January Update

 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 campus ministry once again. 



Another annual FOCUS tradition is to send a group of up-and-coming leaders to a two-week-long leadership training retreat called SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry). This past year, SICM was held in August, but the next trip will take place this May. In order to send as many students as possible, FOCUS puts on a special event called Showcase that raises money from ticket and artisan market sales. We're so excited to send our students from TWU Dallas and SMU! If you would like to come to a show or send a donation by buying a ticket, you can find more info at this link



This semester, the apprentices will be taking classes with Rikk Watts (New Testament) and some senior FOCUS staff (Leadership in Ministry, Spiritual Disciplines, etc). Usually, we will listen to recorded audio lectures given by the professors at Regent College, but in an exciting turn of events, Rikk decided that this semester he will be personally attending our New Testament class times! We are all looking forward to this unique experience - we've already got a list of our toughest questions to ask him (I hope we don't scare him off too quickly!). 

Thursday Night Fellowship, Cores (small groups), and one-on-one studies are back in full swing for the Spring semester, and we could not be more excited! I'm looking forward to sharing more experiences with you here in this blog in the upcoming months. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful February!

Before you go, take a look at this month's student testimonial!


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