January Update

Students, staff and alumni that attended camp

Just a couple of weeks ago, FOCUS held our biggest event of the year: Winter Camp 2015! We took almost 500 students to camp for four days to build relationships, learn about God, and to catch our vision for college campuses. We were fortunate enough to have Dr. Iain Provan, from Regent College in Vancouver, come and speak to us the whole weekend. In keeping with our theme Words of Life, he spoke on topics such as Words about Creation, Words about God, Words about Evil and Suffering, and Words about Hope. This was such a treat for me and the rest of the FOCUS staff because we have all taken Iain's "Old Testament Foundations" class that we purchased online through Regent's website. His knowledge and insight into God's story has changed the way I read the Bible. I'm so glad our students were able to hear him speak! 

Dr. Iain Provan

The best part about camp though is the friendships that are made and strengthened, not only from individual campuses but across campuses as well. Many of our Collin College students are in the middle of filling out applications and plan to transfer to universities next fall. Winter Camp is a great opportunity for them to connect with the university students and catch the vision for ministry involvement wherever they transfer. There is one story I want to share about a girl who was somewhat involved in a Core last semester who came to Winter Camp. After the weekend was over, she sent this message to the girls in her Core: 

"Words cannot begin to explain how amazing of an experience I had with all of you at Winter Camp, but I will try. I was completely skeptical about going to camp at first because I just started going to FOCUS and Core and I just began to rebuild my relationship with God. I thought I should wait until I got back to the place I once was with Him. These past couple of years have been extremely hard for me. I've lost a lot of friends and family and I've had a ton of personal issues to work out, but you all have been by my side since I first met you. I haven't ever had a close relationship with my family members and you girls have become my close family. You all have helped me realize how far away from God I had fallen and how much I can improve. I can never thank you enough! I felt a huge transformation at Winter Camp. I really started to understand Christ's sacrifice and God's unending and unconditional love for me this weekend, but none of that would have been possible without you all in my life. So thank you again. I look forward to another semester of growth and love with all of you! You mean so much to me and I love you guys."

Isn't God so awesome? Isn't it wonderful that we get to be a part of what He's doing here? Most of this would not be possible without your support, encouragement, and prayers. I really want to thank each one of you that has invested in this vision of making and maturing disciples on campuses for God's glory. God is doing amazing things through your investment in FOCUS. Thank you so much for your partnership with us!

Much love!