Rolling back on campus!

Fam, what is up!!!

I hope you've had a wonderful summer. I want to start by sharing how grateful I am for you, though I didn't reach my fundraising goal I came very close, reaching 94% of my max and that's thanks to you! This summer while fundraising for myself I also had the privilege of being a fundraising coach -which was a new, challenging yet encouraging experience. There were a handful of times I felt unfit in leading my peers but through this process the Lord extended an invitation to step into humility, to not be a Martha but to rather pay attention to the ways He was showing up through this process. Only then I was able to appreciate even more the way that you and many go about supporting our ministers, so thank you!

We had our Corefa Prep Day!

We gathered our 2022-2023 student leaders this past weekend where we casted a vision for our first week of outreach and overall campus ministry. We have a great team of students leading this year but I'm specially excited in leading again at Frisco. The Lord really worked in the hearts of our students last year and out of our 18 corefas 5 of them will be leading at the Frisco campus which is a huge deal for our Frisco ministry. Please join me in praying for these students, Diego + Tom will be leading our guys core (small group), Murphie + Sophie will be leading one of our girls core and Madi + I will be leading another girls core!

Meet my peer team! (Top left: Murphie, Laiya Bottom: Orion, Madi, Sophie {lol peep the little girl at the door)

These girls will be leading at our Frisco and Wylie campuses. Peer team happens every week, this is a space where our student leaders are encouraged and discipled. I've been asking God and praying through the needs of our ministry and felt led to go through the book of Exodus and Santa Biblia, a book that points out how we tend to come to the Bible with different experiences, histories and biases -which I believe is important to capture as we invite people in our community who look and think different than us. 

Welcome Week!

Welcome Week is a week away and our Collin team couldn't be more thrilled and ready to be back on campus. This is the most vital week of the school year where our pastors and students come together and spend long hours reaching out and welcoming new students. Due to difficulty in meeting on campus, this year we are switching our Thursday Night Fellowship location to our East Plano Fellowship Church which is more central to all of our students and a great space to meet. This year we are also trying out a once a month "Meal with Focus" which will be an opportunity to offer a free meal to students and an opportunity to easily invite students who may not yet follow Jesus. Pray as our students prepare to be bold and engage with their classmates, pray for our pastoral team as we prepare to lead and point our students to Jesus.

Staff Retreat!

Every year we have two staff retreats, one in the summer and one in the winter. In one of our sessions one of our pastors shared a thought I've been reflecting on and since making it one of my prayers, "mature ministers insist in Jesus way". This was a reminder of the freedom there is in the unknownness, in things being out of our control, in lacking "strengths" etc. because you and I have Jesus who we can trust and rely on!

Summer staff retreats are special because we get to connect with our incoming apprentices. The past two years its taken me back to my apprenticeship year, the mixed emotions of doubt yet excitement I encountered coming on to the team, therefore I make it a goal to be their biggest fan! Our Collin team is bringing in two apprentices, Kevin and Katherine (I owe ya a picture of them), and from the little time I've interacted with them I can't help but be super pump!

I find it uplifting looking at this picture and seeing how much the Lord has paved the way for diversity within our staff team. I remember joining the ministry as a student in 2013 and noticing Sirak being the only men of color on the pastoral team. Recently I was sharing with a peer how much that's changed to the point we even have a minority minister fund to help them reach their support. My prayer is this encouragement can continue to extend to other ethnic minorities who are considering and praying in pursuing campus ministry.

Prayer request:

• We are preparing for our first Thursday Night Fellowship at a new location, East Plano Fellowship. Pray this is a space students feel loved and welcomed!
• Pray for welcome week, for attentive hearts and boldness as we step on campus
• Pray we have a positive experience with the Collin administration as we work together to bringing life on campus
• I have a group of friends who have lost their babies, pray this only brings them closer to Jesus and community as they grieve and process
• I am going up to Eisenhower State Park this Friday for a solo 1/2 day retreat. The goal is to tune my heart to the Lord but pray I can be open and attentive to anything the spirit may be wanting to say

Thank you once again for your faithfulness. Look forward to being back at Collin and keeping you posted on what God is up to this school year!

For the Kingdom,

A