Reflecting on the FOCUS Internship

Every year, we have a group of college graduates join us on staff as campus missionary interns.  They get professional fundraising experience as we raise our budget and then spend the next school year serving, giving, loving, studying, teaching, sharing their faith, and growing as men and women of God.  While FOCUS has had interns for a long time (my own internship started in the fall of 1998!), we launched our formal, part-time internship program three years ago.

In that time, the internship has become one of my absolute favorite things about this ministry.  First off, we are building on a foundation already laid.  Most of our interns have come to us after multiple years in our community.  We don't have to start from scratch--we have clear goals of how we want to see their knowledge, character, and heart for God grow in the coming year.  But more than that, we have the time with them to really work on those things.  One of the internship applicants for this year told me last week that he wanted to take a year to equip himself for ministry for the rest of his life.  For some of these young people, they are holding off launching careers for a year so that when they do get into the marketplace, they will have a greater impact for the kingdom of God.

Because of that time and intense focus, I see such amazing changes in the interns!  We're batting 1000 so far.  Every single one of them has had major breakthroughs in tough issues and has grown in significant, visible ways.  Some are on staff with FOCUS, leading campus ministries at Collin College, Richland College, and the University of North Texas.  Others are teachers, programmers, graduate students, and more, making differences in people's lives far beyond these campuses.

So many of you have contributed so much over the years in so many ways to make this all possible--laying the foundation of this ministry, sharing your faith with and mentoring students, praying for these campuses, contributing financially.  Thank you.  We are only beginning to see the fruit.

This year, we are making the internship full-time so we can make it even more intense and intentional.  We have 11 people in the application process.  11 GREAT people.  We'll be adding a lot to the internship's Biblical studies and on-campus outreach.  Pray for wisdom for our staff as we finish the selection process.  And pray that God will provide mightily for all our needs.  This could be a game-changing year!

Your Winter Camp Report

You would have been blown away to get to worship with the 370 people who came to Winter Camp this year--up from 250 last year.  You would have heard great lessons about the Kingdom of God from Geoff Mumley, been led in worship by multiple worship teams made up of students from all of our campuses, and had a blast making new friends and growing deeper in your walk with the Lord.  But I think a few things would have stood out even beyond that:

1.  Diversity.  We prayed for diversity and God has answered.  We had people of every color and people from all over the world at camp.  But it's more than just that.  On the way home, our guest speaker Geoff was telling me about what he saw--"the coolest of the cool hanging out with people who would have been social outcasts anywhere else; extreme athletes playing games with the physically handicapped."  He called it "a little piece of the Kingdom."  And you are helping build it!

2.  Serious students.  Had you been at our optional class during free time on "Reading the Prophets," you would have had to find a seat amidst the hundreds of students who left their games to come learn how to be better students of the Bible.  All through the weekend, students had their journals and Bibles out, taking notes and drinking deeply from God's word.  One student remarked to me that the scheduled journaling time was the highlight of her weekend.

3.  Growing vision.  Students were catching the vision that God has given us--that every student needs a Jesus-follower as a friend, that every person ought to have someone offer to study the Bible with them, that every campus in the DFW Metroplex needs vibrant, creative fellowships of believers.  And they are starting to understand that realizing great visions will take great investments.  I heard a student say that he had already decided he wanted to be involved in campus ministry after college, but that now he realized that meant financially as well.

You would have been blown away.  I was.  Thanks for believing in me and supporting me in so many ways.  I'm humbled to be a little part of the BIG things God is doing.

Almost Winter Camp!

Hey all, I have a few exciting things to tell you!

1.  We had THREE baptisms out of the Richland ministry last month, and they are three pretty different stories.  One of the guys was an international student from Rwanda really making a decision to follow Christ.  He made that decision only days before moving to Maryland to continue his education there, but one of the other campus ministries was able to connect him with a church in his new city led by a pastor from his home country!  Another guy has a Christian background but hadn't been living a life that brought glory to God.  He made a decision to live seriously for God instead of for himself.  And the third was a student's mom!  She came to her son's baptism last year and started coming to church.  Mandy (on staff) and Kristen Chapman (a long-time FOCUS supporter) had the opportunity to build a friendship with her and study the scriptures together--and she made the decision to make Jesus Lord of her life!  You would have been so encouraged to see each of these three make a solid decision to relinquish control and take a big step into the exciting plans God has for them.  

This is Landry sharing his testimony after his baptism.  The ICF staff was a huge part of God working in his life, and they got to be there too!

Travis baptizing Cameron.

Griffin's mom Leane talking before her baptism.  She is quite the preacher!  As she was going one of the Northeast elders walked in and asked who she was about to baptize. :-)

2.  Winter Camp is this weekend (Jan 18-21)!  Woo!  These are some of the most important days of the year for FOCUS, and I'd love for you to visit if you have the opportunity.  This year, we'll be at Sky Ranch in Van, TX.  We'll have morning and evening sessions both Saturday and Sunday.  If you are interested in coming out for a session and maybe a meal, please email me or call me.  We'd love to have you see with your own eyes how God is at work in these young men and women!  And if you'd like to help scholarship a student (or students) to come to camp, that would be a big help too.  As we've expanded to Richland and UNT, we've reached more and more students from lower income backgrounds.  We're committed to taking them with us, but camp costs $135/person.  Investing in the spiritual life of a young person is a great kingdom investment.

