. They all did an outstanding job of ministering to their peers! Raquel, who transferred from Richland College, shared about moments leading up to answering the call to leadership, something she had never envisioned for herself--"My biggest defining moments were when I gave up."  Gave up control. Gave up on her own plan.

Kimberly shared about a defining moment when she asked God for friends at UTD. But He told her He would give her more than that, a Christian community that reflects the love Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13! She grew up not being loved and not being loving toward others, "But now I get to be a leader and love others!" Your prayers and financial investments help build this community that gives students the chance to catch the vision themselves!

Kimberly and Raquel are the two in the middle.

Jalen shared about growing up as a good Christian kid, but not really getting what Jesus was all about. He talked about looking down on and judging others, and about how he wanted Jesus to save him, not tell him what to do (anyone identify with that? :). But after facing his own sinfulness, he realized, "I have the capability of being obedient to Christ one small step at a time." What a powerful message! Sometimes what Jesus asks of you may seem too big and too hard. But with His Spirit, you are able to obey one step at a time.

Jalen. I'm not sure whether he made this face during his talk.

Stephen reflected that what has defined him was a series of seemingly small things--deciding to attend a conference, a conversation with a friend about his purpose in college, showing up at an event. Maybe you are holding off on doing something "small" because it scares you for some reason or because you just haven't made a final decision. I encourage you to decide right now to be obedient. You never know when something small might end up being one of the defining moments of your life. If the Lord wants you to do something (this, of course, must be tested against His will already revealed in scripture), then you can know with certainty that it's good.

Stephen sharing in front of the group.

For so many students, a camp like this is a defining moment--when they make a friend or a decision that changes their life, when they hear the good news of Jesus for the first time, or when they get their first taste of real Christian community. Thank you for helping prepare these young people for the defining moments that are racing toward them. My prayer is that each of us will be purposeful in investing in young men and women. They aren't just the church of tomorrow; they're the church of today, and the world is in desperate need of men and women of God.

Stories to Start the Year

Over the last month, I've heard some stories that I know you'll find so encouraging.

The first was in an email from Amy Knoles, a FOCUS alumna. She has played many roles in our ministry, but one of the most important was that she took the challenge a decade ago to help start our ministry outreach at Collin College. She was the first women's leader for FOCUS on that campus, and she felt very unqualified. But she stepped out on faith and did it anyway. One other key thing to know is that Amy has always had a soft spot in her heart for her much younger cousin Crysta. She has made major life decisions around being able to be near and invest in Crysta.  Crysta recently started college:

Brandon, 
The other day Crysta was talking to me about going to Collin FOCUS for the first time and meeting people. A lot of people asked her how she learned about FOCUS and .... she proceeded to drop my name and tell them I was her cousin. Haha! Not that any of those students would have a clue who I am, but she liked getting to tell them I helped things get started at Collin. When I got off the phone it really hit me how amazing it all was. She has a ministry to go to on that campus because of something FOCUS did all those years ago...something I got to be a part of. For the first time it was really personal. It wasn't just amazing to look at the ministry...Crysta is actually in it! My family gets to experience God and family on that campus. It's because of people ... who have visions for people and hearts that follow God. God has rocked my world lately. This really encouraged me! So excited for what God has planned for Madison and Evan when they get to college ;-)
Thanks for everything, 
Amy

Amy's twins Evan & Madison--future FOCUS student leaders!

The second story is a little more sensitive, so I'll leave out some details and names. We recently got this message from an outstanding young lady we were planning on having as a new student leader this fall, explaining why should wouldn't be able to come back to school: 

