November Update!

It is now December. What?! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown from August to now. This past month of November was pretty steady with some fun stuff sprinkled in. Aside from the usual happenings of core, apprentice classes, and our weekly Friday night large group meeting, I have been able to travel a bit and get together with some friends and supporters that I don't get much time with admit my new schedule. Enjoy some pictures below to see what November was all about!

This photo is a snapshot of our weekly Friday night large group meeting. We call this meeting Friday Night Fellowship or "FNF" for short. We have a worship set, a sermon, and various hang outs after the service that we call "after events." I hosted a West African Dance class after event pictured below:   

Some of the "students" who took my class

This past November, I was also able to travel Marin, CA (a city right outside of my hometown San Francisco) to visit a friend and donor to watch her annual fall dance performance with her college dance program (Alonzo King Lines BFA). Unfortunately I didn't think to get any pictures from her show, but I was able to get pictures of the view from where we stayed! As you can see it was stunning! 

 

Pictured above is another good friend and donor, Rachel, who came along with us over the weekend. 

Straight from the flight back to Dallas from San Francisco, we headed to City Bridge Community  Church to FOCUS's deep dive lecture event called "Pizza Theology." Its called "Pizza Theology" because they order a bunch of pizzas for us that we all eat together on the break! The topic for this semester's Pizza Theo was "How to Think Like a Christian." This lecture series talked about what foundational thinking is, limited forms of Christian thought, the main spheres of modern thought, and how to use all of those categories to help us evaluate and reevaluate our thinking, in efforts to move it closer to the vision of truth that God has in mind. This is one of the many components of FOCUS that equips students with tools to be leaders and think.  

                                       

                             Me and some of my core girls at the end of Pizza Theo! 

The three photos above are from an outreach event that we put together! This was our "Everything's Bigger in Texas" event. We had giant bubble soccer, soccer darts human foosball, 9 square in the air, over sized Spike Ball, giant Jenga, giant Codenames, bracelet making, and a good ol country music playlist (which I was not a fan of lol, but it was for the sake of the Texas-ness of it). It was a good time! 

The three photos above are about the joint sermon that me and the 2 other apprentices preached on serving others. Their names are Taylor Bass (on the stage) and Michelle Doty (on the projector screen in the background). We were asked to work together to each deliver 1 point of a collective 3 point sermon. I spoke about 2 Corinthians 10:5 which states "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ." I spoke about how in order to be a Christ-like servant, we have to monitor and be proactive about our thought lives. Actions start off as thoughts, and if our thoughts aren't reflecting the character of Jesus then our actions likely won't!. It is pretty difficult to synthesize, and break down Biblical concepts at all, let alone into a 7 minute talk! Though it was challenging, it was a cool experience to write a sermon(ette). I have so much respect for anyone who preaches regularly! 

                                   

                                    I got to go on another trip later on this November! I am blessed 🙏 

                                                        Can you guess where?

                                                                    New York! 

We had gone there to go and visit an old coworker, Zion, from Dallas Black Dance Theatre who is with a new company in NY called Complexions! Unfortunately we didn't get to see him dance because the show got cancelled due to a COVID outbreak within the company. 😔😔😔😔😔.........So we got a refund and went to a broadway show instead!!!!!!! (pictured below)

Caroline or Change was INCREDIBLE!!!! THE SINGING?!?!?! IT WAS OUTSTANDING!!!         Would certainly recommend it if you ever find yourself in NY some time soon! 

Lastly, here is a picture of our Peer Team get together. Peer Team is the small group that the core facilitators (or corefas) go to. For your memory's sake, I am a corefa (aka small group leader).  If thats still confusing, you could think of it this way: everyone in this picture here is responsible for their own core (small group) just like I am. Peer Team is our team of peers who all lead small groups. Peer Team is the group that we meet in 2x/month for support, leadership skills and other tools on how to lead a small group. These are students who are apart of FOCUS that range from sophomore to senior/grad school, as well as staff members of FOCUS. This was a fun time to fellowship and share good news and share 1 takeaway of what we feel God has taught us. 

God is teaching me so many things through this apprenticeship as a whole, but 2 things in particular that I have been learning though leading a small group are that I have to be led by Jesus first if I am going to try to lead anyone else to him, and that my ideal timing for things is rarely ever God's timing.

This has been an eventful month, and I am so glad to be able to share it with you. Thank each of you so much for believing in me and the kingdom mission. I couldn't do any of this without your generous support! 

  

PSA: I will be preaching my first full length sermon this Friday December 17th at 10am. It will either be recorded or live streamed, and I will send an email blast with the details later this week! 

October Update!

