Kevin Pike Ministry Blog

 Welcome Week at Collin!     Hello everyone! I am so pumped to share about the amazing Welcome Week we had at Collin with y'all. For those who are unaware, Welcome Week is the first week of school which is the prime opportunity to welcome nervous and anxious freshmen and also invite the upperclassmen to know Jesus. There's a lot to cover so let's get it!     Corefa Prep Day:     The Saturday before Welcome Week, we had a Corefa prep day. Corefa's are short for Core facilitators and they are our student leaders that run our small groups which are called Core's. We like to have a day to mentally and spiritually prepare them for leading the small groups and give them outreach training for Welcome Week. During that day, I was so thankful to see them all there willing to give 10-15 hours of their week dedicated to bringing other students closer to God and cultivating a Jesus-first community on campus. It is just so awesome, it's hard to describe! I am very ...

  July Fun      Hello everyone! Hope y'all have been enjoying Barbie, Oppenheimer, and the new Mission Impossible movies! Not only has this month been great for films, but this past month with ministry has also been exciting!     Summer TNF (Thursday Night Fellowship):     Next week is the last Summer TNF of 2023, which is sad to see. It has been so great to meet students from other campuses and get to say hi to the familiar UNT student that I used to hang with back when I was there. But, it is also exciting to realize that the school year is about to start up again and that our staff team will come across hundreds of new students to meet and invite to know Jesus! Once August comes around, we'll host our own TNF which is for the Collin students only.     This picture below shows the night when we were lucky enough to have a large choir group sing for worship which was amazing! We even had a guest piano and guitar player who are professi...

Heat Waves in June      Hello everyone! Hope you all have been staying cool during this insane heat wave! Summer is here and the ministry is still going strong, I'm excited to share what has been going on this month!      Summer TNF (Thursday Night Fellowship):     Even in the summer, we keep the TNF rolling. This time instead of meeting up with only the students at Collin College, we now meet up with all the campuses that are associated with FOCUS for a large group worship/fellowship which is so amazing. It is great to see my old friends from UNT and also meet new students that I have not had the opportunity to see yet.      The schedule is the same as it was during the year, we start with a bang by singing along to worship music, then listen to a sermon from one of our fellow FOCUS staff members (all of them have been so great this year), next we sing some more worship music and then end it with some fun after events like playing...

  Sicm in Seattle      Hello everyone! Hope y'all are doing well! We just got back from our trip to Washington, the apprenticeship is wrapping up, and summer is almost here. Things are getting wild.     SICM Trip:     So for those unaware, SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) is a trip that we take to Bellingham, Washington with a select few students that we believe have shown potential with leadership qualities. I also had the honor of joining them on the trip which was also my first time. For a full week, we listened to lectures about how to evangelize on campus, lead quality small groups, be a spiritual leader and much much more! I got to spend some great time with my Collin guys as we got to live together for a week in a house goofing around and getting to know each other better. Here are some pictures from the trip: Class Update:     We have one more Elmer Gantry class and then that's the last class of the apprenticeship! One...

April Showers Brings New Blog       Hey everyone! Hope you all have been enjoying the gorgeous weather that we've gotten the past couple of weeks. The end of the school year is soon and things are starting to wind down but also pick up.      Small Group Update:         Tuesday night small group has been so fun and encouraging. We've had three new guys join our group this past month which is so wild because it is so close to the end of the semester. It makes me realize that even though it is close to the end, there are still many guys that want a community which gives me the drive to keep pushing during outreach. We've been chugging through Exodus which has been so fruitful. Many of them are not familiar with the story so its great getting to hear their thoughts and questions from a new, fresh perspective. This group has been so fun to be with, they have all matured and grown their love for Jesus since the beginning of the schoo...

 March Madness       Hey everyone! Hope all is well with you, this month has been truly a blessing and I can not wait to share what we have been up to. You are the reason that I get to minister to these students and I am so thankful that you have put your finances to trust in me. It means the world to me! God bless you all!      Tuesday night small groups have been going great! I help run the small group with two other students and recently we have made a push to get one on one time with each guy in our Core to help see what their needs or specific questions are. This has been encouraging to see as not only are we creating a more personal connection with the people in our small group, but it is also great seeing the other two leaders grow in disciplining and ministering to others.  Here is our Frisco campus group meeting up for a birthday      The time I have been getting with some of the young men that God has given me has bee...

February Fun      Hey everyone! Hope y'all have been doing well, thank you all so much for your support! It truly means a lot to me. This month God has been working in my life in many different ways and I can't wait to share them with you.     Our Tuesday night small group has been doing well. Through outreach on campus, we have had three new guys show up and be consistent with not only our small group but also our hangouts. They do not consider themselves religious but are interested in learning more about Christianity and God, which is really exciting. God has blessed our group to be a place for guys who don't have many friends, if any at all, to come and find people that show them the love of Jesus and what real friendship could look like. One of the new guys told me that he does not have anyone to talk to about any of the mental issues that he is going through and it made me realize how many guys are alone in handling their own emotions. Around this same tim...