May News

Here we are in May! There are two big events that happened in April that I'd like to share with you, and then let you know what we're anticipating this month.

At the beginning of last month we had our annual Parent Night where we invite families of students in our ministry to come and see what FOCUS is all about. We had the opportunity to hear students and their parents share about how our community has impacted them, which was so encouraging! We gave the parents a little sample of what their students are involved in during the week and all the FOCUS events they attend. Turns out, there are quite a lot of things that our students are invested in! We love getting to meet parents and to thank them for laying a spiritual foundation for their students that we are able to build on.

So many families came for Parent Night!

Students and parents worshiping on Parent Night

Our next big event in April was Pizza Theology, where the FOCUS staff teaches an in-depth study of a spiritual topic. This semester's topic was Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between. I was personally really excited for this event because I have such limited knowledge of what the Bible says about the afterlife. Needless to say, a lot of my perceived knowledge was heavily influenced by cultural cliches and not exactly rooted in scripture. We received lots of positive feedback from students who were in the same boat as I was. If you're interested in learning about this topic, you can listen to the entire seminar (it's about 4 hours of teaching) here: Pizza Theology.

Students listening intently at Pizza Theology

In just a few days we will have our end of the year FOCUS Banquet to celebrate all that God has done in our community this year and to honor our student leaders. After that, students will have their last week of school and then come final exams! The year is wrapping up so quickly. Next month I'll have updates on all of these events for you. Once exams are over, the FOCUS staff is taking a large number of our students up to Washington for a week for Student Institute of Campus Ministry (SICM). I'm so thankful to get to attend this conference for another year with our students. The skills that they learn at SICM will not only impact our ministry this coming year, but will impact their personal ministry for the rest of their lives. I can't wait!

As many of you know, I have been working hard at raising funds and gathering ministry partners for my next few years on staff. Many of you have already confirmed your desire to remain on my support team and I am so very thankful for that! I simply can't say it enough. Thank you for your willingness to pour prayers and funds into this ministry and these students. I am so grateful to each and every one of you. I want to ask that if you know of anyone else that is passionate about ministry and interested in partnering with me for financial support, please let me know! Also, please be in prayer for me as I meet potential partners this summer.

Much love!