A NEW CHAPTER OF MINISTRY

 

The Start!

My apprenticeship has finally begun! It is incredible to think after six years with the FOCUS ministry that I now get the pleasure of working on staff as one of the pastoral apprentices for the 2022-23 school year at The University of Texas at Dallas. We are only a two weeks in and boy has it been packed full of excitement! I'm so excited I get to share what these last two weeks have been like as we prepare to welcome our students to the UTD campus. I'm even more excited to be sharing with you every month what God is doing in the lives of our students and how your support is helping to bring the kingdom to UTD.

A NEW CREW

This year I get to serve with four other amazing apprentices. Pictured above from left to right we have: Coral James, Hannah Stephens, Kevin Pike, Myself and Katherine Daggett. I'll be getting to spend the next 10 months with these folks, learning, ministering and growing closer to each other and to God. I, along with Coral and Hannah will be getting to serve on staff at UTD this year while Kevin and Catherine will be serving on our Collin College team. I am super excited to get to do ministry with these folks and learn some amazing things about our God.

READING, READING AND MORE READING

The first week of the apprenticeship was intense to say the least, but man what a fun time we had getting to read the Bible. For our Old Testament class we read through the first FIVE books of the Bible. I have never read so much scripture in one week but I'm so happy we did. The first five books of scripture are some of the most interesting in the the Bible and I'm excited to continue reading the entirety of the Old Testament by the end of the fall semester!

STAFF RETREAT

On our staff retreat this year we got the chance to visit the Riverbend Retreat Center. This is a Christian camp down near Glen Rose, Texas where we will be having our yearly Winter Camp in January. Every year the entirety of the FOCUS ministry, from all over DFW colleges and universities, travel to Winter Camp for an amazing experience. We often have guest speakers who give wonderful sermons on deep biblical or theological topics, along with plenty of worship and a camp full of fun activities. I am really excited to have Winter Camp for the first time this year at Riverbend. Our staff retreat to the camp was helpful for getting the lay of land as well as quality bonding time with all the campus staffs.

RHETT HAYES

Rhett is one of our campus pastors at UTD and is my supervisor for this year. Not only is he a great minister but he was also one of my best men at my wedding! Rhett is truly a great friend and has such a deep love for the Lord and his people. I am ecstatic to get to serve with him this year as well as have hime as my supervisor for the year!

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. I have been so thankful over these past few months to experience the generosity of Gods people and the excitement all of you have for campus ministry. I am very excited to share with you over the next 10 months all the amazing things going on at UTD to further Gods kingdom and for you to see just how much your support means to not only myself but our community. Thank you!

Student Testimony