No Guilt in Life, No Fear in Death

Social Justice

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:34-30

One of the topics this generation is particularly passionate about is social justice. And yet the church culture as a whole has started to separate our "personal" walks with Jesus and the practice of justice. We wanted to preach to our students how near to God's heart the poor, oppressed, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner are. Justice is not about doling out due judgment, but about lifting up the low and speaking truth to power, just as Jesus did. The series hit close to my heart as community service and combating racial discrimination have always been passions of mine. And it was so great being able to share with the community a call to bring justice to this world until He returns.

Science and Faith

We've now dove deep into our next series exploring the relationship between science and faith. It has been amazing listening to Sirak preach on the questions that science can and cannot answer and the questions faith can and cannot answer. We are literally overflowing in the room we meet in, not a single chair is empty and people are bringing in chairs from other rooms or sitting on steps listening. This is still such a relevant topic and has divided even the church on whether science and faith are at odds or complements to each other. There is a hunger in believers and seekers alike to know the Creator and how he relates to his creation. I saw at least a dozen new faces at our last meeting, please pray for these new individuals that they may find the life-giving water they may not know they're looking for.

Thank You!

Thank you all so much for your continued support. Without you, not only would it be much more difficult financially to do what I do, but also emotionally and mentally. Knowing that you all have my back is an enormous support. I often tell my students about how much I love fundraising because it gives me the opportunity to build relationships with all of you, and I mean it.

Personal

On a personal note, my grandmother died a few nights ago. Please pray for comfort for my family and particularly my parents as they deal with the necessary things in Taiwan. Thankfully my grandmother was a Christian and we know that she is getting to see Jesus face-to-face before we do. 

This is the Power of Christ in Me

Christmas

Wearing crowns because we're British now

Thank you guys so much for caring about me and praying for my holiday season. It meant a lot to hear from you. Our Christmas ended up going well. We skyped most of our family in the morning, minus the mom and dad who were with our grandma in Taiwan. And then we were welcomed into one of my friend and coworker's house for Christmas lunch. Our first Christmas as a segmented family went off as well as we could have hoped. 

Corefa Class

Taking notes in corefa class

To get ready for the semester we get all our corefas back to prepare for the new year. This time we brought in a psychiatrist from the Meier Clinic to help our students better understand mental illness, the causes, and the different ways to treat it. It was helpful to hear from a professional, one with a Christian perspective, how he views mental illness in its physical and spiritual facets. He also explained the effects of certain medicines and when he chooses to prescribe them and how he chooses to wean people off of them or keep them on indefinitely. As anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts plague this generation, our leaders face these challenges more and more. Whether it's within themselves or in their groups, the problem is pervasive and we want to equip our students to be able to handle those situations with grace and understanding.

Winter Camp

From on-stage

Look at everybody!

And finally, we kicked off our semester with our annual Winter Camp. This is the biggest event we put on all year with all of our campuses joining together for four days of retreat. As with most retreats we have services with worship and guest speakers. This year we had Geoff and Jessica Mumley from Campus Christian Fellowship at Western Washington University come and talk to our students about being sent ones. What makes this conference different is our community, how much they love each other how much they look out for each other, and how anxious they are to build new relationships and build on old ones across these campuses. It's a time for them to get a vision bigger than themselves, bigger than their small groups, and bigger than any individual campus. If our mission is to establish a ministry on every college campus in the DFW Metroplex we're going to need a lot more hands and a lot more laborers in his vineyard. Pray for students to continue catching the vision and considering that God could be calling them to a life of vocational ministry. Pray for students rising to leadership and accepting the opportunity God has given them in their college years. And pray for students who are finally taking the chance to be a part of this community and experiencing the blessings God has poured out to us.

Thank You

Our UTD Staff

Thank you all so much for your constant support. This past summer our FOCUS staff had a CRU minister come and share with us his wisdom on support-raising. He said a curious thing, would you rather have 30 donors giving for your salary or one? While it makes logical sense to not have one donor to whom you would be beholden to, what about one vs. 300 or one vs 3,000? Would I not rather have to keep track of one person than hundreds? Well this year, God has surprised me in this arena, as if to teach me something. So many of you have come out of nowhere to support me. Some without me asking, some with just a few words, and all with such joy when choosing to give. Now, without a doubt I would choose the many over the one because that means there are 3,000 people who are willing to sacrifice some of what they have for me. That is something beyond any amount of money, so thank you all so much for being in my corner and believing in the work God is doing here. 

From Life's First Cry to Final Breath

Christmas Party

Every year we do a Christmas Party to celebrate the season, the end of the year, and to get our community together as a family. This year we did a Christmas movies theme with the church decked out in full movie theater decor. And as always, we had our core skits as the main event. It was a really fun time that bonds people together through 

Christmas Devotional

We had our last fellowship night out in the cold! All bundled up and cuddled close together, it was a great time despite the weather, and maybe because of it. Our students loved having it outside, and it was a great opportunity to have visibility on campus. We had more than a couple students join us after hearing the music. 

