Values

Our Final All-Campus Event

The school year is coming to a close in the next few weeks, and we've all been working hard to finish well. We had our second Pizza Theology of the school year this past Sunday, this time wrestling with issues of gender, marriage, and sexuality. We had well over 400 students show up to spend four hours diving deep into this topic! The recording should be up on our site in the coming days for those of you who may be interested. As always with Pizza Theology, our goal is not to tell the students what to think but to get them thinking and give them building blocks for thinking like a Christian on an important topic. Our three alumni speakers did an awesome job at that.

Getting ready to start teaching. It takes a lot to get that many people quiet when they're with their friends! 

Brad Davis teaching on sexuality. I wish you could have seen his tribal dance when he talked about sexuality across cultures.

Laying a Firm Foundation

I had the opportunity to preach to our UT Arlington community last week, and it got me thinking about how we lay a foundation for healthy Christian community. Paul wrote "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care" (1 Cor 3:10). The reality in planting a ministry is that it's hard to re-lay a foundation once it's been laid; it's hard to change a community's values once they've adopted them. I gave this challenge to our UTA community and wanted to share it with you because it gives some insight into what FOCUS is really about. But more than that, I think these values are needed in all of our churches today.

Here is a summary of my message to the UTA students:
You are laying the foundation of a community here that, Lord willing, will last for many years to come. Just like the people who built the original buildings here at UTA will probably never meet you, you may never meet many or most of the people who you are building this community for. But what you do now affects them! Paul knew that. He “laid a foundation as an expert builder” and said, “no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ”

We need to lay those values carefully, starting with the core of the gospel. When I think about our core values, about the things God has taught us that are important to everything we do, 3 things rise to the top.

Value #1 - Jesus is Lord (This is the good news!)

This is where we unify. It's the thing we have to agree on. It's at the heart of the gospel. We joke that it's our entire doctrinal statement. Paul said, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3) Even as we come from diverse backgrounds and have so many different practices and convictions, we come together as one because we we all agree on this one central thing. 

But it's not enough to give lip service to this--it has to be about the real Jesus, the real good news. Paul was frustrated with the Corinthian church when he wrote these words: "For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough" (2 Cor 11:4). And in Galatians: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!" (1:6-8)

As a community, we have to be committed to the good news as revealed in Jesus, passed on to us by the apostles in the New Testament writings. We have to take seriously God's name--I AM WHO I AM. He reveals who He is through the scripture and we have to start there to get to know Him.

Value #2 - Real friendships (This is where we are good news to others.)

In the New Testament, church is all about the "one another" passages!

• Love one another
• Wash one another’s feet
• Be devoted to one another in brotherly love
• Honor one another above yourselves
• Live in harmony with one another
• Stop passing judgment on one another
• Accept one another as Christ accepted you
• Forgive one another
• Bear with one another
• Spur one another on toward love and good deeds
• Confess your sins to one another
• Use your gifts to serve one another
• Teach one another
• Pray for one another

There are 50-60 of these! And most modern churches actively obey only a handful of them.

This stuff happens in the context of real friendships. It’s much messier than putting on a show once a week. But it’s also more real and more godly and more faithful to our calling from God.

Value #3 - Raising up leaders (This is where we leave good news for a new generation.)

The church is too good at raising up generations of followers. But we haven’t done a good job imitating Jesus, whose ministry was ALL ABOUT raising up and empowering leaders!

Paul captures it in 2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

This is more than a sound bite! It’s Paul explaining what Jesus’ ministry was all about. It’s the apprentice imitating his master.

You guys have a cool opportunity to build something awesome at UTA. I remember those challenging early days as a student at UTD, trying to lay a foundation and protect it against the various dangers that came up. It cost a lot, but in hindsight, it was so worth it! And it’s still building and bearing fruit. Skyscrapers need deep foundations, so don’t get in a hurry. Lay carefully. So many people are rooting and praying for you.

I hope you can be encouraged by that message to a new community on a new campus. I am deeply thankful that you are purposefully and carefully, through prayer and generosity and friendship, helping us to lay a deep and lasting foundation of Jesus on these campuses. To God be the glory!

