Graduation!
Hey guys, big news! Over the past five years, I've been attending Fuller Theological Seminary to get my Master of Divinity degree. It's been a grueling, time-consuming, but rewarding experience to grow in understanding and faith and get to learn from amazing professors and classmates. It was both stressful and helpful to do ministry full-time at the same time as going to school for ministry. I got to learn about God and turn right around and apply the things I was learning to real life and real situations. Now finally, after many late nights and hundreds of pages of writing, I've finished! A big thank you to my directors who put up with the crazy hours I was putting in, my coworkers and family who looked out for my physical and mental health, and my wife who let me cancel dates and crawl out of bed after we said good night so that I could finish my homework. Thankful for the experience, and thankful for the end of this part of the journey! A lot of my coworkers and my family flew out to Pasadena to attend graduation. Both Brandon and I got our degrees this year and attended commencement. Summer Planning
Over the summer, our biggest projects are planning for the next school year and selecting our leader team. Planning for the school year involves considering what values are we heating up for our community. We have to ask ourselves the questions, what is our community good at and what does it need help in? In a college ministry, turnover is so quick that values can just as quickly disappear if they aren't heated up and stressed year to year. Not only that, but the culture of students changes quickly as well. I only graduated 8 years ago and already this generation of students is not the same as mine. They like different things and are attracted to different things. So, we as a ministry have to adapt to that and speak the gospel into their culture. Ministry is never static! Student Leaders
And as we select our leader team, we look for students where God has ignited a passion for learning, for loving people, and for serving. Not everyone who wants to lead should, and there are plenty of people who would never volunteer to lead who are called to lead. And it's our job to heed God's calling to select the students who we believe will guide the next generation well. We talk with dozens of guys and girls seeking those who would lead others to Jesus and not to themselves or to an organization. It's a lot of work, but it sets each year up for success if we put in the work now. So, please pray as we select our student leader team for this next school year!
Thank You!
Thank you so much for your support! It's because of your support that I have had so many opportunities to learn and grow and minister to so many people. This degree is just a reflection of what God has been doing in me and what you have invested in. My prayer is to be a minister in all areas of my life even as my focus is on college students, and that God's life and light would be evident to all people.
