Into the School Year

We made it through another Welcome Week! Which is actually Welcome WeekS--14 days in a row when we put on 1-3 events every single day with the ultimate goal of spreading our nets wide to meet, befriend, and ultimately bless some of the 32,000 students who showed back up for college this fall at UT Dallas. We did all sorts of things! We hosted game nights outside the residence halls every day that the freshmen were moving in. We had field nights with lots of sports. We played "Zombie Tag" in one of the classroom buildings. Lindsey and I taught a college-level class on the book of Jude for more students who were curious about the Bible. We had special events for black, Hispanic, and Asian-American students. And so much more! 

Thank you for supporting me to be present on campus during this key time! 

Just a few snapshots below:

This year's "Black People Meet and Greet" had nearly 150 students show up! Only about 5% of UTD students are black, so this is an underserved group.

At our Asian-American social, students made friends, drank boba tea, and did trivia games. One of these little rounds told me they became such good friends that night that they took a group picture and set up a GroupMe to stay in touch!

We worked together with the Baptist Student Ministry staff to host a lunch for all of the Christian campus ministers at UTD a few weeks ago. It was our biggest turnout since before the pandemic! At our table are ministers from FOCUS, from ICF--the main international student ministry, and also from...FOCUS--Fellowship of CATHOLIC University Students. Ha! We love our fellow FOCUS ministers! They are truly such great partners in the gospel.

We had tables like this one out on campus for a few hours a day for nearly 2 weeks. We gave out many gallons of cold brew coffee, sooo many bottles of water, campus maps and tours, church fans with our event information on them, and the opportunity to sign up to be in a FOCUS core group.

God Goes Ahead

As the year approached, I was praying for the returning student leaders that I work with. For one of them, I had a sense that God wanted to upend some of his well laid plans for the year, but a bit of trepidation about saying that to him! But I wrote him this message and quickly got a response. It's a great reminder that I don't initiate God's work--He just lets me take part sometimes.

Student Testimony

Fun Trips

Our FOCUS Staff from all the campuses got to go on a retreat before the students showed up. This is the crew for 2023-24! (minus a couple of maternity/paternity leave people)

Most of my men's staff team from UTD went to Colorado together in July. Here's a picture of me and Peter at the highest point in Colorado!

After Welcome Week, Sarah and I took a quick 2-night trip to NYC. She loves Broadway!

An Encouraging Message

I was reading some updates from UTD this month and came across this blurb about one of our former FOCUS corefas:

I reached out to encourage Justin, and he shared that the award was cool but he has found his experience as a Corefa to be more helpful in his career than his CPA certification. I'm excited to share with you his response:

My job is a business analyst at Capital One, which is a mix of data analysis and strategy. It’s basically using data to make different business decisions. 

I think being a corefa built up a ton of skills for me, but maybe most importantly it has boosted my communication and relationship building skills a ton. My job involves quite a few presentations and meetings, and leading core was great preparation. It has been very helpful for being able to read the room and ask good questions. 

I also feel much more prepared to talk to and relate to people that are very different than me, which is much more important than I expected. Being able to be purposeful in relationships, relate to others, and manage conflict are all some of the most important things to my job and I’m sure many others. Many FOCUS axioms fit in here!

I loved my time in FOCUS and learned a ton - thank you for being a determined, thoughtful, and purposeful leader!

What a testament to our shared work among university students! Your gifts and prayers and support for FOCUS are making an impact on campus and beyond. Thank you!

Spending the next couple of days with this group from our pastoral staff at the Global Leadership Summit. I'm excited to invest in their development as thoughtful, strategic leaders as we prepare for the 2023-24 school year!

Thinking Ahead to New Leadership

Well it's summer, and that means lots of conversations are happening with young men and women about stepping up to lead a Core in the coming year. It's a big commitment, probably 12-15 hours a week, but we never have trouble finding students to serve. They work with a partner to meet new students, recruit their own small group, plan a weekly meeting, develop their group into a community of spiritual friends, wrangle them into our larger community, and offer a one-on-one discipleship experience to each member. Some of them are doing all of this at 19 years old! It's no wonder they grow so much! It makes me excited for the future of the Church, knowing that we are sending out skilled and experienced leaders into so many different churches, workplaces, homes, and other environments. At UTD, we already have 23 guys who have committed for the year, and another 6 that are still prayerfully considering. Please pray that God will prepare these young men (and their counterparts among the women) for the opportunities ahead and that He will be preparing the hearts and minds of the students they will meet in August. I'm confident that divine appointments are already being booked!

I recently read a very compelling reflection on Luke 5:36-39. (You can read it here)

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

The author posits that we have missed the point of this teaching of Jesus because we haven't paid attention to its context, a meal at a tax collector's house and questions surrounding the differences between the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of the Pharisees. What if this is not a comment about the old and new covenants of the scripture but rather commentary on why Jesus did not choose his disciples from among the best and brightest religious minds of his day? I won't recount the whole argument, but it has me thinking about what Jesus was looking for in those he "called to be with him" so he could "send them out to preach" (Mark 3:14). 