After graduating in 2006 I focused on helping my family and began working ... until I got the opportunity to be the first person in my family to pursue a degree and go to the University of North Texas. My family has always struggled financially, and with me no longer working the strain has become even harder on my mother. Last year she got a title loan to help pay her rent, and recently her car, which is the only car my family had, was repossessed. Unable to pay my housing balance from last semester of $4,502.55, I thought I would be able to use my financial aid for the Fall 2014 semester to go towards that. I recently found out from the school that this isn’t possible and that the balance would have to be paid before my financial aid could be released. This past summer my family was basically homeless as they couldn’t afford to live in the apartment I had been renting before I left my job. We moved from hotels to inns and finally my sister’s house, so this amount isn’t something my mother can pay. My brother (who is also unable to attend college because of our financial situation), my mother and I were blessed to be able to move into a one bedroom apartment where I share a room and bed with my mom while my brother sleeps in the living room. The biggest loss for me isn’t just the opportunity to finish school but that I was able to make such great relationships with people and really start walking on the mission I feel God had set forth for me. One of my best memories was getting the chance to organize a conversation evangelism walk with one of my good friends. Five years ago when I was working for a company that made me feel trapped I never thought I would have the faith to go out and talk to people about God and the grace he gives us. I feel no matter what, that God has shown me so much in the small amount of time I spent in college, I’m just hoping and praying for the opportunity to continue that. I do feel that delayed doesn’t mean denied.

We started praying, and before we could come up with a response, another STUDENT who heard about the situation anonymously paid the $4500 bill. When we said we'd try to find others to help pay part of it, she told us "no," that God asked her to pay it all and that's what she wanted to do. So that young lady is back at school this fall and is leading a group of young women to know Jesus better!

I know many of you give financially to this mission, and I want you to know these students don't just take--they're becoming extravagant givers. They see your example and have taken up the challenge. And if you want to be a person who we contact when a worthy student is struggling financially, I'd be happy to put you on that list!

I could tell so many more stories from these first few weeks. I met with one of our incoming student leaders for UTD near the end of the summer, and he shared with me about how he's been praying for months for a past girlfriend, that she would have godly women reach out to her. That girl goes to TWU, and guess who our TWU minister met while she was out "randomly" approaching students? 

And at our first UTD Friday Night Fellowship, I met a young lady who came to UTD because God called her to. She applied and moved from Florida this summer in obedience to that call. I asked if she had any idea why He wanted her here, and she said "not yet." Pretty impressive faith! One of the principles I live by is "look to see where God's working and join Him." Well, it's obvious He's working in this young woman's life, so I'm getting involved.  We started studying the scripture together last week, and I hope you'll join me in praying for that study.

Our first FNF.  That's me preaching down at the front. Look how tiny I am!

God is always at work, and He's doing powerful things through your financial gifts, your prayers, and the ways you minister to the students and staff who are taking the gospel to these campuses. Thank you!

49 and 3

49! That's the number of of corefas (student small group facilitators) we have committed for UTD this school year. Each one of them will be a missionary to UTD--a missionary in the class rooms, in student housing, in the dining and common areas. We don't assign them a small group; they go out in the first weeks of the school year and meet as many as possible and invite them to be a part of the community they are building (think Jesus' parable about inviting people to the banquet in Luke 14). They will involve people, mentor them, teach them the Bible, and ultimately raise some of them up as leaders to replace themselves. And there are 49 of them! That's up from 36 last year. This is the fruit of your prayers and support from last year!

Our UTD staff will spend a huge chunk of our time this year mentoring and supporting these 49 young leaders. We'll help them plan their core meetings, equip them to mentor their peers, and plan all the events and services that support their mission so they can focus their limited time on reaching students.

That's the strategy we learned from Jesus--to give them lot's of real ministry experience before sending them out into the world. We hope they leave UTD with a clear vision for Christian community, with the skills to think pastorally and minister purposefully, with a heart for the people around them (not just their family and friends), and the experiential knowledge that, with Jesus, they can change someone's life.

It's exciting stuff, and it's snowballing!

There are a few missing because they are out of town, but this is the bulk of the UTD Corefa Team.
I remember when our whole ministry wasn't this big!

And 3. That's the number of email letters I got from recent FOCUS alumni over the weekend. You would be so encouraged to read about the impact your partnership has had over the past few years in these guys' lives, so I want to share some excerpts with you from each. Warning: These are kind of long, even after I cut them down.

