March update!
This is our corefa team this year which are our small group leaders. For many of these students it is their first ever year to lead a small group, and like I said in last month's blog, it can be a challenging yet so rewarding position. I have been so proud of this year's team. There has been a new refreshing excitement from them about getting to lead students onto God's agenda! They are so initiative in several ways. When it comes to outreach, we have students who will pray over people as a group each week during their free time. Others have hosted lots of events at their ministry houses to further create a warm community environment to spur on deeper friendships. It's very evident that God is moving in big ways in Denton, and I can clearly see that this year largely because of this team of leaders who really have loved God well.
Surprise birthday party!
I had a birthday recently, and some sweet friends of mine organized a surprise party for me! This was so special to me and I will never forget how loved I truly felt by so many who God has interwoven into my life the past few years! Nearly all of the people in the group photo are people that I've met within the FOCUS ministry. It is the best gift to have been blessed to be apart of a ministry that is filled with people who love Jesus and others so deeply! I hope to never take for granted all of the friendships that I have been overly spoiled with. I hope to use my own friendships that have shaped me so much to push me further as a minister to continue to reach more people who haven't gotten to experience Christ-centered friendships and community. This birthday was a reminder of why I chose to work for FOCUS because of its great impact in my life and in others around me! I especially wanted to highlight two of my friends Aileen and Olivia (pictured in the bottom photo, to the right of me) who threw this surprise party for me because they have just been such intentional, and life-giving people to me who have always provided constant encouragement and pointed me back to Christ many times. I am so thankful for the special friendship I have with the both of them!
Birthdays with the apprentices!
Each time we have a birthday among our apprentice team, we always organize a way to surprise them before our classes. This time we celebrated Mandy (Director of FOCUS at UTD and our teacher for our class over spiritual disciplines and ministry life discussions) as well as my birthday which was so sweet of them! I'm so thankful for the apprentice team we get to work with, they are so intentional, and huge encouragements of the faith, as well as an outlet for fun, and light-heartedness among the sometimes heaviness that ministry life can bring.
Open House!
Every year in the spring, we put on an event called Open House, where we encourage our students to invite their family and friends to be apart of our fellowship service. We do this so that others can better visualize what our campus ministry is all about. We explain our values, mission and reasons for what and why we do what we do. I love this event because we get to invite different parents to share on ways that they have seen their child impacted by being apart of our ministry. This is always really powerful because we often get to hear of all the ways God has transformed different students. We also hear about the students becoming more bold and taking deeper steps in their faith that their parents maybe didn't get to see in their child before coming to FOCUS. Another reason I love Open House is that it's hard to explain what we do on a weekly basis in words, it's much easier to personally experience it for oneself. The parents and friends that come are able to get a better understanding and hopefully are encouraged by what God is doing so powerfully with Denton FOCUS.
Baptism!
Kadie, one of my most cherished student/friend in ministry this year made the decision to be baptized! Her story is so encouraging because she had grown up in a religiously divided household, where her mom was Catholic, and her Dad was Muslim, and she as well as her mom chose to be muslim and follow with her dad. However, after coming to college, her cousin shared Jesus with her freshman year last year, and this year she became more deeply involved in FOCUS and studied the bible with Cathryn (the other denton apprentice with me). Through that experience she has just grown in many ways such as vulnerability, inquisitiveness, and deep care for others. It's not all the time in ministry that students are able to speak into your life the way that you are able to do for them, but Kadie has been someone this year who has been so bold and caring toward me to encourage me in different areas of my own life that I've been thinking through which is just so special. The spirit has worked powerfully in Kadie in growing her to be more bold in her family, friendships, and life in general, I am a huge fan of hers! At the baptism, we had two other students other than myself and Cathryn share ways that we've seen God moving in Kadie's life. We also got to hear her personal testimony and reason for getting baptized which was so special to hear her declare in front of a great turnout of our community who came to lift up a new sister in Christ!
Student testimony!
Thank you deeply for your kind and giving hearts! I thank God for each of you!
Blessings and peace,
Keanna
Comments
Post a Comment