A Welcome New Year

    To say that 2020 was a challenging year is putting it more than a little light. Luckily, though there is pain in the night, joy comes with the morning. Obviously, we are not through the pandemic, and obviously, many of the same challenges we were facing are still present. The joy is that the light is beginning to appear at the end of the tunnel for us! With the distribution of the vaccine going so well here in North Texas, promises of reopening are already starting to appear. Our Student officers have already received word that small gatherings are going to be allowed on campus finally! Y'all this is so huge! For almost a whole school year, the students living at UTD have been trapped and have not been given a chance to meet people and make connections here on campus. This has been especially so for the freshmen who came in the fall. With these new rules coming into place, we will be able to go back to doing outreach in the open and in more traditional and authentic ways. We will actually be allowed near the residency halls, we will be allowed to give handouts, and we will be allowed to openly invite people to our ministry! This is such a God deal! He has been so faithful to us through this abnormal time and is continuing to be so. God really is good all the time!

    Other than receiving great news this month, we had our yearly staff retreat. It was a lot smaller than normal because this year people were allowed to back out based on comfort, but we went forward with those of us who were comfortable, and who were able to quarantine for a week or more prior. I can say for certain now that it was a fun and safe experience. Our retreat was split into a few parts. Our mornings were focused on the story of FOCUS the ministry. Everyone from the directors to the apprentices shared about their experience with FOCUS and the people who had an effect on them in their time here. It was a really great opportunity to hear all of the connections that were shared, and the people who have come through who really touched the hearts of the people on our staff now. Through the middle of the day (about lunch to dinner) we were primarily just investing in the relationships across our staff. Since most of my time has been with my UTD bubble, I was able to spend time with people on staff in Denton and Arlington and actually get to catch up on how those ministries are doing. At night, we discussed a book we had read over the winter break called Money and Power by Jacques Ellul. It was a very thought-provoking book that looked at how we as Christians should be thinking about and approaching money. I do recommend the book, but in saying that, I don't think I totally agree with everything Ellul has to say about money. His view seems very black and white, but I do think he leaves the reader with great questions to ask themselves that allow us to take our approach to money seriously. I unfortunately don't have any photos of all the great stuff going on there, but here is a picture of the sky over our place in Burnet, TX. If this doesn't say how great God is, I don't know what else will. There are just so many stars!

    Once we returned to DFW, we hit the ground getting ready for the semester. The first Sunday back, we had a Christian Psychologist named Al Pickering speak to our student leaders about assertiveness. His talk was a great pace setter and seemed to really resonate with our students. If this topic is one that sounds interesting to you, here is a link to it on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/KFZ32pFcNf4. After this, it was straight into outreach. As I mentioned above until very recently, we were having to be very under the radar about doing so. Despite this, we have had some success getting new people into our small groups. Many of them have joined the online ones, but some have been comfortable meeting with the ones that meet on campus. It is just really good news that God is still moving on campus, even in such a dead school year. Then lastly, we got to start back up our Friday Night Deep Dive services. Our series so far this year has been a Deep Dive into Idolatry, focusing on the things that distract us from the Lord, and that subversively take his place in our lives. Things like Entertainment, Time, and Beauty are some of what we have covered so far. Once we get into February, we will be shifting to focus on Kingdom ideals that help us live free from idols and keep our lives with Christ. 

    

    I'm very excited to be getting into 2021! Please be praying for us and our campus. I will leave you all with this month's student testimony, from a girl named Lindsay who has been in our ministry for a few years and is one of our small group leaders at UTD this school year.