Our Biggest SICM Crew Ever!

The school year is rushing along to a conclusion, and I'm spending a lot of time looking forward to next year already. We invited 45 guys from UTD to the Student Institute of Campus Ministry this year, and about 24 are going! That's a record for a single gender from a single campus, and it's also a testament to the amazing team that I have in Laurence and Sirak and Peter. God continues to do great things in the lives of guys on our campus. We have a number of young men considering becoming followers of Jesus right now. They've been studying the scriptures and talking through the faith with their core leaders for months. Please say a prayer that God would bring a great harvest in the next couple of months.

Overall, we're taking an incredible 115 students to SICM this year (compared to 78 last year)! We only invite students who haven't been before and who we think could step up to lead a core next year. So this is a sign of great things to come for 2016-2017.

To make sure our students are able to afford SICM, we have a great event coming up. Many of you were able to attend the Spring Showcase last year, and the show was phenomenal! I was blown away by the talented musicians and artists, most of whom are students or alumni from FOCUS. Well, it's coming up again in just a few weeks, and I'd love for all of you to be a part of it. I promise the show will be amazing! Here are the details:

April 2nd, 2016

Art sale starts at 6:30PM; Show starts at 7:30PM

North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship

(2801 E President George Bush Hwy, Plano, TX 75074)

Purchase Tickets Online: anyfocus.org/springshowcase OR in person from students who will be attending SICM this year. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students. 

People mistake me and Peter for twins all the time.

A huge portion of my time is spent developing younger ministers and leading our staff across DFW. It's some of my favorite work. This year, I've been mentoring one of our 14 interns--Peter Ueng--and I'm excited to let you know that we have invited Peter to stay on staff with us at UTD in the coming years, and he has agreed! We only invite the cream of the crop to join our senior staff, and by the time someone has been a student leader for a few years and then spent a year on staff through the internship, we know them very well. Peter has been so much fun to work with and brings a lot to our staff team. He is a man of God, and I can't wait to see how he develops and grows in the coming years.

Thank you for all the ways you serve and give to bless others. I know those investments reap powerful rewards. Speaking of, here's a 10-minute TED Talk on how money can buy happiness. It's worth a listen.

Exciting News!

We promised the students we would take the polar plunge if we succeeded in reaching our goal, so here's a quick video of my UTD team jumping into some very cold water!

(If the video didn't appear, click here to see it.)

So first off, we met our $45,000 goal for the Keep FOCUS Growing Initiative! The gifts just kept rolling in throughout December and January, and we crossed the finish line the day we got back from Winter Camp. What a blessing! Thank you to all of you who took part in and prayed for this. Our needs this year might not sound as exciting to you as pioneering mission work on new campuses, but this money will help us put systems and people in place on the back end to make sure we can keep moving forward in our mission. I think of administration in this way: someone has to lay the tracks before the train can bring the workers and resources to where they are most needed.

Winter Camp was amazing this year. We consistently have students tell us it was the best weekend of their life so far, and this year was no exception. Rikk's core message about what Yahweh is like resonated powerfully with so many. I've especially heard a lot of non-Christians from various religious backgrounds who were struck by that message and are considering Jesus in a fresh way.

One thing he said (when reflecting on Jesus' relationship to the Sabbath rules) that I can't get out of my head is that "Church isn't about rule-keeping; it's about people-keeping." I pray you ponder that in your own involvement with the body of Christ, and that we will all do a better job of people-keeping and being concerned for the things God is most concerned about.

We had over 500 at Winter Camp this year. It just keeps growing!

I'm especially excited about this group. It's the UTA crew doing their "Mav Up" move. It was at our last Winter Camp that we announced we would start a ministry there, and this year they brought over 30 people! 

One of our UTA leaders sent me this exciting story: "After Winter Camp I was driving three non Christian guys from my core back home to Arlington. As we were leaving Sky Ranch I asked each one of them what they felt like they got out of the experience. All of them expressed to me that over the course of the weekend they had become more open to Christianity. One told me that he had been fascinated by the idea that science and faith could exist together, another told me that he had never felt more loved, and then another said that he was beginning to wonder if there really was a greater purpose for his life. After this I asked if each one of them would be interested in reading the Bible to find out more about Jesus Christ. The answer was a resounding yes!"

