Winter Camp and More

 Hello Ministry Partner!

Thank you for praying for Winter Camp.  Despite last minute changes and some scrambling on the part of our admin team, it happened and was a success!  Many of our students showed up and were blessed by community, the lectures, and worshiping our Lord together.  

Before I get into the past month, I'd like to invite you to to our annual Showcase Fundraiser:

Each year we send students from FOCUS to the Student Institute of Campus Ministry where they learn what it means to be missionaries on their campuses.  This is a valuable Kingdom investment in each of their lives and has great impact on the lives of the students they encounter on campus.  To help fund their trips to the conference we host a quality showcase and artisan market.  I would love to see some of you there! 

You can purchase tickets here anyfocus.org/showcase. 

Back to the Blog - Winter Camp!

Rikk Watts, a New Testament scholar from Cambridge University, flew all the way to Texas to share with our students what God has put on his heart and mind.  His message was insightful and thought provoking - it definitely sparked conversation among our students. 

In much less eloquent words than he used, he spoke about the power and trustworthiness of the Gospel and how our world today has been shaped by the Gospel.  In the ancient world, ideas of social justice or individualism did not exist - the powerful dominated the weak.  But Jesus had an entirely different message for the ancient world: individuals do matter, everyone is equally valuable, and He found power in weakness.  The Gospel was an entirely upside down message to the ancients and has changed the course of history!  

Here is the recording of our last session if you'd like to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AneF-lfyn_Y&list=PLc3KMefw8VOsf6GHWcMBaxd0CeCgtZE99&index=7   

Several girls from mine and Aileen's small group came! It's such an encouragement that they would take four days to spend time learning and being with God's people.  I think they grew a lot closer together and I'm excited to continue meeting together this semester.  

Here's a poor quality photo of Rikk during one of our sessions :)

Lailah, one of the apprentices used to be a professional dancer. She led our group in dancing as a form of worship. 

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A sweet post from one of my friends in small group about Winter Camp.  It's really encouraging to hear stuff like this!

Back in the Swing of Things

Because of the rising numbers of omicron cases we livestreamed our first Thursday Night Fellowship this semester.  I guess this is college ministry during a pandemic!

Some late night hanging out

What I'm Learning

This semester the apprentices are taking a New Testament class.  Through what I'm learning in this class and what we learned at Winter Camp I feel that Jesus as an historical person is becoming more real to me. Jesus’ crucifixion was not an isolated event.  It happened in the context of hundreds of years of social and political upheaval for the Jewish people and after many individuals had started revolts or claimed to be some sort of Messiah.  Jesus wasn’t the first to threaten the status quo or the first to be crucified, but He was the first to speak of ushering in a new Kingdom by first looking within for change and then extending grace outwards.

A couple of the apprentices from other campuses came up to Denton hang out together. 

I love these guys!

Thank you for reading!  And thank you for your continued support!

Please be in prayer for our small group for each of the girls to grow closer to the Lord and for our staff team as we make decisions for the direction and growth of our community in the wakes of Covid.  

Much love, 

Becca