3 November Highlights + an Alumna Testimony

#1 Pizza Theology

On November 12, we had possibly our best Pizza Theology yet! Bill Watson, a professor of Greek and New Testament from Criswell College came to teach about 500 students about the Sermon on the Mount for 4 hours. You would have been so encouraged to see how engaged the students were, paying attention, taking careful notes, and asking great questions. Bill even encouraged us about how unusual that is.

His lecture was incredibly challenging and encouraging. I'd encourage you to listen if you'd like to go deeper in understanding the greatest sermon ever preached. "Pizza on The Mount" (there's a powerpoint to follow along with and a handout to read on the same page.)

Fall 2017 Pizza Theology

#2 Compliment to the FOCUS Apprenticeship

There's a department at UTD that has employed two of our past apprentices (Katy Jordan and Ana Fineout) over the past few years. Ana has transferred to a new job within the university, and another past apprentice, Rachel Beckham, is applying for her job. I got this text from Katy a couple weeks ago:

Great compliment to the FOCUS internship today. We are working on picking people to interview for our new position and Bonnie said "We have had such amazing experiences with our FOCUS people so I know Rachel would be good." Kevin said "Yep, they seem to prepare y'all well."

We've worked hard to make sure our apprenticeship prepares our young people for whatever vocation they find themselves in, and it's paying off--people are noticing a difference. On top of that, these particular young women have placed themselves in the university context and not only make FOCUS look good, but bring honor to Jesus by being effective, being hard workers, loving others, and having a great attitude in their workplace.

#3 Keep FOCUS Growing Fund Update

Giving Tuesday was an amazing success! In 1 day, we raised $30,000 of our $50,000 goal!

Right now we have about $16,000 left to go, and we have great momentum. Please pray for God to give us exactly what we need to we will continue to rely on Him every step of the way.

If you'd like to join in, you can go to anyfocus.org/newchapter right now!

I'd like to say a special thank you to all of you who give financially to me, to another staff member, to support one of our campuses or the general fund, and/or to our special Keep FOCUS Growing Fund. We are so blessed by your support.

Alumna Testimony

This sweet young lady is working with orphans in the mission field. I know you'll be encouraged by her story.

Danyelle Graves de Morón

University of North Texas, Social Work, Graduated 2013 

"I always dreamed of being a missionary. My plan was to go to college to please my parents, graduate as quickly as possible, and then leave the country. As I got more involved in FOCUS, I began to see how purposefully the people around me shared their lives and faith. The Lord began to show me that ‘missions’ is not what happens in other countries but in our everyday lives. Through the example of dear friends, I learned how to love like Jesus even when it is not fun or easy. After graduation, the Lord opened doors for me to move to Bolivia as a missionary. Looking back on my time in college, I believe that the Lord prepared me through the friendships, community, and study in FOCUS far more than through my degree program. I am so thankful that the Lord, in His mercy, did not let me rush through college to please my parents, but used the ministry of FOCUS to lay a foundation for years to come."

6 Great Guys

I wanted to comment briefly about the UTD students that I get to spend weekly time with this year. Four of them are the corefas in my peer team and one has stepped up to lead a peer team himself for his last year in school. (And then as a bonus, a testimony from a great Richland student I got to room with at SICM.)

Every staff person gets to spend time with amazing, servant-hearted student leaders. I'm so blessed to spend my time with these:

My Peer Team

Casey

Casey is a sophomore this year. He comes from a really strong Christian family. His parents are involved in ministry at the Village Church - Plano and his older brothers were a part of different campus ministries during their college years. He's a young man who is serious about being his best for God. I got to know him some at SICM this year, and I've loved getting to spend time with him weekly. He's committed, kind, gentle, and others-oriented. He pursues the guys in his group and also pursues me in friendship. I've already had guys share with me stories of how Casey has had a positive impact on them personally.

Austin

Austin transferred from Collin's Preston Ridge Campus, where he already led a core last year. He's also living at the same house that I am this year so I get to watch his life pretty closely. He got serious about Jesus as a high school student because of YouTube videos that had an impact on him. He has a very understated, dry sense of humor that I find hilarious.  He told me when I first met him that he's shy, but I haven't seen much evidence of that. I think he has guys coming to his core from every one of his classes. From one class, 3 different guys are coming! He's a bold young man that people really like to be around.

Jesse

Jesse is the artist of the bunch. He's a senior this year and is leading core for the third year in a row. He cares deeply about people and builds relationships both through deep conversation and by creating unique experiences to share. He's incredibly genuine and is very earnest about developing authentic friendships. While he's the most spontaneous of this bunch, it doesn't keep him from following through on his commitments.

