Praise Him Above

End of the Year

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Psalm 95:6-7

With my co-leader, Dave

This has been such an amazing year. I can’t hope to describe exactly how much impact it has has had on me in addition to so many others. I could start by giving a big shout-out to my co-leader, Dave. He has grown so much this year and become such a good friend to me. He has really shown up for this community and served it well. I wouldn’t trade his friendship for the world. He and my core guys have taught me, exemplified to me what being close, intimate friends really means. 

With my flight group

Another big shout out to Stuart, for showing up to our studies ready and eager to learn, for always having a big smile and enthusiasm, and for always being able to bring life to the places he’s at.

SICM

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be build up." Ephesians 4:11-12

New UTD Staff

The Student Institute of Campus Ministry was as powerful as I remembered it to be. Over 120 students went on the trip (that was a big undertaking!) and they all loved it. It was a week of intense learning and relating, getting to know each other and being extremely well-behaved guests. On the trip I got to stay with an amazing host family, the Powells, and I got to witness up close what it could look like to be fervent disciples as a married couple with children. It looks 

With my friend and supporter, Kevin

drastically different from being single and unattached, but it is no less powerful, and in some ways even more so. I also got to meet up with an old friend and supporter while in town, and it was such a refreshing experience. Kevin and I have known each other since we were 10 and now, over a decade later and thousands of miles apart, our lives are still intertwined because of the unity of the Spirit.

Thank You!

"You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God." 2 Corinthians 9:11-12

Core and Company

So, as many of you know I'll be going on staff with FOCUS for the next three years. Thank you all for being a part of my internship experience this past year. Some of you I have known for a few years, some of you have known me since I was little more than a baby (looking at you, Changs!). But thank you to all of you so much for believing in me and in the work God has prepared for me here in Dallas. I hope to meet up with each and every one of you face-to-face this summer if nothing more than to catch up and thank you in person. Love you all!

All Creatures Here Below

Pizza Theology

"He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind...'" Luke 10:27

We had another Sunday of learning this semester for all of our campuses to come together and dive deep into a single topic, a topic that can't even be scratched by a normal Sunday or Friday night sermon: Gender, Marriage, and Sexuality. It amazes me how our students are constantly so excited to spend 5 hours of their weekend learning about how to think, and they come out in droves! Hundreds of students packed into the room to hear our campus pastors talk about what they've learned, what they've read, and what they've studied. And in the end, there are more questions than answers! But more often than not, it's about arriving at the right questions rather than the "right" answer. And our students are learning to think for themselves, how to think like a Christian, rather than just a mindless drone in society gobbling up whatever anyone tells them. They'll think like a true follower of Christ.

End of the Year

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a  time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..."Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

As the school year drew to a close, it was filled with bittersweet memories. Every year at the last Friday Night Fellowship we open up the mic for our students to share, and share they did. Story after story of students talking of how God had changed their lives that year. Through relationship and community, God's love was apparent to them and the truth of God was allowed into their hearts. One of the guys in my core shared how he was challenged to speak before the whole community of how God had worked in his life, how he rededicated his life, and how he's been clean from drugs for months. Another student spoke about finding real friendships and deep relationships here where no one was judged for the things they've never told anyone. These are the testimonies that you have been investing in! And I hope you know how much of an impact you have. 

SICM

"For lack of guidance, a nation falls. but victory is won through many advisers" Proverbs 11:14

Finally the time has come! At this very moment, I'm sitting in an airport with six of the 110 or so students that we're sending to the Student Institute of Campus Ministry at Bellingham, Washington (my home state!). This leadership conference will prepare them for the future as they lead others in discipleship. It is so exciting to be seeing the next generation of leaders ready to learn and serve the community in the coming years! Please pray for energy, open hearts, and eager minds in the next week as they learn so much about best strategies to impact college students' lives.

Thank You!

