January update!
Happy New Year Friends and family!
I hope you all had time to reflect over all that God did in your life last year and get to look forward to what the Lord has in store for you this new year! I know that I did and all of it was thanks to your support throughout all of last semester, and into this new semester. I'm always so deeply thankful!
New Year's Eve Worship night!
Winter Staff Retreat
I didn't get a photo for this retreat, but I still wanted to mention how rejuvenating this experience was. All of our staff team got to go out to a retreat in Burnet, TX where we got to be filled up before being poured out at our student retreat that I'll talk about later on. During this retreat, I just felt so thankful for our unique team of staff members that have such a genuine heart for serving and loving the students in our ministry with a wholehearted love for Christ. It was so great to hear sermons from our staff members which lead us in different worship and reflection activities helping us to grow and think deeply about what it means to lead students to Jesus well. We had a lot of time to just connect with staff members from different campuses that we don't often see which is always a treat!
Winter Retreat 2024!
Here are a few of the girls in my small group who came, and our last morning there, it snowed! This is my favorite event that we put on every year. This was my fifth time getting to go, and also my favorite year that I've gone. I know I may have said that several times in past blogs, but there is just something so unique and deeply special to this ministry year. I haven't quite seen in this way how the Lord has moved so sweetly, touched so many hearts around me, and given them hearts on fire for joining God in his mission of kingdom work. Winter Retreat is a four day retreat where many students leave with a transformational experience that really help them dive into their faith in a deeper way than they have before. This is due to the sermon sessions throughout the weekend, lots of time to fellowship with 500+ students from all our campuses combined together where they are getting to meet lots of people who are living for God in their same stage of life. What stood out most from this retreat, was the guest speaker that came to speak. His name was Dr. Daniel Lee, and he's a professor at a seminary in California. Our theme this year was Disruptive Grace, where Dr. Lee went into much detail to communicate to our students that the kind of grace that Jesus has for us disrupts our natural human ideas, thoughts, and actions toward Christ and others. So many of our students shared how impactful Dr. Lee's talks were in impacting the way they view God and them having a greater understanding for how vast and deep God's love for us is, and how delights in each of us without anything that we've done to earn or deserve it!
If you want to get to hear some of the content that was given at our winter retreat, here is the link! Please do listen, and I would love to know your thoughts!
https://open.spotify.com/show/5yrx4jslg0f9tmNO7S0eVX?si=alh835XpSQuP_7Ge21nE5Q
This was taken during one of the worship nights we had, and this year was especially special because we had a gospel choir where different students from our various campuses got together before camp to practice different gospel songs to share during our camp experience. One of my favorite things we did to focus on diversity this year was another time during worship, we took time for students to read the verse:
“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14:24-25
in the different languages that they knew. Getting to hear languages that I had never even heard before brought tears to my eyes just thinking about how sweet it was to get to honor these students in this way in their various native tongues. I am so thankful to be apart of a community that seeks to grow in diversity whether that is through new music styles or put on different events in order to highlight different ethnicities in our community so that they feel seen, loved, and appreciated because Jesus himself cared to know people of all different backgrounds and said heaven would be a place that was fully represented of many tribes, nations, and tongues. What a beautiful image to look forward to, and also celebrate in the here and now!
Core Dinner!
This was the first time our core got back together after the students were off for a month over winter break. We just met for dinner, to catch up on the break and fellowship with each other before continuing to meet in our usual small group environment for spring semester! It was so sweet and heart-warming to be back together again!
First official Core back!
This is was taken last week and is what most of our small group nights look like! We had a few more new girls join us than normal so it was a fun big group of us! I love growing in friendship and seeing them grow in the Lord with the girls who are consistent, and for the newer ones, it has been so cool to see people join who are still looking to be plugged into community. It's a always a great reminder that God is always on the move, and not just at the beginning of the year!
Also, we just invited five of the girls from our small group to a leadership trip that we take students to in Washington every year in May for the ones who have shown leadership potential, or just have showed an eager heart for God and are willing to be used by Him! Praise the Lord for students seeking to know Christ in deeper ways!
Student Testimony of the Month!
Thank you so much for all of your generosity, I thank God often for all of you!
Blessings and Peace,
Keanna
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