Kevin Pike's Apprenticeship Blog #3

 The Week After Welcome Week 

Hey everyone! Thank you for all of your support, this latest week has been filled with many blessings! 

We had our first small group this past Sunday night, which we call CORE. I am very thankful to have two other co-leaders that lead it with me. They are so eager to lead our group and create friendships with these guys. This is a picture of our first CORE at a park with a turtle we found.

There was only one guy who showed up to our CORE, which at first was a bummer to me. Mainly because it was the first CORE the two other guys were leading but it also made me think my efforts during welcome week were for nothing. But, we quickly realized that God had given us this guy for a specific reason. He had been questioning a lot of his faith and did not know what to think about Jesus. We slowly uncovered some of the doubts that he had and we were able to share our testimony of how Jesus has changed our lives for the better. By the end of the night, I believe that he had a new perception of Jesus and sin. We couldn't have asked for a better first CORE. But, almost 60% of the guys I messaged who did not want to meet up for small group, wanted to meet with me later in the week to hangout. I pray that God can work through me to introduce them to Jesus! 

Every Tuesday, we have an outreach going on from 11am-1pm at the Plano campus. This is a great way to continue on outreaching and evangelizing to the students throughout the school year. I was able to meet two guys who came to TNF (Thursday Night Fellowship) and want to be in our CORE for next week. I am so blessed and thankful that I was able to meet them. 

TNF was great. Usually after the first week, we have a dip in attendance. But, God was able to bring almost everyone back, we had a full room. It is kinda hard to see everyone, but it was a packed room and worship was nice and loud!

I also started three new classes this week. I am very thankful that FOCUS is able to provide these classes for us and the pastors that teach them. The classes focus on maturing in discipleship, evangelism, and deepening our relationship with God. I never thought I would say this, but I actively look forward to going to class every week. 

During the evangelism class, God pointed something out to me. We were going over the mission statement of FOCUS. On the anyfocus.org website, under the mission statement, it says, "Jesus made it very plain through his life and message that everything is about God. Any attempts to change God’s mission or to try to attain it for our own glory will ultimately meet with failure." I realized that I was focusing too much on myself to outreach and to conduct 1 on 1's with the students. Instead of trusting God to work through me, I was too worried about the way I would speak and thought the students salvation ultimately layed in my own hands. This way of thinking will not only end up in failure, but also I would lead these students astray. Thankfully, our God is a generous and kind God and showed me the errors of my ways.

Thank you all so much for the prayers, donations, and support that you have given me. It is truly a blessing to be working with these students. You make this possible for me and I can not thank you enough. I ask for prayers regarding our outreach and evangelism efforts, that we are able to find students that are in a deep need for Jesus and community! Thank you! 

Here is a student testimony from a girl in FOCUS that goes to Collin College at the Preston Ridge campus. She is one of the countless examples of how FOCUS has changed her life, your donations help students like her get closer to Christ.