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April Update

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 Hello everyone and welcome to my final blog as a FOCUS apprentice! They said it would go by quick, but nothing prepared me for how fast it would actually go. It feels like I blinked in August and it was May. I also feel I was not prepared for how transformative these 10 months would be. I believe this year will serve as a foundation for continued growth in my faith and ministry for the rest of my life. Here are just a few things I’ve learned: 1) It’s not about goodness, it’s about life. This statement was frequently used by Rikk Watts, the professor from Regent College that we apprentices had the incredible opportunity to learn from this year. His classes were full of pastoral advice threaded through each Scriptural lesson. He argued that from the beginning of time, God was not concerned with our righteousness so that we would be considered “good”. Rather, God longed for His creation to experience life to the full, and He knows far better than we that life to the full is found in ...
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March Update

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 Hello everyone, and welcome back to my ministry blog update! March was a very exciting month filled with fun trips, my first community sermons, and even a student baptism!  Sermons I had the incredible opportunity to preach a couple of sermons to the SMU FOCUS community this past month. Our campus director, Laurence Glenesk, prayerfully creates the series plans at the beginning of each semester and shares topics with the other campus pastors. This semester I was given the topic of the third temptation of Jesus - the temptation to be powerful - and the intro sermon to the series “God Opposes the Proud”. Both topics seemed a bit daunting at first, but as I reflected on the things I’ve learned in Scripture over the years, and what our community is currently dealing with, I felt the Spirit guiding me towards what to say. Giving the sermons was an incredible experience. I was very nervous the hours leading up to it, but I was comforted by the fact that 1) God prepares each of us f...
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February Update

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 Hello everyone! Can you believe it's already March? I sure can't. Time is passing by too quickly, I only have three months left of the apprenticeship! That doesn't mean we are ramping down at all! Ministry has been thriving here in Dallas, and we are always grateful for the generous donations of all our supporters around the country to keep that going. Staff Retreat Because of a rise in Covid cases in January, the FOCUS staff was not able to go on our winter retreat. So, it was successfully moved to the second week in February! We stayed at a gorgeous campus in Bernett Texas. We were surrounded by nature and had all the amenities we needed to spend a week in fellowship and remind each other why and for Whom we are doing this ministry. We had five sessions where senior staff shared their wisdom of working in ministry for years and had discussion times to flesh out what the future could look like. We also spent time in meditation and prayer - my favorite part was when we wer...
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January Update

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 Hello and welcome back to my monthly update email! January was a very full month as we kicked into gear for the Spring semester.  The weekend before school went back into session, FOCUS held our annual ministry-wide Winter Camp. The SMU and TWU Dallas ladies stayed in a comfy cabin together, and we attended memorable sessions given by the esteemed Rikk Watts, a professor from Regent College who provides content for some apprentice classes. Rikk set up the weekend by presenting the premise that Jesus not only paved the road for Christians throughout history but had a very significant impact on Western culture in general. He painted a beautiful story of just how incredible the Lord of our salvation is. We also had times for "walk-n-talks" during the weekend, where we paired up with students in the ministry to share our stories and get excited about what God was doing in each others' lives. It was a very fruitful weekend, and I left feeling rejuvenated and on fire for campu...
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December Update

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  I'd like to say a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! I hope your holidays were full of blessings and peace.  On the ministry end of things this past month, we only had about half the month before students went home for the break. But the shorter amount of time did not hinder us from packing our days full of fellowship! We wanted to make sure our students did not resign themselves to weeks of isolating finals-studying, so we planned for lots of opportunities to gather as a community.  Of course, we had our annual Christmas party. This year, the theme was "Christmas Cup" where each Core had the chance to compete in various Christmas games to win a Grinch-shaped mug. Our games included gingerbread house decorating, "tree decorating" (see picture 1), and some pretty creative Christmas karaoke presentations. Unfortunately, my Core did not take the title of Christmas Champions, but the fun we had was more than enough to reward us with feelings of...
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November Update

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 Welcome back to my updates, everyone! It’s been another packed month of ministry, and I feel I have way too much to share about! This blog is going to be a mixture of ministry updates with some reflections on my experience so far as things are ramping down for the semester.  Emo Night!   This month we did an SMU girls night event that is now my favorite event we’ve ever done: Emo Night. Laura, a student in our ministry, and I hypothesized that most people have had their own experience of an “emo phase” in their middle/high school lives, and we wanted everyone to share theirs with each other. So we pulled out the eyeliner, leather jackets, and black nail polish to create an unforgettable night. We began with some cookies and brownies, an important staple for any girls night. Then we jumped into poetry and diary entry reading. Turns out we have some very talented poets and writers! It was so special to see these girls be vulnerable about some of their darkest moments and h...
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October Update

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Welcome back to my ministry updates! October was quite an eventful month! With the arrival of the new season came some FOCUS classics like Fall Camp and the Halloween Party. Fall Camp (part one) was at Camp Lebanon with the SMU campus. It was such a sweet time of rest and fellowship, with worship sprinkled in to remind us of why we're really here. We stayed overnight at this camp and spent a lot of bonding time together - it was evident when we got back to campus that many new relationships had started, and old ones had been strengthened. Fall Camp (part two) was a one-day retreat with some girls from TWU Dallas. Although we didn't get to stay the night, it was a great bonding experience! We set up worship stations where the girls could reflect on God's goodness in their lives, along with some fun crafts like pumpkin painting. For our most recent Fall event, we had a Karaoke Halloween Party at SMU! I performed a rendition of "Into the Unknown" with my good friend ...
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