6 different worship teams pastored us over the course of the weekend. We are blessed with so many godly, talented leaders!

The Spirit ministered through Rikk in powerful ways. Rikk would speak for over an hour and students would be shocked that he was done. Some students even got on to me thinking I was telling Rikk to limit the length of his messages!
If you'd like to listen to Rikk's great series for free, click here!

Everyone had a blast throughout, playing games and sports and hanging out. I even heard that Rikk went on the zip line.

A few days after camp, Simi, one of our sweet UTD girls, was baptized. Morgan and Danni did such an amazing job of sharing the good news with her!

I wish you could have witnessed each of these things in person, but know that together, God is using us to make a difference. Thanks for all your support and help. I couldn't accomplish this ministry without so many of you backing me up!

It's 2016!

UTD starts back this coming Monday (a week before any of our other campuses!) so our staff and students are gearing up this weekend for another semester as missionaries to the UT Dallas community.

Winter Camp

Our staff created a special music video to welcome student to camp. This was my frightening costume.

A week from now, I'll be in the middle of Winter Camp, our biggest event of the year. One of the axioms we use with our leaders is "Base hits, not home runs." We use it to remind ourselves to do important work that moves the mission forward consistently, whether it's impressive or not. Too many ministries and churches have been the victims of pastors grandstanding. I remember at the church I grew up at, our main worship leader wouldn't lead for crowds less than 1000 people--he only wanted to hit home runs. Jesus on the other hand, worked often with small groups of people who no one had heard of in places no one had heard of. So many of his recorded encounters are with people whose names we don't even know, which just reminds us again that these weren't celebrities or Caesars. He did small, "mustard seed" ministry.

BUT...when the bases are loaded, it's time to try to hit a homer! That's what Winter Camp is about for us. Our student leaders have spent months asking questions, loving their peers, preparing hearts, praying for people. And now we have an event where we are praying for God to show up in a big way, to do things that we simply CAN'T do. I ask you to join with us in praying that this weekend will be a pivot point in the lives of students who are ready for one. Pray for our speaker, Rikk Watts (a professor of New Testament from Regent College), that the Spirit will use him to help us fall in love with Jesus. I look forward to telling you what God does!

Several of our staff had the opportunity to take a class from Rikk last summer, and it was amazing!

Corefa Class

Tomorrow we'll have one of four Corefa Classes of the year, special sessions where we take extra time to teach and prepare our student leaders for ministry. Not to mention that going back to ministry basics is really good for our pastors! Tomorrow we will be teaching on two very important topics.

First, we'll be talking about confrontation and conflict. Jesus was always confronting people, and he was always gentle--gentle just looked pretty different from situation to situation! We know that from our own lives. Gentle when picking up a baby and gentle when spanking a five year old require different amounts of force. Gently restoring someone who is repenting of sin looks different from gently rebuking someone who refuses to acknowledge their sin. Gentle is about using the minimum amount of strength necessary--strength under control.

We'll be teaching our student leaders things like "Seek first to understand, and then to be understood" (thanks to Stephen Covey) and "You can always say more louder later, but you can't take back anything you've already said" (thanks to Ronnie Worsham). We'll show them the Johari Window and how to think about and talk about blind spots with themselves and each other. And we'll teach them how to mediate conflict between others.

The second part will be about ministering in the area of sexuality. We plan to have a question box so the student leaders can ask questions about things they or people in their spheres of influence are dealing with. Our staff will take some extended time to respond and use it as a teaching opportunity. I know this will be really valuable--some of our student leaders regularly hear things that many pastors and counselors never or only rarely deal with. Pray for God to give them a special gift of wisdom!