SMU Advent Service

We had our first advent service at our SMU campus to celebrate the season. We went through a traditional service led by an episcopal priest. We sang through old hymns and through Bible passages that went from Genesis to the Gospels speaking of the entire gospel story. It was a great night of meaning and tradition. 

Thank You and Merry Christmas!

Thank you to everyone so much for your constant support,  it means so much to me. Because of you I'm able to take part in a career that I love and interact with people that I love every day. I hope this Christmas season is a good one for all of you. Because my brother works in customer service, the two of us will be spending Christmas in Dallas while my parents are in Taiwan visiting my grandmother in the hospital. If you could pray for her continued improvement, I would very much appreciate it, as well as for my family in general as we try to spend some time together this season in three different places. 

Jesus Commands My Destiny

All-Church Retreat

This month we had a chance for our DFW Metro Family of Churches to get together and celebrate 20 years together. It was a rare opportunity to get some good time being in fellowship with people of all ages rather than just college students. It was such a great time to be a part of a family that's so much bigger than just the people I see week-to-week or the students I minister to.

Pizza Theology

We got to host Professor Bill Watson from Criswell College to speak to our students on the Sermon on the Mount this semester for pizza theology. It was an amazing night that our students absolutely loved. I would highly suggest everyone listen to it here! He has such insight into this famous passage of the Scripture, and really painted a picture for what this life is about. 

Prayer Requests

There are a few things that I've been anxious to share with you and ask for your prayers:

A student named Aaron that I met at Welcome Week this year has been a part of one of our cores this semester. He is not a Christian, but is earnestly seeking and asking questions. Please pray that he continues to have a heart for the truth.

As we head into the holiday season and the end of the semester this is a time that many of our cores start realizing the brotherhood/sisterhood they've built in their short time together. Please pray for lasting friendships and a strong finish to this semester.

Thanksgiving

Thank you all so much for all you've done for me, it has been such a great experience to have you all supporting me. Some of you year after year, some of you for the first time, every one of you means so much to me. Please if there's anything I can ever do for any of you, don't hesitate to ask. 

No Power of Hell, No Sin of Man

Fall Camp
"The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry." Psalm 34:15

So over a weekend we had our 2017 Fall Camp! For just two days and a night, our students retreat from their school stresses and everyday life things and spend some quality time with their brothers and sisters in Christ. Fall Camp is always a good way to cast a vision for our students on what this community is like and how they can be a part of it. It's especially great for our smaller campuses in the Dallas area, Richland, TWU Dallas, and now SMU, to physically see that Christ's family is bigger than what they may see on just their one campus. We had multiple students share their testimonies on how God has shaped and changed their view of being a Christian, a disciple. A common thread throughout the testimonies was that we often get comfortable and complacent on who's "in" and who's "out" when really our God is not as concerned about these trivial things we seem to be concerned about. What we need to concern ourselves with is making Jesus the Lord of my life. 

Worship Night and Outreach

"And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation...'" Mark 16:15

We also had our first week of concerted outreach  (after welcome week of course!) We started it off with a worship night to get our hearts and minds in the right place cast a vision for our students. We firmly believe that relationship and sharing life is the best way to introduce people to God, though we have no doubt that our one-off conversations and brief interactions are part of the watering process as well. We started each day of outreach off with campus conversations, sending our students off in pairs to talk to people, start conversations, relationships, and invite them to the things we were doing so we could share life together. This is the most intimidating thing for our students as you can imagine. Spreading the gospel and speaking to strangers has easily been one of the big fears in all Christian communities. But we encouraged them to invite the people they talked to to hang out with us int he afternoon and then have dinner with us that night. I personally met and got five students' numbers. Please pray as I continue to invite them to join our community and our lives.

Thank You!

"This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:29

Thank you so much for your continued support of me and this ministry. It's because of you and our God that I get to spend time with amazing men and women who are dedicated to making His name known here at UTD. Please continue to pray as our ministry continues to grow, that we may include and integrate these enthusiastic new disciples, and as our ministry faces some tough challenges from the enemy in people who want to divide and sow enmity in the community. Your prayers mean the world to me, and I hope to always show my gratitude for your support!

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!

Till He Returns Or Calls Me Home

Staff Retreat

So the year has officially begun. As we enter into August we're kicking things into high gear for the beginning of the school year. All the students are filing in slowly, moving into their new places, and pretty soon Welcome Week will be upon us. Our staff went on a four-day retreat to prepare for the upcoming year and to welcome in our new apprentices for the year. Please pray for extra energy for us and all our students for the first two weeks of school, and that we would be attentive to the people God puts in our path.

Fundraising Season

With school starting up, that means fundraising season is coming to a close. It has been quite the summer! Every year God always shows up and provides, this year I thought that His timing was going to be slower than mine. But he showed up as He has always done, and He has provided me with 100% of my goal this year!

Thank You!

Because of faithful disciples like you, I am able to answer His call here in Dallas to make and mature disciples. Thank you so much for all your support. Every summer I am so encouraged meeting up with many of you. And even those who I am unable to see, your support means even more. Thank you all so much!