1. The first is from an international student from India who recently took a job in another city after graduation. I was so encouraged by the way he sees his faith intersecting with every area of his life:
Initially when I left there was a lot of uncertainty about where I would go and who would be in my social circle and most importantly who would become my spiritual family. What I experienced through FOCUS was life changing and to call it one of the best spiritual experiences would be an understatement. So I did my research and with an open mind tried Lakeland Community Church... I felt welcomed into the community and immediately joined a small group led by one of the pastors. I got myself into an informal young adult's ministry and I am happy to say that I am part of a spiritual community...

Work had a rocky start but is challenging and I love it. I am indeed working hard and I am trying to learn more about the industry and contribute to make healthcare better. I find that even if this job is not as high paying I find it comforting to know that this is something I could do to help people and society as a whole... When I first got into the training program most of my friends told me that this company was tough and was not worth the effort, but I found out that God had a plan for me like He had one for Joseph in Egypt. He stood by me through my trials and helped me reach a place I could not get to by myself. I am happy and grateful for my job and I wish to excel in it.

I started training for triathlons and I find that the challenge that comes with it helps me to grow strong physically, mentally and spiritually. I enjoy the beauty of God's creation when go out on my bike and run. When I am in a lake I am overwhelmed by the resources that God has given us to protect and preserve.

2. The second is from an international student from China who gave his life to Jesus this Spring. After graduation, his company changed directions and he was laid off. That started a new phase in his walk with God:
Last two weeks was quite interesting for me. First lost my job, I am kind of freak out inside, calling everyone to see if they have any job information. It was a bad bad news to me. But now I do not think it’s bad, actually I feel happy about it. Without job, I do not have distractions, I have so much free time to read bible, to talk with more experienced Christians, and to seek god. It was wonderful to me that I feel god is finally revealing himself to me, or in another phrase, god is always with me, it was me who was obsessed with other things. I feel so strongly that god is calling me to evangelism, to make disciples. So here is me, honest and open to propose to be a corefa.

I will serve others without condition. I know I am not qualified to be a corefa, and probably never will be. I am only baptized two month ago, did not read bible from cover to cover, did not even finish FOJ, nearly no experience in doing evangelism. I’m probably the last person to be a corefa. But I cannot hold the feeling to be one. Be a Corefa is an honor with great responsibility. I was arrogant but I didn’t know (from Joe), but god made me humble. And I will humbly serve people. Without a servant heart, without the strong faith, it just won not work when things get hard, when I get tired, when everything goes south.
...[I'm cutting a lot here to be brief]...
I understand that it is tradition corefa are being selected, and it is kind of late to ask now. But I can not ignore the voice in my head, so I wrote this to you to show you that this decision has been thought through and I will stick to it. I know it is a risky move to let me be a corefa. But without risk there is no faith. So here I sincerely ask for the consideration. Make decision based on what’s best for the team.

"Without risk there is no faith." Whoa. Needless to say, this young man who is returning for grad school this year is our 49th student missionary!

3. The last is from a recent grad doing the FOCUS internship. The interns are in the process of reading the entire Old Testament in 7 days! He wrote:
The Old Testament reading had been extremely insightful. I've never read these books. It's great to get a understanding of what the Israelites went through. I also start to understand something Brad used to always say about reading scripture when he would say, "ask 'what does this teach me about the heart of God?'"... In terms of character growth, reading the OT and the other books has changed my attitude towards reading in a way I always hoped for but never achieved... I bought 3 books yesterday at the Plano book sale and already put a dent in those. Soon I'll need something I never thought I would: a book shelf... Discussion with the other interns is full of excitement. I can compare those conversations to those which I had with people the first time I studied FOJ [that's Focus On Jesus, our one on one Bible study]. It's certainly rejuvenated my first love. I feel like an Israelite with how much anticipation I have for the Messiah and New Testament to enter the picture.

Are you excited now?! I sure am! Thank you--your prayers and your missionaries are changing lives and changing these campuses for Jesus.

Summer Work

I've been reflecting on the main two things I do in the summer--fundraising and putting together a leader team for the next year.

