ANOTHER school year has begun! And y'all are still here with me. Praise God for His faithfulness and for your willingness to partner with what he is doing here in the DFW area. Little did I know when I first accepted the job to be an administrator for FOCUS that I would still be here going into my fourth year. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We have ten new apprentices this year spread out through our different campuses. The apprentices commit to ten months (mirroring the school year) of being campus ministers with the goal of learning what it is like to live out this vocation full time and seeing if God is calling them to this profession over a longer period of time. As you can see from the photo, we have nine girls and one guy! If you remember from my blog posts in my first year, the apprentice classes take a lot of time on top of your ministry work—to re-lay a good foundation over topics like the Old Testament, New Testament, Holy Spirit, and more! What a blessed (but also grueling) ten months. Pray for their growth and tenacity as they have already finished one month and have nine to go!
Before we return to the campuses, our staff take a week to retreat, recenter, and refocus. This year we talked about the temptations that we may face as leaders in our community; specifically the temptation to be relevant, to be impressive, and to be powerful. It's also one of the first times that our apprentices are able to meet with their entire campus team, so the team takes time to learn about each other to better work with each other. Here is our team (minus a few key individuals, including yours truly who is behind the camera) for the 2023-2024 school year!
I was also blessed with the opportunity to attend the Global Leadership Summit this year! Bob Tiede from CRU invites a number of pastors on our staff to attend this 2-day long conference with speakers ranging from a comedian to a former Secretary of State who speak on the nature of leadership and how to think strategically to level up your leadership.
When it came time for the apprentices to attend a class over Zoom with Brad, the Internet at the church was not working. Luckily (but also strategically), my new place is only 4 minutes from the church and so the apprentices were able to drive over and we could get them connected. We were not expecting anyone over that day, so excuse the mess. 😅 But this is part of the vision of homeownership for me and Steph. To not see the house as our place, but as a resource and a gathering place for our community. I'm so excited that we can begin to use it in this way.
Before our campuses have their large group meetings, they spend a week or two putting on 'welcome week' events. This is that crucial time at the beginning of the school year, especially for freshman, where people are looking for things to do and friends to meet. FOCUS at UTD has recently been targeting specific demographics with their events. I was asked to help out at an Asian American Boba + Trivia Night event (for obvious reasons) and it was a blast! We learned more about Asian celebrities, history, and geography (all while having fun).
People are desperate for friendship. Loneliness is one of the sneakiest threats out there. With the lies that people tell themselves ("I'm an introvert so I don't like being around people"), parasocial relationships with Internet celebrities, addiction to social media and being behind a phone, the ramifications of COVID lockdown and social distancing, there are many causes that slowly lead towards isolation. All it takes is a simple invitation to try to break that cycle. At the trivia event, we were split into random groups and though we barely got to know each other, my group took a group photo and started a group chat. They immediately started trying to make plans for the weekend to meet up and stay connected. Pray for students walking onto campus all over the world, that they can find peace and grace beyond our understanding.
The first Friday Night Fellowship (FNF) of the year is always exciting. New faces in the crowd and old faces on stage. Alumni come to serve on the worship team for the first few meetings which allow the pastors at UTD to be in the crowd and among the students. Some of the students you saw in the previous photo told me they wouldn't be able to come due to other club commitments already, but lo and behold, they showed up!
Here's a dog picture I took.
This was a joke picture I took of the pickleball courts I play at (yes, I've been sucked into the fad). It was a joke because one time we were playing and as a girl was leaving, she thought she would be helpful and turn on the lights for us to play in the dark... but they were already on. So when she flipped the switch, she actually turned them all off. It took around 10 minutes for a few of the lights to come back on. So I sent her a picture of the lights on the next night to tell her that they still work. THAT SAID, I'm playing pickleball (almost) every Thursday at (around) 6 pm at Central Park TC in Garland! People of all ages and skill levels come out and I invite you to come and check it out if you've ever been even a little interested. If you wanna join, just shoot me a text and I can get you the deets.
This video is pretty nonsense. You know that game that people play where they start with an oreo on their forehead and they have to maneuver it into their mouths? I was talking to a friend about a better way to do it (though are there typically rules to the game? I'm not sure, I've never actually done it before). The thought was you start with the oreo on your forehead and then you drop down faster than gravity can pull the oreo down and position your mouth under the oreo. Does it actually work?! I guess you'll have to watch to see.
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