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35

One of the sermons in our last month touched on the topic of generosity. As a visual example, over 200 paper stars were taped to the walls, each one representing a supporter of a staff worker at UTD. Each one representing one of you. That was a moment of impact as it sank in. These students, many of whom you've never met, are loved and cared by you, whom they also may never meet. That is the kingdom of God. That is the family of God. So, thank you so much for loving me, loving these students, and for all your support this past year. It means so much to me!

From Whom All Blessings Flow

SSI students bonding with our Richland students

Another month, another crazy time of ministry. This past month, and really this past semester, has been jam-packed with events and big ministry opportunities. I feel like every weekend has something new and exciting happening. Here's the low-down!

Spring Student Impact (SSI)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

Introduction to Chick-Fil-A!

SSI students at our evangelism boards

Every year we have one week dedicated to campus evangelism. A group of students from Western Washington University (Go Vikings!) comes down to get the hands-on experience of talking to people about Jesus. It was so much fun getting to know these students, seeing their nervousness and inexperience going into the first day and watching them get more and more comfortable with asking people questions and sharing the good news. They had such great attitudes every day, sometimes doing as much as six hours of evangelism a day. We got to share with them Texas culture and we all had a blast! It's opportunities liked this that reveal God's kingdom advancing across the nation.

Spring Showcase

"How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!" Psalm 133:1

Packed house!

For the past four months, the 14 interns and two directors have been planning our Spring Showcase. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year that we put on to help raise money to send our students to SICM (see past blog for details). It's a concert of various students from our community and alumni who display musical talents, dance, and even a little comedy on the side. Last year, about 500 people attended. This year, about 900 people showed up and we raised more than double what we made last year. It was a phenomenal success!

Part of the Spring Showcase crew

Thank You!

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers." Ephesians 1:15-16

Core at Friday Night Fellowship

And as always, thanks to all my supporters for all that you do for me. Because of you, so many students' lives are impacted through the power of our great God. He uses all of us in different ways to further his kingdom here on Earth. Thanks to you, I get a front row seat to the ways He is shaping these young men's hearts. Not only are they better men of God now, they will be better friends, better husbands, and better fathers in the future because of Him. Thank you all so much!

It is Time

Man, February has been busy! It's like I haven't come up for air in a while. But it's the beginning of the harvest now. After months of sowing the seed and nurturing it, God has been raising up some mighty individuals in our ministry.

SICM!

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes form God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7

This year we have over 100 students going to SICM, the Student Institute of Campus Ministry! This is our leadership conference that we send students to in Bellingham at Western Washington University. I and most of the other leader in the ministry have gone through this training and it was part of the reason why I committed to this ministry my freshman year. A community here in Texas that had ties to my home state of Washington seemed like a God coincidence to me. Our students have to raise a couple hundred dollars to go on this trip and many of our students have hosted fundraisers like pancake nights and spaghetti nights for the community to attend. And our students have really turned up! Each students has raised enough money to pay for nearly all of the trip per fundraiser. It's been amazing how the students band together and build community while lifting each other up!

Corefa Class

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

This month we had a great corefa class for all of our core facilitators (small group leaders). Once or twice a semester, all of our corefas across our campuses come together to learn together on how to be better leaders. Along with teaching them how to lead cores (small groups) int o the next semester, we also had a focus on how to help others deal with sexual issues. In this day and culture, a large percentage of the population struggles with sex in some form or fashion. And this is just one of the issues that our corefas get to walk alongside other students and help them grow and mature into stronger men and women of God. These student leaders are not much older than the ones they minister, and sometimes they are younger, but they have made the commitment to help others grow, to be poured into by our staff and to pour into others. So pray for them as they near the end of the school year, that they and the students they minister to may be impacted for the rest of their lives.

Thank You!