Its November now. Isn’t that crazy? It’s sometimes surreal to think that I am a campus pastor 🙊. In one part of my mind I feel as if I am “just trying something new." In another part of my mind I feel like “I am just here to learn.” And then in the other part of my mind I'm saying, “Woah wait. I am a campus pastor. When these students see me they see me as a campus pastor!” Although I have the title of “apprentice” in front of this “campus pastor” title, I find myself asking, “Well what does that even mean to the young lady that asked me to be her mentor?" She is not concerned with whether I’m an apprentice or not, but she is concerned with being guided onto a path that is life giving and helpful. In this past month of October, it has been satisfying to marvel at how much God can do with so little. Despite my limited understanding and experience I am still able to minister to these students in ways that seem to be helpful. It’s pretty cool to witness and be a part of. 

This past month of October I have been able to deepen my relationships with the girls in my small group (also known as core), my fellow apprentices, some staff members, as well as my understanding of different theological concepts. I can certainly feel the chasm between my knowledge and experience versus what all there is to grasp about God, creation, and people, but it’s been exciting and neat to have the opportunity to attempt understanding. Its been really special to see how the girls in my core seek each other out outside of our weekly Wednesday meeting. They are going to church together, eating together, studying together, picking each other up for things, and they even have inside jokes! We have emphasized over and over that core is a place for community to take place, so it is rewarding to see them actually showing up for each other and becoming real friends. 

One of the more thought provoking things I have been thinking through is learning how to read the Bible critically. This has been such an engaging way to interact with scripture and leaves so much more room for the mysteries of God to be as real as they are. It’s easy for us humans, in our finite thinking, to try to boil God down to some simple formula, while completely missing the opportunity for God to show up in the might and power that is Him. Asking and thinking through the harder or more uncomfortable questions of scripture have provided me with much opportunity to seek, waiting with anticipation to find. It’s a much more dynamic way of being in relationship with God. It feels much better this way than just trying to figure out all the right answers to everything, like I desperately want to do sometimes. This approach of thinking through things and allowing God to be complex leaves me in my proper place of being fully human and Him in his rightful place of being fully God. While It can certainly be a more difficult reality to swallow, I am convinced that it’s THE reality…in spite of the many questions that I continue to have! 

Whether I’m doing a midterm paper attempting to explain what the Old Testament is about, whether I’m doing a one on one Bible study trying to explain what sin is, or whether I’m trying to plan a talk on how promise keeping is the ultimate action of being like Christ, every angle is moving me into a greater awe and wonder of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

This is one of the most exciting chapters of my life thus far, and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank you, my crazy-stupid-generous donors for believing in the kingdom and believing in me. Y’all are truly so awesome and I am confident that God smiles on you for your kindness. Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me to invest in this apprenticeship! 

Enjoy some pictures from October below!

 

This is Cathryn, my co-facilitator of our weekly core (and my favorite dog Neo) 

These are some of my fellow apprentices and staff members at our monthly all staff meeting. 

One of the highlights of this past month was taking my core girls to the State Fair of Texas! We laughed A LOT! And that ride was so scary!!

My Wednesday night Core co lead with Cathryn at her on campus apartment

Random, but special:

I had been praying about and thinking through how to reach the black students on campus. As I was leaving a one on one bible study with a student, I drove past this group of ladies. As I was getting out of the car to introduce myself and let them know about FOCUS, they had already known who I was from the Black People Meet and Greet that we hosted back in August! One of them exclaimed, "Oh yea! we remember you from the Black People Meet and Greet! Lailah right?" I responded with an excited yes and as we chatted, they informed me that they got together every Thursday night to do bible study together in their dorm! I was so amazed! In all of my short 27 years of life never have I heard of a group of college freshmen initiate their own Bible study. I thought that this moment was such a testament to God's activity on these campuses outside of FOCUS. 

September Update

September is over. Classes on campus have begun. My apprentice classes have taken off. The small group that I co-lead (otherwise known as core) is 6 meetings in and 8-10 girls strong. My one on one bible studies are popping up. The transitional dust is finally settling, and I am getting a deeper hold on some of the core values of what life with Jesus is, and will be about: community where the broken can belong, study that will transform your heart, and outreach that extends that same community and study to all nations. 

Knowing and understanding my history as a black woman in American, I didn’t trust white people. I had strong reservations about Christianity for a long span of years, but my attitudes and thoughts about Christian community and Jesus have drastically shifted in my journey as a disciple. A large part of that has to do with what I have been blessed to be a part of here in FOCUS's apprenticeship. 

This community is a place where people are quick to see you, listen to you, encourage you, love you, and forgive you.  A place where differences are not side skirted or ignored, but celebrated and discussed. A place where everyone is empowered to be a leader, and a place where friendship is extended to all who desire it. No matter how much you do or don’t know, and no matter how much you have or haven't experienced, I have witnessed FOCUS be a place that all can come and belong. Even me, this black girl, who had lots of doubt and opinions about white people that claim to love Jesus. The same way they welcomed and loved me, is the same way they welcome and love all. And to me, that is something worth being a part of. 