Intern Sermons

Lastly, I wanted to tell you briefly about the sermons the interns gave to the staff last month. Throughout the fall semester, the interns study through all four gospels in their "New Testament in Christian Ministry" class with Ronnie. At the end, they have to deliver a 20 minute testimonial sermon entitles "This is My Gospel" to the entire staff and anyone else they invite. This was SO ENCOURAGING! Each has a unique story. They come from different states, different countries, different religious backgrounds, different socioeconomic situations. But each of them has experienced Jesus threading their story into His, and has been radically changed in the process.

I wish you could have heard as each of them used the good news to minister back to us, but since most of you couldn't be there, I thought I'd share some highlights:

Danni, reflecting on what God is really saying to us in 2 Cor 12:9-10: "You've got weaknesses? So what? Isn't that why I'm here?" "We can just be us. And He can be our God."

April, reflecting on what God has taught her about Him being the Lord of her mind too: "To rejoice is a choice."

Nicki, reflecting on moving away from people-pleasing: "I can't please everyone, so all that's left is being my best for God."

Albert, in sharing about finding true friends who would speak the truth to him in love, described someone as "one of those friends who will stab you in the front." Ha!

JD shared a parable with us about staying in darkness, refusing to confess and come into the light, and thinking we can handle it ourselves. He said it was like a person going home and refusing to turn on the lights in his house because he thinks "I don't need help from the lights. I can do it myself!"

Nathan shared about the guys who reached out to him as a freshman and the ways they purposefully loved and led him. He said, "They may be things that are expected for corefas, but when I was a freshman, they meant the world to me." He also shared about the bittersweet moment when a young man he led to the Lord later in his college career said, "Nathan, I don't think I need you anymore to understand the Bible." And he didn't!

Carmen described humility as "being willing to be unappreciated, because I serve the most unappreciated Person in the world."

All 14 sermons were powerful, but some were so personal that they sort of defied me reducing them into sound bites. These are just a handful of the young men and women who are sharing the gospel on these campuses. Their stories are powerful in the Lord, and they are only just beginning to understand them and communicate them. It gives me great hope for the future!

Thanks for your prayers and for investing to put ministers on campus. You share in this fruit, and only God truly sees all the connections. I love having so many partners in this grand venture!

Some Major Comings and Goings

Thank you for another great year! Your support has made a huge difference this year, and will continue to bear fruit into the coming years. I have a few exciting things to share and a brief reflection on Christmas below.

Fall Pizza Theology

This Pizza Theology had nearly 100 more students than we've ever had before!

One of our most exciting events of November was the semesterly event we call Pizza Theology (a nod to CCF for the name and idea!). We had 400 people show up to hear 4 hours of teaching on "How to Think Like a Christian." Oh, and one hour of pizza and fellowship in the middle! I got consistent feedback that the 4 hours flew by and they couldn't believe it was over.

Garrett started us off teaching about paradigms and objectivity, among other things. He's such a great teacher, and he had us all laughing--often at ourselves! I taught about how we need to integrate scripture, tradition, the arts, the sciences, and our experiences in order to think through topics that the Bible doesn't directly address. I also talked about the need to proportion our agreement to things, understanding that there is always more information out there, much of which I don't have access to at any given moment. And then we had a panel of very smart, thoughtful Christians discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. They had this discussion in front of us to demonstrate to the students how to have thoughtful conversations that drive learning and growth. We got incredible feedback on that portion.

The audio quality isn't the greatest, but if you're interested in listening, I highly recommend it. You can find the recording here.

Saying Goodbye to Travis

Garrett and I laid hands on Travis and prayed for him at Pizza Theology. Many of the students gave him a standing ovation for his years of service to them.

Travis Jones, who has been on our staff for nearly 5 years, served at 5 of our campuses, and helped us plant new ministries at Richland and UTA, is transitioning off at the end of this semester. We have loved working with him. He is so sweet and kind. He's up for anything, and is always serving however he can. He's done a lot of our graphic design work over the past few years (which we frequently get compliments on from other groups on campus).

Our staff has been in conversations about this for awhile, and while sad, we feel great about this transition.

Saying Hello to Casey!

