November update!
Hi Friends and family! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't help but to be incredibly thankful to each of you and your generosity toward me that allows me to share all that God is doing with the FOCUS ministry!
Weekend Adventures!
One of the first weekends in November, Jenna (in red in the center here) who is the one I lead small group with invited myself along with some of her close friends and two of our small group members to her hometown in Celina, TX. We got to meet her parents who were so hospitable to us, (we got to Jennas house at nearly midnight after going to the SMU and UNT football game, and her mom had pizzas and snacks out waiting for us which was just incredibly kind especially at such a late hour!) We got to meet Jenna's new family puppy, and the next day Jenna took us to explore the downtown area. We ended the afternoon at a veteran’s event they were having at their local barbecue spot, where some of them participated in the corn hole contest, and there was also live music. It was just one of those days that will stay with me because of the warmth of the small town, and the family friends we got to meet and time we got with one another was just such a blessing!
Baptism!
The next day, Lily (on the very right) decided to make the decision to be baptized after church! She is a freshman this year, new in our ministry, and just diving back into her faith. She read a written testimony of her story to share with each of us all that God has done in her through the FOCUS ministry since August. One of our campus pastors, Becca has been studying scripture with her and got to baptize her. It was such a beautiful moment to witness, and what made it even more special was the amount of people that came out from their prospective churches in order to be there for her. It was probably around 30 students! (not all are pictured). It seems like it's been about one person each month that has made the decision to commit their lives to Christ and be baptized which makes this year stand out in our ministry. This really shows the unique fire that our students have in being eager to live for Jesus, praise God!
Friendsgiving!
This is about 40 of our students which is a combination of four different core small groups, two girl cores, mine from UNT, one from TWU and the other two are different guys cores from UNT. This was probably my favorite year yet, for starters, one of our small group leaders, named Lyss (first row on the very left next to the cat) opened her family home to us which made it so homey. I put conversation questions on the bottom of each plate for people to read off and answer with the ones around them during dinner. After dinner, we split up games into three groups of people which was so much fun and I heard great feedback from the students. I also saw lots of people meeting other new people, which is the reason we do friendsgiving pairings with other small groups so that there is opportunity for the people in our ministry to know even more people. Our weekly meetings average about 160 students so there's not always the ability for each person to really know everyone. However, this year’s Friendsgiving felt like it had a lot of intentionality in order to achieve our ministry value of deeper friendships which was very encouraging!
Thanksgiving Day!
This thanksgiving was also one of my favorites and so special because I got to have three friends of mine from the FOCUS ministry join with my family! Sandra on the very left was in my small group last year, and Olivia in the center is one of my closest friends who I lead small group with two years ago. Kadie on the right is in my small group this year! We played lots of games throughout the day, and my sister initiated a game called Mafia which was awesome for my two worlds to collide and for my family and friends to get to bond with one another! I loved this day because God was reminding me that it’s a representation of how ministry is my whole life, and not just my “work” life.
My parents live out in the country in Blue Ridge, TX and have land as well as lots of farm animals such as alpacas pictured here, which makes for a really exciting time anytime myself or others come out to visit!
Worship night!
This night was just so special. My roommates and I had some friends from the ministry come over to our house to play games and hang out. After a while of eating pizza and playing games, we ended up having the idea to do a spontaneous worship night and Bible study over Romans 8 with one another! This is again like I was saying earlier that is a testament to the softness of these student’s hearts toward our God and that they would want to spend their time not just playing games and whatever else, but with worshipping the Lord wholeheartedly with glad and sincere hearts!
Core!
This was from our core small group meeting last night, we were missing several of the girls in our core, but it was still such a sweet night! We covered the topic of vulnerability and how we can each work to be more vulnerable with one another, with God and with other people in their life! We ended with a challenge to meet up with someone they don’t know as well in core and share their life stories to each other in order to actively practice vulnerability. A few of us stuck around to watch the movie Elf together which was super sweet!
Monthly Student Testimony (By one of my favorite people ever!)
Rian is someone I lead core with last year, and grown very close to, I deeply cherish our friendship!
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Prayer requests:
Please be praying for the girls in my small group to have softened hearts towards growing in vulnerability with one another and within their relationships with other people and most importantly with God.
Pray for our students to spend their winter break wisely and not isolate themselves, by making God and community a priority with their time, and that they would come back from break refueled.
Pray for our students to have open hearts to coming and growing in their faith at our Winter retreat that we have the weekend before coming back from break, that students would be spiritually filled before taking on the spring semester.
Blessings and peace,
Keanna
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