"I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus." 1 Corinthians 1:4

One saying we have in the community is that "thanks never goes without saying". It means that we need to take every opportunity to vocalize our gratitude, even if we think it's being implied. So I never want to miss an opportunity to recognize that it's because of such great supporters that I get to do what I do. That I get to help equip students for life now and in the future. That I get to help make and mature disciples for the glory of God. So thank you all so much for all that you have done, for all that you do, and for all that you will continue to do in my life! Your impact has shaped me in more ways than we may ever know this side of eternity. Thank you so much!

Season of Harvest

With the second semester well on its way, God has already been doing amazing things! 

Winter Camp

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25

Every spring semester we start it off right with winter camp, our biggest event of the year. Every campus, some alumni, ministry friends up in Wichita Falls, and some high school students, come to celebrate and worship together. This year we had close to 550 come and enjoy community over this four-day event. But while big events are fun and great, the real work happens in our cores. Our small groups find so much time to bond together and also to reach out beyond their band of friends. My core this year has been so amazing, it's like they were made to be together in public. They sing, they clap, they start chants. These guys are crazy, and I love it. My co-leader, Dave, loved seeing our guys at the dance party. His favorite part was that they were dancing like it was nobody's business, so comfortable with each other that they didn't care what others thought because they had found acceptance in a group that mattered. And that was the story of the weekend. Everybody was showered with so much love, it was a time where the sole focus was a love for God and for others.

Staff Retreat

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:4-5

For our staff, we also started the semester with a good retreat to bond together. As a leader team the pressure is on us to lead not just by words, but with example first and foremost. So in that example, we strive to be a close-knit team that is open and vulnerable with each other, that brings up the hard stuff, and deals with conflict admirably. It was so much fun to have time with my fellow interns, people I've grown to love so much. Under extreme pressure and long days and weeks we've grown so much individually and together. 

Keep FOCUS Growing

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11

Our annual fundraiser hit our $45,000 goal! Total God deal. And as we promised our students, we did a polar plunge: jumping into a freezing pool on campus to celebrate the great ways God works to provide for his children. See the video here!

Student Finances Class

"Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine." Proverbs 3:9-10

This month we started up a student finances class to help teach our students how to think about and treat money. Money and sex are two things that our culture has no problem throwing in our face, but talking seriously about? Not a chance. So we're going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, a class I took early last semester. Over 20 students have dedicated two hours of the next four Saturdays to learn how to think about money now, instead of dealing with it later. So far, this class has honestly been so much fun to listen to the stories of our students and to share tips and tricks that have helped me be a good steward of my money. 

Thank You!

"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers." Ephesians 1:16

Much of my desire to think and deal with my money extremely responsibly is because many of you support me financially. That's a very big deal to me, that you would trust me to manage your support well and that the work I do is worth it. So, thank you so much for placing your trust in me and in what God is doing here in Dallas. I love you all and am always so excited to share with you the amazing things happening here!

Round Two

For such a short month, December was quite jam-packed with so many blessings from above! I hope that all of your Christmas traditions and New Year's celebrations went well and those who went home to family had a great time with your loved ones. 

Christmas Party

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3

December was kicked off right with an end-of-year high school-themed Christmas party. This is such a great time of year where the atmosphere is just electrified with good feelings. We spend holidays with family, so we recreate that type of environment because this community is a family to our students. So, even though most of us head home for the holidays we have already spent part of it with our family here at UTD. The main event at this party was the core competition. Each core that participated would perform a Christmas-related song. And you know what? My core won! It was a great bonding experience for all of us, and the amount of relationship-building that happened through that hilarious performance was worth all the practice. You can watch our performance here! You might think we look a little weird in the picture, but that's because we dressed up as the "Cool Clique" to match the high school theme of the party! Just more crazy things to bring a group of guys closer together.

Staff Retreat

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

To get ready for the new semester, our staff had a retreat to regroup and plan ahead. It's so crazy to think that the year is halfway over. This group of people, and especially this intern class, have become some of my closest friends, and I can't imagine better coworkers to have and brothers and sisters in Christ. And now we're gearing up for winter camp, which is our biggest and most exciting event of the year! All of our campuses (now up to 8!) are going to be together for about four days, and it's going to be an amazing time to build this community and individual relationships. I cannot express how excited I am to see the powerful ways God is going to move this next semester.