Forming a Leader Team
One of the most important things we do as campus pastors each year is select, equip, and launch the student leader team for the next school year. I ask myself, how was Jesus able to accomplish so much in only 3 years? And the answer always comes back to His ability to develop leaders who would carry on and expand His ministry. It's out of that conviction that we are always working to develop leaders. We realize that problems and conflicts are actually opportunities to teach students how to minister. We understand that our example is always being watched and followed by the students. They will examine not only how we act, but how we think through things. With a constant stream of students enrolling and graduating on only a few years, it is doubly important that we equip our student leaders to train up their own replacements so that the mission can keep going.

This summer the FOCUS staff has been meeting up with all the students we've identified as prospective leaders. And it's an outstanding group! I wish you could be a fly on the wall in some of these discussions and get to hear these students' passion for the Lord and desire to bless their peers. Holding a "core facilitator" role in FOCUS isn't the right fit for everyone, but every one of them can minister this year in meaningful and fruitful ways. Please pray that all of our leaders will remain in Jesus and bear much fruit (John 15:5).

Just a few of the great UTD students we've been talking to about leadership this summer. We expect to have more than 40 student leaders at UTD alone!

I wanted to share a couple reflections on what makes a great leader--the kinds of things we are looking for as we put together our 2014-2015 leadership team:

1. Character matters. I believe the axiom "Character is more caught than taught." A question we ask ourselves as leaders is this--if everyone in the ministry actually followed my example, what would the ministry look like? How often would we be together? How many visitors would be welcomed? How many people would be prayed for? How many lonely people would find new friends? How many students would be invited to real community? How many students would we share the scriptures about Jesus with this year? How unselfish would we be with our money, our time, our friendships, our dating? How many people would be encouraged? How many problems would be addressed? How many damaged relationships would be reconciled?

And on a more personal level, if everyone followed my example, how devoted to Jesus would we be? How much would we know His Word? How serious would we be about repenting of our sin? How kind, gentle, compassionate, thoughtful would we be?

We know none of us look like Jesus in all of these areas. The question is more about direction than perfection--where are we heading. I encourage you to consider these questions about your own ministry in your family, social group, church, etc. Our hope and prayer is for a leader team who will set the pace for the whole community this year.

2. Commitment matters. It's so easy for us to live with double standards. So many students would never think of missing work or class, but it's easy to justify skipping the opportunity we have to minister when the body of Christ comes together. At UTD, a student in Student Government automatically loses their seat if they miss more than three meetings, and Greek organizations charge large monthly membership fees.  These things are expected, but we don't expect the same things of ourselves when it comes to serving Jesus. (Of course, being in Student Government or a Greek organization can be a great opportunity to serve Jesus in and of themselves--that's not my point.) My point is that for so many, consistency is only present in our lives when it comes from one of two sources: threat of external consequences (failing my class, losing my job, getting kicked out of my club) and what sounds fun (I don't have much trouble getting students to consistently play video games or watch movies!).

But there's a more important source of consistency when it comes to Christian leadership--conviction. We are looking for students who make decisions to serve because they are convinced it's what God wants for them, because they are convinced that to have a deep, lasting, positive impact on another life, you have to show up. We are looking for young adults with the ability and willingness to make and keep promises, because it is our conviction that God is rarely spontaneous in His love for us, but is a planned and purposeful God whose love is expressed in making and keeping promises (2 Peter 1:4).

Lewis Smedes wrote a great meditation on this called "Controlling the Unpredictable--The Power of Promising" that I highly recommend. It would make a great personal devotional time! He writes, "When a man makes a promise, he creates an island of certainty in a heaving ocean of uncertainty. Can any human act, other than the act of forgiving, be more divine?"

Raising Support

The second thing I've been reflecting on is fundraising. I've been reading a booklet called The Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri Nouwen. He has some powerful insights that have been banging around in my head. It's been great to consider both as someone who gives money to other organizations and as one who asks people to invest in the vision I have been given for campus missions.

"Fund-raising is also always a call to conversion. And this call comes to both those who seek funds and
those who have funds. Whether we are asking for money or giving money we are drawn together by God, who is about to do a new thing through our collaboration (see Isa. 43:19). To be converted means to experience a deep shift in how we see and think and act. To be converted is to be clothed in our right mind."