I'm excited to share that Casey Worsham (my little bro!) is coming back to work with FOCUS half-time as our Administrative Director.  Our admin team is currently a patchwork of volunteers, part-time staff, and campus ministers who take on some specific role on the side, and we've been in great need of someone to come in and manage all that. Casey is a great fit because he has experience managing people in the marketplace and also, as one of our past campus ministers, really understands what we do and how we do it. Mandy and I are excited to be able to devote more of our time back with students as Casey takes this role off our shoulders.

Look how business-like he is!

Celebrating Christmas

God calls us into His family, and one of the things that really defines family in my mind is celebrating holidays together. And Christmas is such a great holiday to celebrate together as Christians! This year, we had a candlelight devotional to really think through the real meaning of Christmas (a special thanks to the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Richardson for hosting us!). We also had a fun party with the theme "High School Christmas." Our small groups came dressed as their favorite high school cliques, but the staff came as the lunch ladies and served a meal that would have made my high school alma mater proud, complete with segmented lunch trays! 14 of the small groups performed various high school themed Christmas songs/skits in front of the community. If you want a little taste, you can see one here.

UTD and Richland staff "lunch ladies." Note the hairnets.

This season of advent is our opportunity to celebrate Jesus' first coming and to wait longingly for His return. Light has dawned (Is. 9:2), but we eagerly anticipate the full light of midday.  Each of us gets to hold and share a part of that light, no matter how dark the world around us may seem. Henri Nouwen offers these questions to ask ourselves. I encourage you to reflect on them and be purposeful in reflecting the Light of the world: (Thanks to Shirley Bobbink for reminding me of them!)

“Did I offer peace today?

Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? 

Did I say words of healing? 

Did I let go of my anger and resentment? 

Did I forgive? 

Did I love?

These are the real questions.”

UTA and NCTC!

UT Arlington
I got to visit our new ministry at UTA last night, and you would have been so encouraged to be there with me! You would have seen 62 people (not counting me and my mom) worshipping God and living out Christian community on that campus. One of my favorite moments was seeing one guy who I'd never seen before go and introduce himself to a new girl and welcome her into the room. The DNA of our community is being passed on! I can't wait to see these students at Winter Camp.

Austin and April spoke, and the line that is still resonating in my mind is something that April said reflecting on the scene when Jesus was at Mary and Martha's house: "I have to become Mary to see Jesus again." Wow. It was so convicting to think about whether I was taking the time to just sit at Jesus' feet and look at Him. Honestly, the answer lately has been "no." So I'm taking the challenge to become Mary and see Jesus.

North Central Texas College (NCTC)
Yesterday our intern Aaron was telling me how much he loves working at NCTC, one of our newest plants. Here's something he shared with me:

Spending time at NCTC this semester has been really exciting. It's such a small campus that it's been easier to build some consistent relationships. People have been open to talking and sharing their ideas on God. We have a few guys and girls who are consistent in attending our core groups and have even taken part in helping us meet other students! Keep praying for NCTC and that we can grow in our vision for that campus.

Having spiritual discussions in the NCTC common areas. The question of the day was, "Is God relational?"

Hanging out with NCTC students.

My Washington Trip
I had the cool opportunity last weekend to speak at the Fall Camp for CCF, the ministry at Western Washington University that hosts the SICM conference every year. It was great getting to share God's beautiful invitation to repentance with a couple hundred students--the message that God's call to repentance means that no matter who we are or how much we've messed up, He isn't done with us yet! He has better things in store. 

I built my sermons around some points that Autumn Priestley shared at the end of her time in FOCUS: Get over yourself, Live in the light, and Go all in. You would have been so encouraged to watch these earnest students seeking God and living out His mission in a place where being a Christian isn't very popular.

Me with all the CCF students and staff last weekend!

Church and Campus Leadership Conference
I also had the privilege of leading our annual leadership conference for its 3rd year. The theme was around spiritual friendship. Our student leaders have been talking about things they learned ever since, and it has become one of our favorite days of the year. We asked the student leaders to invite students with leadership potential from their cores and we had well over 200 students show up!

