October Blog
Hello everyone! I hope y'all have been enjoying a many of pumpkin spice lattes and apple cider to your hearts content. It is the fall season, halloween is here, and ministry has been boomin! Here is a look at what happened in the great month of October this year!
Fall Retreat!!!:
Every year, we take our students to Camp Lebanon in Cedar Hill, TX for 24 hours so that they can get away from all the stresses of being a student and completely commit to Jesus, friendships, and the outdoors. Fall Retreat is one of our events that I look forward to the most. Students, myself included, always get to have a neat experience when they decide to commit their weekend to the Lord.
We had 65 students come with us this year and it was a blast! Most of both my small groups were there and they had a great time getting to hangout with one another and the Collin ministry as a whole. A snapshot of the things we did were:
- Singing worship songs
- Listening to sermons that focused on community and friendship
- Playing flag football and volleyball
- Having a crazy glow in the dark dance party
- Not being able to go to sleep in the cabins
The only bad part of Fall Retreat was that it was over so soon. Thankfully we have Winter Retreat to look forward to as that is a full three days long! Some of the things our students told us after the retreat were:
"I thought Christian camps were lame and boring, but this weekend I saw that God does care about fun and friendships."
"This weekend has helped me see that I need God more than ever!"
"I didn't realize there was such a big presence of Christians on campus, I'm super thankful for y'all!"
Here are some pictures from the Retreat:
TNF:
Thursday Night Fellowship has been revamped! We got a whole new room which we are so excited about! We changed to a lecture hall to get more space, to have a better projector, and just to make things fresh for our students and it has been a hit! We have already packed out the room which holds 85 people! Which means we are currently looking for a new room so that we can hold even more students who are excited to join community.
We are continuing our series in 1 Corinthians, which has been such a blast so far. We as a staff team wanted to make sure our students were preached to about what it looks like to build their entire lives onto a foundation of Jesus. We want to make sure that instead of going to Tik Tok or google when they had questions about their ethics and how they should live, that they instead come to us pastors and seek out wisdom first. The world is constantly influencing us and we have to make the choice to either listen to the world's ways or Jesus's way. Here are some pictures from our new TNF room:
Core:
Core has been going great this month. We continue to have more people joining both of the small groups that I help lead and that is mostly because of how great our guys are. Our students have been so excited to invite their classmates to everything that we host with FOCUS, especially our small groups. New guys, who are new to their faith or are Christians new to FOCUS, continue to come and hangout with us as we read scripture and talk about how to implement it into our lives.
My co-leader and I just finished going through a short story that we have both been greatly influenced by called, My Heart, Christ's Home. We chose to read through this story with our guys because it outlines perfectly what our inner thought, spiritual life should look like. The men in our group have mentioned to us that they rarely think about God outside of church/any FOCUS events. This story is a beautiful one that reminds us of God's goodness and gives us an example of how we can live our lives in Jesus. If you have the time I'd highly recommend giving this a short story a read.
Life Update:
I proposed to my girlfriend, now fiancé, and she said yes! I'm super thankful and blessed that I get to be engaged to the woman of my dreams! I proposed to her at Adriatica Village, McKinney which is one of our favorite spots to go too. God is good!
Prayer Requests:
If you could all pray for our students to stay with the camp "high" that they all get. It is easy for them to lose that momentum and go back to their old ways and thought patterns. Pray that they are able to be continually renewed and want to seek out Jesus 24/7! Also, for my fiancé and I as we begin to plan our lives and future together. That we put God first and seek to build our lives around him.
Thank You:
I am grateful for your continued generosity and support of our college campus Christian ministry. Your donations are more than just financial contributions—they are a reflection of your commitment to helping students grow in faith, find community, and experience the love of Christ during such a formative time in their lives. Your kindness allows us to create a welcoming environment where students can explore their spirituality, build lifelong friendships, and serve others. Thank you for believing in our mission and standing alongside us in this work. Your support is a true blessing, and we are endlessly thankful for each of you!
P.S. This is a student testimony from one of our students from SMU. He and many other students have been impacted by your generosity and prayers! You directly have an impact on our students.
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