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!