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.

A LOT happens in August!

On August 20, we had our first "Corefa Class" of the school year with about 94 people in attendance.  That's 94 people who are either leading small groups or mentoring small group leaders.  You would have been so encouraged to be there.

I couldn't quite get everyone in the frame, but this will give you an idea of what that leader training looked like.

We started teaching the leaders some basic axioms that we find useful in our ministry.  If you get to be around FOCUS you'll hear these pop up.  Here's a sampling of what you would have learned that night:

1. The dullest pencil is sharper than the sharpest mind when it comes to remembering things. (So write things down!)
2. Two-on-one is how it's done. (We usually say 1-on-1, but we are stressing bringing someone along with you this year.)
3. Think pastorally.  (What's really best for the people you minister to?)
4. A disciple too lazy to plant in the fall has nothing to harvest in the spring. (Ministry is a process and the sooner you plant, the sooner you harvest.)
5. People won't always live up to your expectations, but they will usually live down to them. (Jesus has high expectations of us and so should we, tempered by grace.)
6. If you love enough people, enough people will love you.
7. Use your problem solving skills. (One my dad had to say to me a "handful" of times growing up!)
8. Be a fool for God, not cool for God. (Very few of our heroes of the faith were "cool" by the world's standards.)

Thank you for believing in me and this community I get to serve,
Brandon

PS  You should virtually attend these 3 on-campus baptisms by student (or alumni) leaders!

It begins...time to PRAY!

In 3 weeks freshmen will be walking on to all four of our campuses ready to start a new phase of their life.  On one hand, they are adults--legally accountable for themselves and, for many, living on their own for the first time.  On the other hand (as I once heard Brady Bobbink say) freshmen are just high school seniors with a summer vacation.

It is our goal to be there to welcome them, invite them into meaningful community, and help them encounter the Living God.  

Please Pray for the class of 2016, that many will encounter the life-transforming grace of Jesus while at Richland, Collin, UTD, and UNT.  Pray that authentic disciples will form influential relationships with them.

Pray for FOCUS's student leaders, that they will be bold in their love and generous in their hospitality.  As they welcome new students on campus, pray that God will give them the courage and gifts to influence many!

Pray that the missionary staff and alumni volunteers of FOCUS will have big vision and supernatural creativity.  Pray that God will provide the resources, energy, and grace for us to bear much fruit.

Here are some key dates.  Could you mark them on your calendar or enter them in your phone so you'll be reminded to pray?

August 24 - Freshmen move in at UTD & UNT

August 27 - Fall Semester starts at UTD, Collin, & Richland (We'll be reaching out all week)

August 29 - Fall Semester starts at UNT

August 30 & 31 - Our kickoff nights for FOCUS

This is what our t-shirts for the year will look like.  I'm excited about our new theme--Everything New--celebrating God's promise to redeem all things, including us!

Frantic Summer

June has been crazy with another trip to SICM while trying to get our entire summer program rolling.  A couple of highlights on what I'm working on now:

1.  Staff transitions.  Brad is shifting off staff to finish his PhD and pursue his career teaching (he may end up as our advisor at one of our campuses).  Casey is moving to UTD to work with Mandy.  Garrett Davis (Brad's brother and a past intern) will be coming back on staff to lead Collin in Casey's place along with Tyler and Brianna Marble.  Matt Clark is moving up to Denton to take Brad's place at UNT along with Amy Knoles (another past intern).  My role, at least for this year, will be shifting slightly away from UTD to work with all the staff and interns.  I'll be mentoring those who are mentoring student leaders, supervising two interns, and driving the overall mission and vision of our ministry.  This is a lot of change to bite off for one school year!  But after praying and talking and thinking about it, we decided that these moves will get us in a better position for the next few years of ministry and mission and that we'd rather get it all done at once rather than a little at a time.  Please say a prayer for my changing role.  It's tough to let go of some of the things I love, but I'm confident this is the path the Lord wants me to take.

2.  Support raising.  Our entire staff is spending some time raising financial support and getting prayer commitments for the new school year.  Our goal is $30,000/month.  Sounds like a lot until I remember that supports 14 staff members at two universities and two community colleges.  It also allows us to scholarship students who can't pay for events and do creative outreach to all four campuses.  My staff works cheap! Seriously though, I hope over the next couple of years to increase our support raising to the point that some of these young men and women can reasonably support a family before I start losing my best and most experienced people to economic necessities! $1500 a month for someone with an MBA is a great deal for FOCUS--in the short run.  Please pray that God will hook us up with the right people and groups who share our vision and can partner with us moving forward.  God has always provided and I know He will in the future.  Our support team includes individuals, families, churches, and private foundations.  If you have a contact you think might be a good fit, drop me a line!

3.  My vacation/second SICM trip.  I got to travel through 12 states (plus a little Canada) in two weeks with a few great FOCUS people.  Most of the June group flew up, but 5 of us rented a van and drove, visiting lots of great people and places along the way.  I get such a bigger chance to influence and minister to key people when I travel with them.  A few pictures I took:

Kelsea at the Grand Canyon.  Breathtaking!

We got to stay with Eileen in Phoenix.  We took this right before we locked her out of her house.  Thank goodness Kelsea can fit through a dog door!

The beach at Coronado in San Diego.  By the time this was over, Maria had both Matt and Paulo completely buried.  We had dinner with Julie and Laura Schimpf, but I forgot to get a picture.

Eric gave us a tour of the Google campus.

And later in the day we went to Muir Woods.  The Giant Redwoods were huge!  I wish Charlie could have joined us.

Some of you may remember Jim and Patty Roberts who were on staff at Northeast Church back in the late 90's.  We had breakfast at their coffee shop in Portland, OR, and it was awesome!

Once we picked up the other 6 students at the airport in Seattle, a couple of the CCF staff joined us for a Mariners baseball game.  

Met up with my old friend Robby (from UTD) who is working in Vancouver.  We visited the University of British Columbia.  Regent College, where this summer's school of ministry originates, is on that campus.  If you want to grow and be challenged in your love of scripture, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Old and New Testament Foundations on regentaudio.com.

Our last day in Washington, Matt and Kelsea and I kayaked out to an island in the bay with Matt's host family and had a picnic.  A great ending before we started the long drive back.

When I report in again, it will be with new interns and we'll be ramping up for the arrival of thousands of freshmen!  Until then, thanks for your love and support.  Let me know if there is something I can be praying for you about.

Equipping Student Leaders

There's probably not anything more important that I do than training and equipping student leaders.  And SICM is probably the most important thing we do in a given year toward that end.

I've been going to this conference at Western Washington University since 2002 when I finished graduate school.  That year I took three others with me and the things we learned and the vision God gave us there has grown into so much!  This year I (along with 4 other staff) took 49 students in May (and we send another 8 in June).  This isn't a conference that we take the same students to year after year; it's an intensive week-long training that they go to once.  That means that this year we are taking 57 students who we have decided can be new student leaders in the fall if they make that commitment.

This is how our ministry grows, by making disciples who can make disciples.  The group in May was amazing.  They made us proud.  The staff up there who teach the conference said our group was one of the best they've ever seen--serious about learning, loving one another, and being excited about the Lord.  I look forward of many more years of taking serious young disciples to Bellingham, Washington, to allow Spirit-filled men and women to invest in them and help equip them to make a huge impact on DFW and beyond!

These are just the UTD students from the May SICM.  They are "whooshing" in Canada.  The US border is in the background.