Jesus didn't play it safe, taking the ones who already knew the right answers. He didn't pick apathetic men and women, but rather passionate ones--sons of thunder who wanted to call down fire from heaven on people who wouldn't listen, a zealot who wanted to overthrow Rome with violence, people who wore their questions and even lack of faith on their sleeve. He included a betrayer, a denier and a woman who had been demon possessed.  He was doing something new, and he wanted people he could shape, who were eager to receive his message and adapt to it. 

Choosing these core leaders is not as significant of a decision, but it is significant. They are sent out two by two as well. They do not know what they will encounter, but there are still sick to be healed, truths to be preached, and demonic forces to be encountered. These young disciples are just as raw; they struggle with big questions, deep hurts, and very real temptations. But like those original disciples, they show up and step up, facing their fears and making sacrifices for the chance to be a part of whatever Jesus is doing. And like Jesus, we try to prayerfully and discerningly give them a chance to be a part of something amazing. 

Last night I sat with one of those young leaders from last year as he tearfully talked about a painful relationship with a deeply hurting guy he has built a friendship with. "Why me?" he told me he'd been asking God. Why? Because it's important work, Spirit-work. Every year we see our axiom come true: "Your misery can become your ministry." I get to build deep friendships with and mentor young men of all races and from across the globe. I get to sit and hear their heartbreaking and deeply private stories of abuse and personal failure; I get to celebrate with them their victories and triumphs. Why me? I guess because when I got the invitation I said yes. And now I get to extend that invitation to a new generation in my little corner of God's kingdom. It's one of my favorite parts of campus ministry. We never know what God will do next!

Some Big Staff Transitions

This is more for those of you who know a lot of the staff. Feel free to skip this section if these names don't mean anything to you! 

For a campus ministry, our staff team is amazingly stable over the years. Even yesterday I had a director from another ministry at UTD asking for insight on how to make this a viable long-term option for his staff so he doesn't lose them just as they gain some experience and wisdom! But transitions do happen, and God is so faithful to us through those transition periods. This year we had some long-term staff members transition off the team to new opportunities. Leah Lorenz (one of the founders at UTD!), Victoria Seiler, and Casey Worsham all transitioned off of our admin staff. Leah and Victoria will be spending more time with their kids, and Casey is stepping up to full-time hours as lead pastor of East Plano Fellowship, the church he helped start in 2020. We are sad to lose them, but I can very confidently say that they each left us in a significantly better place than when they started. They set up systems, refined processes, resourced creative solutions, and built key relationships. As a result, we are going into the coming year with a significantly leaner admin team (both in people and overall staff hours) supporting a bigger ministry than every before (a lot of that is also due to our amazing admin director Paul Ueng). 

On the campus side, after a time of prayer and discernment, Jalen Quintana (one of our UTD alums) has left our UTA staff after a few years to pursue opportunities in software engineering. He has been such a huge help over the years in laying the foundation for our ministry in Arlington (as well as a great friend to my wife!). Rhett Hayes is leaving UTD after 5 years to take Jalen's place in Arlington and lay groundwork for a TCU plant in the future. While we are losing Rhett, we are getting Laurence Glenesk back! Laurence worked on our team for years but then left to pioneer a ministry at SMU. The SMU ministry is stronger than ever, but Laurence is looking to work closer to home now that he has two little ones, and we are excited to have him back on our team! Garrett Davis will be overseeing the SMU ministry moving forward. 

Student Testimony

I Graduated!

I think I'm done with degrees. I know I'm done with footnotes! I finished my coursework back in December, but I (and Peter along with me) finally walked across the stage on June 10 in Pasadena, CA, where Fuller Theological Seminary is located. It was a very special and spiritual ceremony, and I was moved to tears when we sang "I Give Myself Away" in the middle of it. I was moved to a different kind of tears sitting through 400 names being read, but at least it's over!

I couldn't believe how many people got to come to our graduation so far from where any of us live. It was such a blessing to me! A number of people from the FOCUS staff, my wife and parents, and Peter's entire family got to be there. The special thing Peter did to get that red stole hanging down was just being Asian American. But the special thing he did to get the red hood (around his neck) instead of my white one was taking 50% more classes than me!

I've been reflecting on seminary and its value and place in campus ministry. Because campus ministers typically come straight from the secular university (for example, I have bachelors and masters degrees in business from UTD), relatively few have a seminary education and almost none start their ministry with one. A big part of going to seminary for me was answering my questions about it. I have a couple of initial reflections.