"If we raise funds for the creation of a community of love, we are helping God build the Kingdom. We are doing exactly what we are supposed to do as Christians."

"As long as our real trust is in money, we cannot be true members of the Kingdom."

I love the idea that God is calling me to be converted in my relationship to money.  I know that will be a lifelong process, and I'm praying for continual growth and renewal in that area.  I want to say "Thank you" to those of you who have contributed funds to create "a community of love" on campus.  It's so needed, and it's making a huge difference.  

Another baptism video

Just wanted to add this in.  Charles is one of the international students at UTD who has been investigating Jesus for the past couple years.  It's exciting to see the changes in his life as a result!

I Will Always Be the Prodigal Son

So the quick update is that SICM was outstanding, as always.  It somehow gets better each year.  The group we took was really special, and the teaching staff up there said the same.  All of that bodes well for our next school year!  I've had a number of young men ask to be student leaders in the fall at UTD, and I know the other staff are getting the same.

Another quick story is that one of our alumni just graduated from medical school and Mandy (my counterpart for the women) got to go to her graduation party.  When Mandy met this young lady's father, his response was "Oh, you're from FOCUS?  I'm so thankful for FOCUS.  It was one of the biggest blessings in my daughter's entire life."  Wow!  I wish you (and I) could have been there.  What an honor to be a part of someone's story in that way.  Thanks for all the ways you support me and this mission to the campus--it keeps making a difference.

I wanted to highlight this month the two guys on my staff that I work most closely with.  They are both outstanding examples of what a young man of God should be--humble, teachable, and growing.  They are both very gifted in different ways and they have chosen to use those gifts to serve and bless UTD students.

Laurence, Sirak, and me.  I'm the really handsome one on the right.

Sirak is gifted musically and intellectually.  On the side, he teaches Sociology at Richland College, and his students love him because they know he loves them. (see his reviews on Rate My Professor) He oversees the worship teams for both universities, but he is especially gifted as a mentor for young men.  He's evangelistic, insightful, and encouraging.  He's entering his second year as a full staff member, and I'm so blessed to work alongside him another year.

Laurence just finished his internship with us last week.  At the end of the internship, each intern preaches a sermon to our entire staff about what God has taught them over the course of the year.  You would have been so encouraged to hear the kind of transformative work the Lord has done in those 9 lives through the FOCUS internship. Those sermons might be my favorite part of the whole year.  Laurence started by having us look up a painting on our smart phones and spend a few moments contemplating it.  It's called The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt.

He went on to share 3 personal axioms that sum up what God has been teaching him this year:

1. If I want to change, I have to choose to.
2. I've got to let myself be put on display. [think Jesus hanging on the cross, not a celebrity on stage]
3. I will always be the prodigal son.

That last point really ministered to me.  He shared about learning at a deeper level that he will always need God's grace, that he won't graduate from the cross.  He said, "The cross is it--you either kneel or hit the road."  The sermon was a powerful reminder to me that God wants to use us in our weakness, not once we get strong.  I encourage you to take it to heart--you will always be the prodigal son or daughter, but He will always be the ridiculously extravagant Father, hitching up his robes to run and meet you!  He doesn't start that way and then become like the older brother.  (Hopefully us older brothers become like Him.)  You won't graduate from the cross--God wants to use you as you are, where you are.  Obey Him today, and you'll end up where you need to be tomorrow.  That's the very nature of the faith relationship.

I'm so excited about Laurence bringing that spirit to our men's ministry.  He's an excellent teacher, but I'm always mindful of another leadership axiom: Character is caught, not taught.  Laurence is coming on as a full staff member to work with the men at UTD, and I'm really excited about what he brings to the table.

It's guys like these that have me more excited than ever about campus ministry.  It's on campus that we can find the best and brightest and give them a vision to spend their lives on things of eternal value, things of Kingdom-importance.  I could tell stories like these about everyone on the FOCUS staff, and so many more besides.  I appreciate your prayers--God is moving!