August Ministry Blog!

 First two weeks of the apprenticeship! Whoop!

Hi friends and family!

I want to start with a big thank you for being a huge part of the reason that I am able to be giving you this update! If it weren't for you, I would not have been able to share all that the Lord has been teaching me thus far, so please know how much I am so appreciative of your generosity and support!

What the apprenticeship has consisted of!

Although it has only been a short time so far in ministry, I’ve already learned so much!

The first week working full time consisted of the apprentice team being at the the main church, called Garland Northeast Church that supports the Focus ministry. We spent our days reading through the full pentateuch (first five books of the bible) as well as having several classes which consisted of: an old testament class, a note-taking class, and a writing workshop!

The OT class is led by our Senior director of Focus who is a campus pastor at UTD, and has been really helpful because after doing so much reading of the OT it is an opportunity for us to ask questions and discuss all that we have covered in our reading! The note-taking class was also very helpful because in school, I never really learned the best way to take notes, but this class was helpful to help me consolidate my note-taking and pick out the most important parts of what is said during a class, or elsewhere. The writing workshop was also helpful in helping me focus on what is important when writing blogs such as this one, and with learning how to have powerful and effective writing when doing a paper which we will be assigned to us this coming week. 

During the writing workshop, we had an exercise prompt which was: “what is one thing you’ve learned in your Old Testament class so far?" After having so much knowledge taken in, its been difficult to reflect on what I’ve been learning, but this gave me an opportunity to express a few things I've been learning so far that I wanted to share: I’ve been learning about the different literary devices used that formed the way the OT is written which is important in getting more context. I’ve also been learning that there are so many examples of how Jesus is interwoven into the OT through many prophesies and other things that directly connects to the NT. I had previously thought that there was more of a separation between the two parts of the Bible, but in reality they can’t be separated from one another. Despite all that humans do in turning away from God again and again in the OT, we get to be hopeful that when Jesus is sent in the NT, He will be the ultimate restorer that was not fully provided under any other King or prophet that lead the Israelites. Overall, so many pieces that weren't pieced together in my prior reading of the OT is really all coming together in such a refreshing way. However, I have a lifetime to keep exploring in diving in to know more as well, and that's super exciting!

As we get started more with the year here are some of the classes that I will be taking so you can have an idea of what I’ll be learning: 

OT, NT, Maturing with Mandy, Ministry Essentials, Preaching, Evangelism, Body Stewardship, Holy Spirit, Eschatology, Diversity, Financial Stewardship, Elmer Gantry, Transitions, and Spiritual Leadership!

Zoom with Carol:

Each of the apprentices got to have a really neat opportunity to meet via zoom one on one with a staff care director who is trained in the Strengths-finder test that each of us took during the application process for the apprenticeship, and during this meeting I got to learn more about myself through more in depth descriptions of each of my top five qualities on the Strengths finder test, and how I interact with others and how that impacts them. Being someone who is not very self-aware, it was super helpful and will definitely be something that will positively impact my ministry this year as I'm able to identify my responses and how I can use my strengths well for the benefit of those I will be in ministry with. 

Reflections on Staff Retreat!

Lastly, we just got back from a staff retreat which was a really refreshing experience to allow our staff as a whole to get together to fellowship, and to pour into one another before going out on each of our various campuses in the DFW area to go and meet students in pursuit of them finding belonging in Jesus-loving community. Something that stood out to me at Staff retreat was that there is purpose behind our how and why parts of our ministry and that our answer towards the people that we encounter should never be “this is just how we do things'' but rather, that there is thoughtful purpose in mind and that it's important for ourselves as ministers to know our personal why for the different aspects of ministry and be able to communicate it effectively with the Lord’s heart in mind. In one of our campus specific breakout meetings we had time to reflect on our own and then share what the Lord may be putting on our hearts for the duration of this year. The bible verse I felt that the Lord laid on my heart was: "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me" John 15:4. I felt like the Lord was reminding me that as I go about this year that I can do nothing of eternal value without Christ leading and guiding me. I hope that can also be an encouragement to you in your next year of various endeavors!

Here is a photo of our Denton Staff team at our Staff retreat!

      The entire staff across all of the DFW campuses at Staff retreat!

        There are 50 of us ministers (10 of which are apprentices like myself!) spread across 13 college campuses in the DFW area.

                                                         Just the apprentice team at Staff retreat!

      Another one of just our apprentice team, but this time at our licensing ceremony on August 6th where staff makes commitments/ recommitments to serve the community as ministers. It was encouraging to make this commitment with my sweet apprentice team where we committed to serve on each our college campuses in a way that would reflect Christ! If you'd like to watch a recording of the licensing ceremony and see what our commitments involved, here's the link: https://anyfocus.org/licensing/

PRAYER REQUESTS: 

1. Please be praying for this coming weekend, the 19th and 20th, we will be heading to a retreat with our Denton corefa team (corefas are leaders of our ministry who lead cores, which are our gender specific small groups, they are the "core" of our ministry!) where we will be spending time bonding as a leadership team, but most importantly learning how to gear up and minister well to the people in the small groups that we lead, and for the students that get involved this year to have hearts that would be open to the Lord and what He wants to do in their lives!

2. Please be praying for our welcome week at UNT and TWU next week, this is when the students are just getting back to campus, and many of them will be freshman. Please pray that our outreach could reach the students who are seeking to be apart of community and have a place to feel seen, known and loved!

3. Please be praying for our Denton staff team to have the energy and health to go about long days on campus in order to reach lots of students for the glory of the Lord!

Thank you so much for praying and taking the time to read all that the Lord is doing! I'll be sending another update in September! Blessings and peace to you!

Love,

Keanna