1. There's incredible value in studying slowly while actively being a minister. I thought I would not like online school as much, but what was unexpected was that, rather than sitting in a classroom with a bunch of full-time students, I was actively learning alongside a bunch of full-time ministers. We were trying to figure out how to use what we were learning realtime. I got to be in classes with church pastors, other campus ministers, missionaries, chaplains to various hospitals and prisons, Salvation Army officers, youth ministers, and more. They brought a richness to what I was being taught, but so did talking it over with the university students and alumni I get to meet with every day! I loved taking this degree one or two classes at a time, slowly pondering and integrating what I was learning. 

2. What we've been doing in FOCUS all along for education is REALLY GOOD. We've long had a commitment to continuing education for our pastoral staff. We are always reading, listening to lectures, or otherwise pursuing deeper understanding of the scriptures and ministry leadership. Our staff reads multiple books together each year, and our commitment is to graduate level learning. We believe that if we are to lead university students, we should be operating at their level or above. Fuller has expanded our list of resources and given us new topics to explore, but I believe anyone on our team for a few years will ultimately come out ahead of someone with a one-and-done seminary education before they start their ministry career.

I am soooooo thankful for this education, and I assure you I'm using it every day. Through your gifts, the ministry helped pay for it and gave me the time to devote to it. It has raised my game in teaching and leadership, and I'm passing that on to these younger pastors that I mentor. I've gotten to do things I never thought I'd get to do, like make my own translations of scriptures from the Greek and Hebrew! I know it will take a few more years for all of this learning to sort of settle in my heart and mind, but I'm committed to blessing our mission what what has been invested in me. So thank you!!

SICM!

SICM was a huge success, as usual. We are busy meeting up with all these wonderful students and talking to them about making a commitment to serve and lead their peers next year. The future is looking bright!

This is the group we took to SICM from FOCUS this May. The crazy thing is that it doesn't include about 5 people who were not there at the moment and another 5 we sent in June!

This is the group of guys Peter and I hosted (minus one) at a house in Bellingham all week. They are all UTD guys--a really neat bunch!

Student Testimony

Stories from the Year

Last Friday night we had our last FNF, which is always one of my favorite nights of the year. Instead of a teaching time, we open up the mic for students to share about how they've seen God working this year. The stories are so sweet! Here's the prompt we use:

We always cover the "ABCs of Sharing" to help make the time as meaningful as possible.

You would have been so encouraged to hear the students sharing on Friday night, but you still can be! Just click here to listen students share about the impact the Lord has made in their lives through your prayers and generosity!

In other news, I joined in this year's Parking Lot Graduation ceremony to celebrate my new seminary degree!

Since I was walking, Rhett handed out the "diplomas," which are actually a letter of blessing and sending from our pastors to the graduates.

We had 43 graduates this year from UTD alone!

Student Testimony

Thank you for loving young people into God's kingdom!

Links from Last Time

I realized that when the email when out, it didn't have the links for any of those videos or audio! I got too fancy in making my blog. You can always click through the email to get to those things if that happens again. I'll also include them again here. (Hopefully it works this time. If not, I'll have to call IT. :)

Here's the audio from our Pizza Theology on Wisdom, linked on Spotify:

Here's the senior epistle from Kim:

And here's one from Jared:

And as a bonus, here's a pic of me and my UTD directors team when we all wore pink for Easter Sunday!

Wisdom for Dummies

Over the weekend I got to do part of the teaching for our Spring Pizza Theology entitled Wisdom for Dummies. Three of our younger pastors helped us look at the messages of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, and then I finished by looking at the idea of wisdom more generally. Prepping for this message was especially meaningful as I got to spend a significant amount of time quizzing Ronnie Worsham and Brady Bobbink for their insights. It was a great night of teaching attended by hundreds of our students. It's well worth a listen if you want to take the time!

I received an incredibly encouraging email from an alumnus the other day that reminded me of the importance of teaching times like this--how formative they are to young people learning to think like a Christian. Here's an excerpt:

I was listening to a podcast I subscribe to that’s based in the Dallas area. They were talking about a church down there that hosted a worship night and then the pastor started preaching for full acceptance and support of the homosexual lifestyle, basically saying it’s blasphemous to separate two people in love. My podcast was discussing the importance of being able to think and reason through scripture so we’re not led astray by false teachings.

Immediately I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the solid foundation I gained upon coming to faith in FOCUS. The biblical literacy I learned, let alone the ability to create family culture and disciple others, while there has greatly impacted the trajectory of my life. For that I am profoundly grateful.

Thank you for supporting this important kind of ministry. The church (not to mention the world!) needs more men and women who are equipped and experienced at thinking biblically, carefully, and deeply about the tough challenges that face us. That's slow work, but it pays off over the long run!

Senior Epistles

Every year we let our graduating seniors at UTD write and read letters to our community in the last weeks of the school year. They are so encouraging! I wanted to share a couple with you here. I think you'll see how much your support impacts young people and how much wisdom they have gained in these years!

Student Testimony