"August slipped away into a moment in time" Taylor Swift

 Back again for a surprise bonus update for August pt.2!

There was so much that God was doing in August, and I didn't want to overload too much in combining with September's update so here's an encouragement for the second half of the month! Thank you so much for your support providing me to update with even more information!

Corefa Retreat

This was one of my favorite things we got to do this month! Corefa stands for core facilitator, this year we have forty student leaders in our ministry that sacrifice so much of their time to lead our small groups! They commit to co-leading a weekly small group, coming to our weekly combined leader meetings, attend our weekly large group gatherings, AND lead one on one bible studies with SEVERAL of their small group members called foj (Focus on Jesus, which is a 10 week bible study). Here's a link to the study on our website if you're interested in the content that it covers! https://anyfocus.org/focus-on-jesus-2022/. This is no small ask of the leaders in our ministry, but they go above and beyond and we are so thankful to have students leading others in running after the Lord. The denton ministry hadn't done a retreat specifically for the leaders in about eight years, so it was my first time experiencing it, and it was a huge blessing! One reason for this retreat was our ministry in a way is starting over this year due to our past student leaders graduating and moving on (except for me!). So our Staff was really intentional about having a 24 hour retreat where our leaders got to have various sessions equipping them in how to facilitate their small groups. It was also an opportunity for our student leader team to bond with one another before the year began. It was so much fun getting to be in the lake together, and play various group games! There was an evident excitement and boldness from this group of leaders as we got to hear some of them share how they've been hitting the ground running in outreach and evangelism as they began meeting new students on campus the past week! One last really special thing about the retreat was that one of our student leaders decided to get baptized in the lake there, and his sharing of all the Lord had done in his life up until that point was so impactful to hear, praise God for his gracious invitation to us in getting to join him in his kingdom for eternity!

This was at corefa retreat with some of our student leaders at UNT and staff member Becca (in brown). Jenna (in purple) is the person I'm leading small group with this year! She's super sweet and I'm excited for the year ahead with her and our girls! 

  

Me, Hayden, and Cathryn. Hayden was apart of our teen ministry called CTF (Christian Teen Fellowship) his senior year of high school, and now he is a leader with Focus! I'm so proud of his faith journey! Two summers ago, me and Cathryn were both interns for the same teen ministry, and are now both apprentices for Denton Focus! It's so sweet getting to work with her, God is so cool!

       

  Cathryn, Victoria, and myself. Victoria in the middle, is not only my roommate, but one of my closest friends that I've known since 8th grade! She is also now a leader in our ministry this year, and I'm very proud of her!

Audrey, me, and Rian. Rian and I lead small group together last year and formed a really special friendship that I'm very thankful for! Audrey was apart of this same small group, and is now a leader this year at Texas Woman's University with Rian! Couldn't be more proud of her! These two hold a very special place in my heart! 

Azael's Baptism! Praise the Lord for being made new in Christ!

Welcome Week

This happens prior to the start of school each year where our organization will put on various events to invite new students to get plugged into Christian community! Welcome Week is where our Staff and Leader team will be on campus for the majority of the day for the whole week and its where a majority of our new students come from that will get connected for the rest of the year so its really important that we have daily events in order to meet all the students that we can! Typically this is a one week occurence, but this year UNT put on two weeks of activities. These consisted of: daily games in the union to join people sitting alone, to get to know them, various outdoor games including nine-square, giant beach ball, capture the flag etc. We also had a worship night combined with other campus ministries like ours and it was amazing to publicly worship the Lord and his goodness on the UNT campus which is a huge freedom I often forget! We also had an event where a previous denton focus alum taught latin dance lessons and it was a great turnout where students walking by could come join in for dancing and learn about our ministry! At our second large group meeting of the year held last night, we had close to 200 students who came to worship, hear a sermon shared by one of our campus pastors, and join us for games afterward. Praise God for so many students who are coming weekly, seeking to follow Christ in their college years! Here's a quote from last night's sermon that I want to share as we opened up our sermon series titled "The way of the Rabbi" covering the sermon on the mount. "We can't serve Jesus and be self-sufficient. We can't serve Jesus and not die to ourselves." 

This was our first core small group meeting that took place at UNT, we just had a hangout night playing games, but this past Tuesday, we got to do a "draw your life" activity where we drew pictures of our lives to describe our testimony. It was really special hearing people share deeply about their stories of how God has worked in their life! 

One of our outdoor events called "Everything's Bigger In Texas" where we had giant sized activities such as: giant uno, beach ball, connect four, and nine-square!

    Giant Uno!

Several mornings we got to do coffee outreach where we offered free coffee that Starbucks generously donated to our organization so we could hand it out to students on their way to class! We also got a visit from the President of UNT who is pictured talking to our student leader Ava!

Student Testimony

Every month I will include a testimony from either a current or past student to see how God has worked in their life. Your investment is making a difference, as evidenced by the stories of so many students who found hope in Jesus. Enjoy! 

Thank you so much for reading all that God keeps doing out of his gracious love and through your generous support!

Prayer requests: 

-Please by praying for our one on one bible studies that are going to be starting soon as our student leaders start meeting with students from different areas of their faith. Pray these student's hearts would be softened to what God wants to do in their life!

-Prayers for continued energy as we continue to outreach and pour into student's lives!

Blessings and Peace,

Keanna