Luke

Luke is a great young man from sunny San Diego. He's a serious student in the engineering school and he thought long and hard about whether he would have time to lead a core. But once he made the commitment, he has taken it very seriously. He has chosen to love the guys in his group, and he thinks deeply about God's word and about God's people. 

At the beginning of the year, I assigned Luke and Jesse to write some questions to lead a core discussion on Ephesians 4:29. I planned to spend about 15 minutes helping them rework those questions into something workable, but I couldn't come up with a single suggestion! These two are very inquisitive, taking advantage of our times together to learn about me as a person as well as what I can teach them about the scripture and leadership. I enjoy every time I get to be with them.

Sean

I got to study "FOCUS on Jesus" with Sean the summer after his freshman year at UTD. He has an incredibly unique and vibrant personality, but is also a pastoral thinker who leads his guys with care and conviction. He has already led core for a few years as he worked and pursued his degree, so we asked him if he would spend his last year as a student mentoring corefas instead of leading a core himself. He is very much up to the task. He thinks like a staff minister, and I find our times together each week personally encouraging and challenging. Sean is intense, wise, good-natured, purposeful, and very serious about Jesus. He's also fun and really fun to be around. It's been very special to get to spend weekly time with him again a few years after we concluded our one-on-one Bible study.

Student Testimony

Joshua Erdmann (Richland College, Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering)

"In high school, I was the type of person that went out of my way to avoid people that I considered to be different than me. I was always looking for people that either talked the way I did or took part in the same things I liked. This led to superficial relationships and friendships. When I joined FOCUS, I really think God taught me that meeting people who were different than me - in every way - was a good thing. Through FOCUS, I have come to realize what it's like to have real relationships with people. In real relationships, you can talk to your friends about how you feel that day and not have to hide anything. When I first walked on campus at Richland, I was unsure about who I was or where I belonged. I thank God that I found a group that I feel like I actually belong to. Through FOCUS, God has been showing me that I belong wherever He has called me, and that it’s up to me to show others that they belong, too."

Please pray for these guys. Between them, they're investing in 40-50 other guys on these campuses! Thanks for helping make it possible for me to spend time training and equipping them. It's a joy and a privilege.

Our Biggest UTD Fall Camp Yet!

We've been back from Fall Camp for about a week, so I'm finally caught up on sleep. :)

Some students made cookies for everyone!

Last weekend, 208 of us from UTD, Richland, SMU, and TWU-Dallas took a day out of life to be together, worship together, share in God's word, and build deeper friendships. We had our biggest ever group from UTD! (Even though many of the students involved in FOCUS at SMU were busy with their parents for Family Weekend on that campus, we still had 8 come. We have around 25 students involved in core or one-on-ones there!) I think these higher numbers

The craft table was a big hit.

10 Students shared a part of their own story. 5 shared about how God has changed their view of what it means to be a Christian, and the other 5 shared about how the Lord brought them to the point where they were willing to say "Send me" to Him. ("Send me" is our theme for the year.)

I think most encouraging to me was watching how the students pursued one another in relationships and no one was being left out. During an open sharing time, student after student shared about how they have experienced the love of Christ in this community in a way they haven't experienced it before. We had a lot of international students and other non-Christians there, and I know they were impacted by the stories that were told.

We busted out the parachute we all remember from elementary school.

Spikeball is always popular, along with ultimate frisbee, flag football, giant kickball, speedball, and gaga ball.

Let's be praying that these new students will look beyond their experience of Christian community to see and experience Jesus, the one who made it possible and taught us how to love one another. I'm praying for many to call Him "Lord" for the first time this year.

We almost packed out this room for worship. But we've still got room to grow in the coming years!

Student Testimony

Jocelyn Payan (UT Arlington, Nursing, Sophomore)

"I grew up Catholic but never consistently went to church. I always admired the concept of community and was really saddened by the idea of not experiencing that within my faith because of my lack of involvement. When I came to UTA this desire to be involved in a Christian community only grew. After being greeted kindly at the FOCUS information table at orientation, I remember thinking to myself, “Wow. God is really working here and I want to be a part of it.” As classes started in the Fall, I was contacted by a girl named Kaylee who consistently invited me to events and had a deep-rooted desire to get to know me. Through people like Kaylee, I was really able to see how those in FOCUS loved the Lord which directly translated into how they interacted with and loved people. As the semester began I was asked to go deeper in my faith and study scripture in a one-on-one study, Focus on Jesus (FOJ) with Alexis. Alexis really encouraged me and wanted to walk with me in my journey of building a relationship with God. Through this community, I was challenged to give love like I had received it. Although I didn’t know it, God had been working and was faithful to answer a prayer I hadn’t even thought to ask for. He blessed me with this community and an opportunity to share that with others. "
Thanks for actively loving students and other young people. I'm excited to see how God uses our investments in the years to come!

