Back to the Beginning!

Our view at Camp Eagle!

Did anyone else wake up last week and think "how in the world are we already in September?" ??? I've probably said that about twice a day for the last ten days now. The last two months have flown by but we've been busy getting into the new school year!

At the very beginning of August, our FOCUS team took on nineteen apprentices which takes up about a third of our entire total now. In the picture above (it's hard to see them lol), they are making commitments to the students in our community. I'm so thankful for such a bright group of people who want to give 10 months of their lives to learn about campus ministry and serve college students!

This is our pastoral team at our retreat during a worship session!

Before kicking off the semester, our entire FOCUS team of pastors headed out to Bridgeport, Texas for a short retreat to connect with the Lord and each other to prepare for the year ahead. Our director, Brandon, led us in a few activities to reflect on what it means for us to die to ourselves in different areas of our lives. We also had the opportunity to split up into our campus teams and share our stories with one another. I'm really thankful for the time we spent together getting our hearts in the right place and hearing how the Lord has worked in each other's lives.

These are all of our the women minus Renee on our Collin team this year: (l to r) Dani, Alex, Orion, Adriana, and me

After a short few days at home, we headed south to Camp Eagle where we hosted the Student Institute of Campus Ministry. Across our entire ministry, we brought around 150 student leaders to come learn about leadership in ministry. These students were excited to spend all day every day for a week in classes learning about serving other students on their campuses! I was so encouraged to see students come out of this last year eager to invite others into community!

An aerial view of all the students the first night!

I loved hanging out with our Collin student leaders throughout the week!

We had a good week of rest after that then immediately jumped into Welcome Week on campus! Last year we weren't able to have any events to meet new students on campus due to COVID, but this year we could have something every single day outside. We met so many new and returning students who were longing to connect with others and be noticed. It was super hot outside, but we played tons of lawn games, tie-dyed t-shirts, played Uno about 200 times and too many different ways to count, gave bad tattoos (this one is a favorite), and had several conversations. Our students leaders were so sweet and invitational to other students on campus and I'm so proud of them!

The largest game of Uno I've ever been part of - it got up to 17 people!

Tie-dying!

Our first Thursday Night Fellowship was that week and we had about 75 people show up! Whether 5 people came or 200 people came, we would have been thankful. But I am blown away by the fruit of the labor done the week leading up to that. I'm very excited to see friendships form and relationships with God deepen.

Our first Thursday Night Fellowship!

Overall, the last month and a half have been great! I'm really looking forward to what is in store this year and getting to know more students. Please be in prayer over our student leaders along with our pastors to not grow weary in reaching out to new students. And please pray for our core groups (small groups) as they are kicking off. We are hoping that deep relationships are developed there and people would grow in their understanding of who God is through their Bible studies and friendships with one another.

Thank you all for your partnership and prayers! I love you all and hope you are well. Please let me know if there is anything specific I can be praying for you.

With love,

Jacy