3.  My role is changing yet again.  We've rearranged some things on staff and I'll be leading the UTD ministry again as well as supporting the staff at the other campuses.  I'm so excited about it because I love UTD FOCUS!  

Sorry I'm late...

So sorry I'm a week late getting this up.  These past two weeks have been pretty crazy dealing with unexpected issues.  Sadly, a freshman who was actively involved in our UNT community passed away in an auto accident on his way back from Thanksgiving break.  Another car caused the wreck trying to pass in a no-passing zone and sped away from the scene.  Ryan Schutze died at the scene.  I didn't have the privilege of knowing Ryan personally, but all those I have talked to say he was a very godly young man who had a positive impact on a lot of people.  That has been comforting to the students in our ministry who are confident in the relationship he had with the Lord.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 has been on my mind: "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him."  Paul doesn't say that as Christians we don't grieve.  But he does say that we don't grieve like others grieve, because we have great hope.

I don't believe God causes such accidents, but I do believe He is able to work these tragic events and choices to the ultimate good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  Through these events, students are inspired to examine their own lives, are reminded that tomorrow isn't a guarantee, and examine what legacy they would leave behind if they were taken suddenly away.  Through the grace of God, Ryan leaves a powerful legacy with only 18 short years here.  He will continue to bear fruit in the kingdom.

In happier news, Mandy put up another international student baptism video at mandy.anyfocus.org!

And we had 250 students attend our Pizza Theology class this semester entitled "Rethinking Sex and Marriage."  At these events we have 2 hours of lecture, 1 hour of pizza, and 2 more hours of lecture.  It allows us to go much deeper into a topic than we could in a typical sermon.  You would have been so encouraged not only by the turnout, but by how serious they were about taking notes and asking questions.

Thanks for all you do for the kingdom and for me.

Penny's testimony

Way to go, Debbie!

International Student Conversions!

Thanks to years of saving up credit card points, my brother Casey and I had the chance to go to three countries in Europe during the first part of October, so I don't have as much to report on my personal ministry.  I basically spent my time prepping to be gone and then trying to get back into the swing of things.  But the ministry is in such a healthy place and our time away was just a blip on the radar for the students--though a much needed rest for us!  Going together we had a lot of fun and also had the opportunity for some great conversations about our Lord and ministering to students.

Us at Neuschwanstein Castle outside Munich on a very rainy day.

This is overlooking Florence on probably the most beautiful day of our trip.

In the past week we've also had two exciting conversions with International Students.  To give you an idea of the pace of this ministry, we've been reaching out to both of these students for over a year.  David started studying the Bible with Lingxiao last fall.  Debbie (our FOCUS admin) teaches an English conversation class.  Penny joined last fall and they became good friends.  Then, about a month ago Debbie got the opportunity to study the Bible with her.  Surely lots of other Christians (both inside and outside of FOCUS) have taken part in both of their lives--truly a kingdom effort.  And this is your fruit too!  Thank you for having the vision to invest your prayer, your time, your heart and your money into this mission field.

Penny gave an awesome testimony that you need to hear, but I'm still trying to get a copy of it.  I'll post it if I can get it fron the church she goes to.  So many cool things are happening.  Thanks for partnering with us!

Enjoying my new flexibility

We just finished up a weekend of fall retreats.  I wish you could have been there because you would have been so excited to see them.  We took record groups to both the UTD/Richland retreat and the UNT retreat.  Richland took about 3 students last year but around 15 this year.  The overall UTD/Richland count the day before the retreat was 145 (compared to 96 last year).  That included a LOT of international students.  They brought so much to the weekend, and we are delighted to have them as a part of our community.  It's so exciting to experience a small piece of the Bible's cosmic vision as people from multiple nations and languages come to learn about God.

Bill Bright (1921-2003)

I'm spending the bulk of my time supporting, equipping, and encouraging young campus ministers, but I've also carved out time to work on starting a faculty fellowship at UTD.  My heart is growing for this ministry as I begin to see how faculty can ultimately play a much larger, more long-term role in seeing kingdom transformation on these campuses.  Compared to student leaders, they have far more influence, a natural venue to influence students, and are often still on campus decades later.  Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, said this toward the end of his life: "If I could start Campus Crusade for Christ over again, I would begin by working with professors."

Regardless of their role in the university and society, professors are humans who face the same challenges, opportunities, disappointments, and tragedies that all other people do.  For various reasons, they are often isolated and disconnected from spiritual community.  And on secular campuses, Christian professors may feel there is no appropriate forum for their faith.  I hope you'll join me in praying for leaders to step up to this ministry and for spiritual renewal and revival on campus.  And if you know any professors at one of our campuses, let me know!

I read this quote from Eugene Peterson (translator of The Message) the other day about another minister:

"Faced with the massive moral disintegration of our times, we are commonly intimidated into passivity. [He] is not intimidated. He doesn't take on the entire ruined culture--he simply stakes out a modest claim and begins. But it is exactly this kind of obedient beginning that so often turns out to have large Kingdom consequences."

I found that encouraging for my ministry, and it is my prayer for yours--that you will not be intimidated by the spiritual forces ravaging our culture, but that you will stake out your own modest claim and start something beautiful. I'm so thankful for the way each of you has blessed my life!

A silly group picture from UNT's fall retreat this morning.