Because of my background of not always being a disciple and not always believing in Jesus, I am consistently stunned at the amount of people at the college age who are hungrily and actively seeking what I used to reject. People really do want deeper connectivity to God and community. The loner in me sometimes finds it hard to see that, yes, people actually do want friends. Seeing FOCUS offer friendship in such an impassioned way encourages me to keep growing into a Christ loving and Christ filled leader. After only a month of leading our cores, several people have attested to the fact that they would have been lonely were it not for FOCUS. In a world where depression and anxiety are at an all time high, especially post covid lockdown, I am confident that the pursuit of, and investment in friendship is work that will last far beyond this college campus. It is the same selfless friendship that Jesus offers to us. It is so special to be a part of such important moments in these student's lives. 

On another note, my favorite part of this apprenticeship so far are my apprentice classes. In our study of the Old Testament we have been learning about and discussing things like how to approach reading the ancient and completely foreign text we know as the Bible , to different literary styles within scripture and the cultural implications of their meanings, to discussing different on-going theoretical debates about the Bible, to being able to ask and think through some pretty zany and difficult questions that we've always wanted to know. I love how much we are encouraged to research, think, and discern for ourselves what the will of God is. With guidance from our teachers and experienced ministry leaders, we are figuring out how to understand and practically apply scripture to our daily lives and ministry as we go. There is so much more freedom and room in Christ than I understood! I am thrilled at how much I don't know and how much I will learn! 

From the weekly cores that I plan, to the weekly meetings we have as an organization, to my apprentice  classes; everything I am doing is cultivating an intrinsic belief in, love of, and dependence on Jesus, far greater than I would have ever imagined. I am confident that when or if I leave FOCUS to go on to a different mission field, my pursuit  for Jesus and community will never leave me. 

I cannot thank you, my ministry partners, enough for your invaluable contribution to the things I am privileged be doing for God’s kingdom. I wouldn’t be able to grow and learn in these ways that are so valuable to me if it weren’t for your outrageous generosity. You all are DA BOMB!

Below are pictures of my core, my fellow apprentices in one of our classes, and our annual Fall Camp. Enjoy!  

My First Month As A Campus Pastor

Wow! What a whirlwind! Wrapping up my 6th year with Dallas Black Dance Theatre to begin this 10 month trek as a campus pastor has been bittersweet, exciting, surreal, fast-paced, and refreshing. 

For my last week of work with Dallas Black Dance Theatre, I had the privilege and honor to share the stage with my coworkers for the last time in a 10 show residency at the oldest running dance festival in the world, Jacob’s Pillow. 

Fun fact: remember that dear friend and coworker that I mention in my support letter? Her name is Renee Walters. She worked with me at Dallas Black and I am SO excited to say that she will be my coworker and roommate for my time as an apprentice! I feel so lucky to have my best buddy by my side from one world to another. 

Immediately following this festival we (Renee and I) flew into San Antonio to begin the apprenticeship with FOCUS’s annual conference, SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry). Coming an entire week later than our fellow apprentices, you could imagine my excitement and anticipation when we finally pulled up at SICM to 50 staff members and 150 new and returning students of FOCUS! 

We come into a dining hall full of 200 student leaders and staff, listening intently to talks on Jesus Styled Discipleship, the what and why of evangelism, cultivating a deep inner life, how to lead a small group, and more. 

Along with these insightful lectures, we were able to participate in activities like a Sherpa Trek, hikes, zip lines, and various water activities in the lake (not to mention me face planting on the blob) It was a blast!  

Now, let's fast-forward to my first experiences on UTD's campus: Welcome Week 2021. Welcome week for FOCUS at UTD (University of Texas at Dallas) was a 2 week long stride of various events. Every day we held different activities like board games in the res halls, campus tours, zombie tag, field night, back to school bash, latin explosion, and my personal favorite, the black people meet and greet. Hosting these events facilitated congenial, genuine human interaction, community, and all around fun. For the post-covid-college-campus-returnee, we provided a space where any and all persons could come, be seen, be served, and be loved. Here are some photos of the new friends I've made! 

  

If it weren’t for all of you guys support, I wouldn’t be able to be a part of this sweet community or be able to spend time with these lovely humans on UTD's campus. Because of your donations and prayers I have been able to start a new journey fully taken care of. Your selfless generosity, has given me the time to pour into  the many lives that have now become a part of mine. I couldn't be here without you. 

I can't wait to share more of my experiences with you in the months to come.