Stay tuned this month for the roll out of our 2nd Annual Keep FOCUS Growing Initiative. We have some cool stories to tell, and I'm excited to see how God blesses that. Thanks for your gifts and your prayers and your friendship. God is moving, and you are a part of what He is doing on these campuses.

My Peer Team

UTD/Richland Fall Camp last weekend. What a great group!

One of my favorite things I get to do each year is mentor young men who have stepped up to serve/lead in the kingdom. This school year, I have 5 student leaders and 2 interns that I get time with regularly. They all have amazing hearts for the Lord and His people. Here they are in all their glory:

Jalen

I remember walking and talking with Jalen at Winter Camp a couple years ago when he was a freshman. He impressed me then and impresses me even more now. He is thoughtful and purposeful in his ministry. He's articulate in communicating important truths. He cares about others and is a lot of fun to be around! I love his zany sense of humor and the fact that he's a freak in almost every photo I could find of him. He's a second year corefa, and I'm excited to have him in my peer team this year! He also leads our sound team and is the VP of our club on campus. I have big plans for this one. :)

Quincy

I'm getting to know Quincy for the first time this semester. At first he seemed pretty quiet, but I've come to see how outgoing he really is. He has lots of friends and actively takes an interest in them. I was asking him about each of the guys coming to his core (there are a LOT) and he had things to share about each and every one of them. My favorite story from him so far is that one of the international students, who has zero background in Christianity, asked him what the word "baptist" meant. Quincy told him it was the name of a denomination. He thought for a moment and then asked, "What denomination are we?"

Rhett

Rhett is another second year leader. He is completely spastic, amazing at rapping and beatboxing and dancing (maybe he can teach me :), and incredibly grounded in his faith and knowledge of God and the scripture. He ministers from genuine friendship and interest in others, and he makes everything more fun. I'm loving the time I get with him. He sets a great example for others in the ministry.

Drew

Drew is Rhett's partner. He came in to the ministry a little later in the game last year, and quickly stood out. He's smart, likable, and funny. He takes his ministry really seriously and wants to bless the guys in his group. We've had some great conversations that show me how deeply he thinks about things, to the point where I've found myself thinking, "Is he really a sophomore?!" I can't wait to see how he grows in the coming months and years!

Dave

Dave has such a cool heart for God. He's open and vulnerable, and Peter (his partner) brags on Dave's skill at coming up with and asking good questions just about weekly. He is also a PA (like an RA in the dorms) and has a very demanding schedule, but he has made his ministry a priority. Dave spoke at our Fall Camp last week and now I'm afraid I'll be out of a preaching job here in a couple years!

Peter - My UT Dallas Intern

Peter is one of my two interns this year. He leads core with Dave, but he also coordinates and leads our entire worship team at UTD, which consists of a LOT of people. He is thoughtful and strategic in the way he leads our ministry into worship. Peter is brilliantly smart, musically talented, and initiates all sorts of fun games with people. He's really taking advantage of the internship to try to grow in areas he's never dealt with before. He's incredibly competent, so I love assigning him new things. Peter has a heart for campus ministry, and wants to continue making a difference in the years to come.

Austin - My UT Arlington Intern

I met Austin when he was a freshman in our UNT ministry, and we've stayed connected through his undergrad and his first year out of school working in the film industry. I was so excited to hear that he was hearing God's call to ministry and wanted to be a part of starting FOCUS at UTA! It's challenging to mentor someone when I only see him a couple times a week, but he has lots of other support. Austin is an amazing storyteller (my favorite so far having to do with fake pirates firing cannonballs at him) and just so much fun to be around. He is definitely an artist, and this internship is stretching his organizational skills for sure! He asks GREAT questions and really loves the guys God has put in his life at UTA.



I mentor a number of staff ministers as well, but these are the young leaders I have the joy of pouring into this year. I can't wait to see how the Lord uses them, not just this year but in the decades to come as they put these experiences into practice. Thank you for supporting me so I can raise up new leaders for the harvest.

Jesus told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." - Luke 10:2

As a bonus, here are two songs we've been singing a lot at UTD FOCUS this year. Feel free to check them out!

He is Faithful

No Longer Slaves