With the semester coming to a close, we're seeing the momentum of the year start to pick up. The difficulty is trying to ensure we don't lose too much ground over the break and that we're able to pick up mostly where we left off when we hit spring semester.
Baptisms!
In great news, we have had two baptisms in the past month! Peyton and Savannah are two seniors who have been in our ministry for a little over a year. It's always so encouraging to see students take their faith seriously, take baptism seriously, and make the decision to commit to following Jesus for the rest of their lives. Sometimes we use the baptismal at church, but sometimes like the early church we find whatever body of water we can and do the baptism there. For Peyton and Savannah they chose pools on campus and in someone's backyard. It doesn't matter where, it matters that they make the decision, and acknowledge the transformational power of Jesus Christ in their lives. I truly believe that Jesus has the answer to so many of our life's challenges, if we only choose to humble ourselves and admit that we have so little control over or knowledge of what's best for us. He calls us to only what is good, even if it can be painful sometimes.
Learning
We had an awesome speaker, Dr. Iain Provan come and teach our students about Cuckoos in our Nest. He broke down the assumptions and ideas that have infiltrated the church from society just like cuckoos infiltrate the nests of other birds. He taught and brought us back to the Bible. God's fundamental purposes for us and creation should inform the whys of everything we do. For weeks afterwards, students were talking about it with and with each other. It's exciting to see them taking what they've heard and trying to process it. They're excited to know more about God and have him influence their lives and thoughts.
Fundraising and Thank You!
We have our Keep FOCUS Growing fundraising campaign going on right now. Thank you so much for all your support for me, I couldn't do what I do without you. If I could ask you to consider if God is calling you to invest in what we do as a whole, I would appreciate it! While each of our missionaries raise our own support, there is a whole slew of things that still need funding. Outreach, healthcare, campus plants, advertising, and more all cost money that we want to invest in to keep reaching more students and to keep our most experienced ministers able to raise families and live sustainably for the entire length of God's calling. So, if you or anyone you know might be excited to hear about what's going on and give, you can go to anyfocus.org/kfg or send them my way and I will always love talking about what God's doing and the good news of the kingdom. Thank you so much for all the ways you support me and look out for me!
Baby
As an aside, the baby is growing healthily! We just passed 22 weeks and had our anatomy scan where the doctor counted all ten fingers and all ten toes. No causes for concern! Please pray for our ministry and our baby as he keeps growing. (And yes, it's a boy!)
