Can Ever Pluck Me From His Hand

It has definitely been a whirlwind of activity these past few weeks. The start of the year is always so busy, students moving in, ready for new friends. Here's a story from one of the guys I know personally!

Welcome Week

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2:3-4

First Fellowship Night!

After-FOCUS Games!

I have absolutely loved welcome week this year. Every year I love reaching out to new people and building new relationships. Although after a long summer of fundraising, getting back into the swing of things was a little nerve-wracking. It's never fun to put yourself out there and be rejected, but you just have to accept that it's going to happen and do it anyways. We would just interject with people passing by and ask them, "Do you want to play with us?" I'd estimate we had about a 50% success rate. But this year has been my favorite so far because I love my job when I get to be the boots on the ground, one of the people just meeting people, not having to coordinate massive events of hundreds of people, just me and someone else having a deep conversation. I sometimes enjoy coordinating those events, I know their benefits and the impact they have in spreading the Gospel, but the reason I do this as a vocation is because of the personal impact the Gospel can have in one-on-one relationships. So I was so glad that I got to do that this year, along with the large coordinated events.

Hangout at the Park

We tried some new things this year, the biggest among them was a board game and Frisbee night three nights in a row outside the freshmen residence halls. Since freshmen move in before everyone else does it was a low-key, easy event that we could really establish a new normal for the incoming students. One of those nights I ran into a freshman I had played Frisbee with on his way back from a school event. At that point there were only a few of us outside throwing the Frisbee around, not enough for a game of ultimate Frisbee. So I asked him if he wanted to join, and he asked, "Are we playing a game?" I responded saying that we didn't have enough people so we were just practicing throwing the Frisbee around. He told me, "hold on, I have a friend waiting for me, I think he'll want to play." Five minutes later he comes back with about 10 people in tow and asks, "I've got people, can we play?" He was already reaching out for us! After the game I was making dash to get everyone's numbers, and as I was doing it they seemed to pick up on the practice of getting someone's number the first time you meet them. So here's a crowd of 10-15 freshmen all exchanging numbers, all making plans to play together more. And if that's not what being a light to the world is about, I don't know what is. Even if most of them don't join our community, they'll at least have friends so they don't have to go through college alone.

Thank You!

"The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

Laughing with my Intern Class

Thank you all so much for your support. Because of you I get to build these meaningful relationships with these college students. Their lives right now are changing so much, and I want to make sure God is a part of that. Because of you I exceeded my fundraising goal this year! It was close, and I thought it would take a lot more time to reach my goal this year, but God knew what He was doing and put obstacles in my way to make me work harder, to lean on Him more, to know who really is in control of all this. So thank you guys so much for listening to His calling, and following your convictions. I hope to share with you many stories this year of how God is working here in Dallas!