Off To A Great Start

First Friday Night

We made it through move-in and Welcome Week! These are the two most important weeks of our calendar year, and the student leaders and staff pastors have done an incredible job of reaching new students. We had our first FNF at UTD last Friday night, and we had well over 250 students come. Most of the new students come because someone meets and invites them. I sat in the back and looked around trying to find a visitor no one was talking to--impossible! It's so encouraging to know that our core value of welcoming new people hasn't been lost as our group has grown. I'm hearing the stories already of freshmen, both Christians and non-Christians, who are excited to be a part of Friday nights and cores this year. Please be praying for the student leaders as they start setting up one-on-ones in the coming days and weeks.

The most exciting thing to me is seeing that this isn't a community led by a minister or two; it's a community of ministers. The Lord is answering our prayers to send out workers into the harvest field.

The room we met in is very hard to capture in a photo, but this will give you a sense of how packed it was.

Student Testimony

I've had the privilege of spending some time with Michael this summer, and it's so cool to see what the Lord is doing in his life. He didn't grow up knowing the Lord but started going to church because a friend invited him near the end of high school. Coming to college while his faith was still in its infancy, he was especially vulnerable. He went to SICM in May and stepped up to lead a core this fall! He has a sweet heart, and I treasure the time I get with him. I can't wait to see him love others the way he has been loved.

Michael Murphey (Sophomore, UT Dallas, Computer Science)

"When I came to UTD, I felt really lost. I didn't have many friends, and it seemed as if my life had no direction at the time. I had known for years that I wanted to study computer science, but in the fall of 2016 I was doing little else, and it felt painfully meaningless at times. I decided to come to Friday Night Fellowship one night and met Mark Merola. Even though we were complete strangers, Mark took a particular interest in me. After sitting with me during the service, he invited me to come to more FOCUS events and to join his Core. I started coming to Core regularly and became friends with everyone there. With Mark and the rest of my Core, I gained a group of supportive peers that I could live life with and learn from. I grew significantly in my faith and also as a person. Through studying the Bible and discussing it with members of my Core, I learned more about who Jesus is and my relationship with him deepened. My relationship with Jesus also led me to examine who I was as a person and make changes to how I act. FOCUS added a lot of meaning into my life and helped me see who I want to be. I have become a Core facilitator for the 2017-2018 school year, and I now know that the path toward God is the path that I want to take my entire life."

Thanks for making stories like this possible through your prayers and financial investments and hours spent with young people!

7 Days of Prayer as Students Move In

Students started moving in on campus this week and classes are about to start up. These are the most important couple of weeks in the year for campus ministry! Will you join me in prayer for the next 7 days?

Just Back From Staff Retreat

Staff Retreat

On Monday, our new apprentices joined our staff, and we headed off for three days of prayer, praise, personal sharing, and play to grow together as a team and prepare for the coming school year. As we sat in one session, with each person sharing about how the Lord called them to this mission, I found myself returning to one of my regular prayers--asking God to bring revival to our campuses and towns and cities. In that moment, the Lord gave me this word: "Revival starts here." 

I don't think God was telling me that the FOCUS staff is the hope of the world. I think He was telling me that revival starts with transforming lives, one at a time. And He's been doing that for a long time in FOCUS! I looked at my team afresh, listening to the stories of how various imperfect people over the years were used by God to move these amazing young ministers onto His agenda. I know one thing: I can't take credit. God has assembled this group of passionate and talented men and women to carry this mission forward. Their example challenges and inspires me. They take seriously the promises they have made to the community God has given them to pastor. 

Will you join me in praying for them? God has revival plans for these campuses, and they begin with people who are giving years of their lives to reach college students with the good news of Jesus.

The 2017-18 FOCUS Staff. This team will be reaching out to 11 DFW College Campuses this fall!

And this is the UTD team that I work with most closely! We'll also be driving outreach to Richland, SMU, and TWU-Dallas.

Student Testimony

Morgan Chappell (Senior, Texas Woman’s University, Communication Sciences and Disorders)

“I grew up in the Methodist church surrounded by various spiritual mentors. Though I had a good church upbringing, I don’t think I really knew how to truly seek God. My spiritual growth was consequently very slow, with many stops and dead ends. I knew God was there, but for too many years I believed that I could find Him by myself. It was not until I began dealing with crippling anxiety and depression that I began truly seeking God. The support from my church during my time in a psychiatric hospital gave me a new thirst for God and community. I found FOCUS late into my first semester of college in 2015. Since joining, the ministry continuously shows me the importance of community in growing our relationship with God. FOCUS has challenged my beliefs, encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone, and even helped me to be more confident in my own skin. This year, I have been asked to be a student leader. Despite my fears of inadequacy, I know that I have been equipped with a community that will continue to guide and shape me into a better disciple, so I may go and make new disciples for God’s Kingdom.”