Thank You!

"Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:16-17

As always, thank you so much for your support. Not just financial, but your prayers and your encouragements that remind me of what a great team I have behind me. I don't get to see many of you very often, but the moments I do I'm always humbled and grateful that you all believe in me. It serves as a reminder that my heavenly Father also believes in me. So thank you all for the role you play in this ministry and my life!

In Christ,

Peter

It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This

Wow, November has been such a busy month! Even with the break at the end, so much has happened and with the end of the first semester in sight, it's crunch-time!

Parent Night

"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues though all generations." Psalm 100:5

Early in the month we had a special FOCUS meeting on Saturday for parent night! So many students invited their parents to come get a taste of the fellowship they are a part of. And it was so amazing! There were parents and siblings, cousins and spiritual mentors, the room was packed with hundreds of people eager to show and to learn what FOCUS was about. We had a few parents and grandparents share the impact that the ministry has had in their children's and grandchildren's lives, and their testimonies of the changes they saw was so powerful. But in the end we know it's not about FOCUS, this ministry is just the tool that we use to spread Jesus' love to as many as we can, and that is what impacts people so much. They just needed a community of disciples to come alongside them and show them what it looks like here in this world.

Pizza Theology

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing, and perfect will." Romans 12:2

One of the major events we do every semester is what we call Pizza Theology. No, it's not about the theology of pizza. We take four hours to really dive into a difficult topics, one that can't be easily explained and wrapped up in a 30-minute sermon, and we take a break in the middle to have fellowship and eat pizza! This year we talked about how to think like a Christian. Too often we take a topic and search the Bible for a verse that explicitly addresses that issue. However, the Bible was written in a time a culture that is so far removed from ours that it doesn't take on issues like how to date, or what TV shows to watch, or whether we should be vegetarians or not. But it does lay down principles on how we should think and how to approach all things in a Christlike manner. This way there is never a topic that we don't know how to deal with, because being like Christ is a lifestyle and not just having the right answers.

Outreach

"As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" Acts 4:20

We had another round of outreach boards this month alongside our usual one-on-one campus outreach plans. We asked students questions about war, violence, kindness, and peace. Recently our nation has been asking itself, again, those questions of what our role is in conflict. We, as Christians, need to ask ourselves what God's role is, and how do we participate in his plan for this world. But, as always, in the end it's all about relationships. We can ask all the questions we want, but people are impacted by love, not by intellectual stimulation.

Core

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29

We finished up our last official core of the year! On the docket was encouragements and challenges and our guys really stepped up to the plate! They took the time to really think deeply about each other and encourage one another in our Christ-like attributes. As we went around the room and really affirmed each other, we could tell that every encouragement that was being said was powerful and much-needed. Too often in our society we don't tell people how we feel about them, we just expect them to know because we spend time with them. Especially among us guys we can feel awkward complimenting each other. But it's so uplifting to hear from your brothers-in-Christ the things in you that they admire and aspire to be more like. You get to hear the thoughts behind the stories you have together. When the room got to me I felt tears coming on because they knew and affirmed the hard work I've put into this semester in pursuing them and the changes God has done in me over these past four years to make me the minister that I am now. I love these guys so much!

Thank You!

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father though him." Colossians 3:17

Thank you all so much for the support you've given me this year! Whether financial or through prayer it is so huge for you to think of me and do what you can for me. I always love getting to spend time with the supporters that I can here in Dallas, and I wish I could spend some time with all of you in Washington and California. You are all extremely close to my heart and my every day is possible because of you and the dedication you have to the Lord and the impact He's had in your lives. Thank you all so much and I hope to see some of you over the holidays!

In Christ,

Peter