Admin 'Appenings

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...

Summer FOCUS is still going strong! Each week, around 300 students come from the four corners of DFW (like Denton and Arlington) to praise and worship God and learn to be more like Jesus in community. If you haven't had a chance to visit yet, there's still time! We meet on Thursdays at 7:30 in Richardson. Let me know if you want to visit! Our sermon series is about how knowing and following God compels us to not live in weakness, but to boldly proclaim how God's power is made perfect in our weakness. Give this sermon by Adriana, one of our pastors at Collin College, a listen! It's titled, Fear to Boldness. Click here to listen to Adriana's sermon. Something that we encourage over the summer, because we do not organize formal small groups, is for students to get together in groups of 3-4 and grow in their faith together in a more intimate setting. These were formally called PACCS, which stood for Prayer, Adoration.. something or other. This year, we're naming it ...

Hello all! As we finally put a close to the last school year with the end of May, I want to thank you all again for taking the time to read my updates, praying over our ministry, and for partnering with me financially! God has been faithful this past year and I'm excited for the next one! This month, we took around 100 students up to Bellingham, Washington to attend SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry)! Thank you for praying for our students that attended! If you're new or missed my previous updates, SICM is a week-long conference for students to learn more about spiritual friendship, how to lead a bible study, and sooo much more. It's often described as drinking from a fire hydrant; there's just so much to learn and you can only absorb so much in the moment. But that's what note taking is for! The students on the trip go from being names on a spreadsheet, into a person with a name and a face, and then they turn into real people when I finally get to meet the...

I'm coming up to the end of my third year with FOCUS! It's wild to think of the circumstances that led me here — from Indiana, to Washington, down to California, and finally settling in Texas. From never even thinking of campus ministry as a career to feeling called to join FOCUS as its administrator. None of this seems possible except through God's hand working in my life and in y'all's as you partner with me in ministry! So thank you, thank you for your trust in me and FOCUS, as we do our best to cultivate Jesus-loving communities on college campuses in DFW. With the end of the year, comes SICM, Student Institute of Campus Ministry. A week-long conference that FOCUS has been attending for a decade-plus up in Bellingham, WA. This year we have our largest group yet. 100 students are registered to attend this year to receive training to be witnesses on their campus. Please join me in praying for them to be open and receptive to what God may be doing in them and throu...

Business: If you haven't heard, the Department of Education is planning on removing language that explicitly protects religious student organizations on campus. This obviously affects FOCUS (and any other religious organization on campus) in a big way! The public is given some time to comment on their proposed changes - which is where you come in! You have until March 24th to leave a comment. If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to click on the link below for instructions to leave a comment! The most confusing part (if you decide to leave a comment) is the drop-down menu when it says 'What is your comment about?' you would select individual . Meaning, you are an individual leaving a comment, not any specific entity. anyfocus.org/campusaccess We're having our Spring Pizza Theology on April 2nd from 4-9 pm! If you don't know what that is, it's where all of the students (and alumni) from our campuses come together for 2 hours of lecture, an hour of pizza, and...

My mom celebrated her birthday this month and we all got on a video chat! (Peep the Zoom call in the corner.) My niece loves to clap with other people and so she was having a grand time. You'll have to go back (quite) a few blog posts to find when I first got my expander put in... who knew it would take this long for me to get my braces off?? Some friends told me that the braces were a part of my identity, so without them, what am I?! But seriously, eating is SO EASY again. Earlier this month, I got to go on a short trip to Boston with Steph and another couple. It was my first time (that I can remember) going to the East Coast. Being someone who grew up on the West Coast (and even now in Dallas), there has never been a rich history to the places I've been. But it was incredible getting to see the sights and walk The Freedom Trail. Going into Paul Revere's house definitely brought out the kid in me who loved him growing up, simply because we had the same name. Anyways, this ...