July 2023

Summer FOCUS has come to an end! This past Thursday was our last meeting of the season before the school year begins. It was great getting to see some of y’all come out and hearing from y’all of your experience when I was not able to attend! I pray that God honors your faithfulness in partnering with Him in what he is doing through FOCUS. And I hope that you were blessed and witnessed His presence among our students.

As August 1st approaches (probably tomorrow when I send this out to you), a lot of change will take effect. Both Casey and Leah, our most tenured administrators, will not be on staff to help transition us into the new school year. Our team is now down to me, April, and Debbie. Which is not a bad thing… just different. Please be praying for us as we try to not drop any (major) balls and try to ride out this wave of work in the beginning of the year. Feel free to let me know how you calm yourself when you have a busy work schedule! Lately I’ve been listening to more relaxing music while I work

We have also accepted 10 new apprentices this year! They will be at Collin College, Dallas College (Richland), UTD, and UNT. The new school year is also filled with excitement for the possibilities, but also anxiety. Pray over them as they begin their new journey as pastors on campus, that they can speak  the truth boldly to the students they meet and bear good fruit this next year that they've committed!

Happy 4th of July! My annual tradition is to have some people over for a cookout and then heading to Breckinridge Park to watch the City of Richardson shoot off fireworks. It was a great time! We sat lakeside which was a front row seat to the fireworks. During the epic finale, they set off a series of water charge explosions that got closer and closer and definitely made us sweat a little bit, but in the end didn't even come close. BUT I did scream...

Every summer, Brandon and Peter go to Colorado on a big hiking trip. I was lucky enough to go this year! This is not our whole group, but just some of the ones that hiked the short trail to the Breckenridge Troll (Isak Heartstone). It's a crazy big wood sculpture in the woods, not much else to it. :-)

FOCUS held a weeklong event called Bible Bootcamp this summer (and typically every summer). This is where students can come and read specific books of the Bible every day for about 3 hours. By the end of the week, if they came every day, they would have read about 2/3 of the New Testament. I was able to host one of these on the second floor of Whole Foods and the only proof I have is this photo of us that someone took from the first floor.

We said goodbye to Claire, one of our pastors at Dallas College (Richland), on the last week of Summer FOCUS. She will be transitioning into corporate America. Pray for her transition, that she can take what she learned as a minister and live out the gospel wherever she ends up.

Speaking of Summer FOCUS, we took a group photo with whoever was there to print and put in a thank you card for CARE Church. CARE Church has been a longtime partner with FOCUS, allowing us to use their sanctuary one night a week in the summer for the past few summers (as long as I've been in Texas), at no cost. What a blessing they have been to us and our students!

While at a rehearsal dinner, Steph became fascinated by an open flame. The mother of the groom sent us this picture. I think I heard Steph whisper "my precious" under her breath a couple times?!

Of course, the day after the rehearsal, I got to watch my good friends, John and Elise, get married! I'm so happy for them and excited for their next chapter together. A lot to praise God for and to pray to God for! 

Maybe y'all don't notice, but I'm typically posting July's student testimony at the end of July (because it's my blog for July.) But then the prayer requests are a little outdated by that time. So I'm doubling up this time, so if you read the August prayer requests, those are still upcoming!