Thanks for your continued support financially and through prayer. God is preparing to do great things through our partnership this year!

The Middle of Summer

Between various travels, I and my team have been hard at work selecting and preparing the student leaders for this next school year. It's going great! I'm so excited to minister alongside these amazing young men and women on campus. This month, please ask God to give us wisdom in selecting and training student leaders and also discernment in planning for the first weeks of the school year.

This Month's Student Testimony!

Ismael Garza (Senior, University of North Texas, Music Education)

"Growing up, I knew there was a God, but I viewed church as a place for people who were “good,” and I did not fit the bill. As a result, I was guarded in my friendships and viewed vulnerability with people as a weakness. Entering college, I suffered from severe depression because of the college drinking culture and a very unhealthy relationship, which ultimately led me to taking a year off of school. During that year I decided to work at a penitentiary to make ends meet. In prison, you fight for respect daily and often look behind your back in case you’d stepped on someone's toes and forgot. This is true for both for the inmates and the officers. As an officer, I learned a lot about the harsh reality of life but I also learned about the consistent presence of God. Once I went into a dorm full of inmates and had to settle down an altercation. One of the inmates said to me, “This is our home, and you only leave at the end of the day because we let you.” At nineteen years old I had seen and felt pain that most people my age would not experience for a long time, if ever. Those experiences only brought me closer to God. During that year one of my peers and friends from FOCUS, Kurt Doty, never lost touch with me and checked up on me regularly. I find it funny that when I had real questions to ask about faith and religion, God provided me a friend who could help me. God has always met me where I was, and although I could not see it until I started searching, I think the patience in the people God has blessed me with has truly exhibited what the Church is meant to be."

Some Quick Thoughts on What You Do

When I was up at SICM a couple months back, the sermon on Sunday morning hit me, and I wanted to share the main points with you. The preacher is a missionary to international students and he gave the congregation these encouragements:

1. Praying for missionaries matters more than you think. I know we ask for your prayers regularly and you rarely get to see how that plays out, but I do get to see what God does in response, and that's why I keep asking you to pray! Just yesterday the guy I had lunch with shared that when he told his undergraduate advisor that he was going to SMU next, she shared that she was a Christian and had done her degree at SMU. She said it was the "darkest" place she'd ever been and that those were the darkest years of her life. And that's where the Lord is sending us this year. 

Your prayers to face down the spiritual powers of darkness matter. Your prayers for God to set up divine encounters with students and staff who are seeking Him matter. Your prayers over hurting students matter. Your prayers matter more than you think. 

2. Hospitality matters more than you think. I think especially of international students, but also of the thousands of students who move to a new city and don't have moms or dads or brothers or sisters near. We have the opportunity to be a family to them. As Hebrews 13 puts it, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers." Ron and Paula Hayes recently shared with me a story from some friends of theirs who had befriended and invited into their home an international student from the Middle East. He came over a number of times during his years in America and they built a meaningful friendship. When he moved home, he left them a large box with instructions not to open it until he was gone. Inside were lots of small wrapped gifts that he had brought from his home country to give to everyone who hosted him in their home during his years in the USA. When they asked him why he was giving them so many, he replied, "because you are the only ones who ever invited me over."

It doesn't take much to stand out in a culture that has lost the value of hospitality. You may not have access to international students or even college students. But we all have neighbors and people who visit our churches. Inviting people into your home matters more than you think.

3. You're sending more missionaries than you think. I started praying many years ago what Jesus told His disciples to pray for: “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). God has been answering that prayer in a big way! You may pray for or be a financial partner with one or more FOCUS missionaries, but everything we do is designed to train students to be missionaries to their campus--in their classes and residence halls and workplaces and gyms and student unions. Last year we had at least 300 students who were studying the Bible one-on-one with someone. When you walk the campus, you see these little discussions happening all over all the time. 

Our theme for this next year is "Send Me." We're going to be heating up this value for our entire community, and I can't wait to see what God does in and through us. You are an encouragement and a support to me for sure, but you're sending more missionaries than you think.

A great big THANKS to each one of you who have helped us reach, win, train, and send members of this visionary generation into the world with the good news of Jesus. It matters more than you think.