My Supporters!! Hello everyone! Im so excited to share whats been happening in my life since the beginning of the school year! This year started quickly and has been filled with new paths of growth and new rhythms of schedule that have made for a fun and exciting experience of being a campus minister.
Im not sure that all of you might consider the things I consider exciting or fun as exciting or fun (lol), but hopefully what I share with you guys through my pictures can give you a glimpse of some of the new things that I have been so filled up by.
From last year to now, by way of committing to 1 more year to serve as a staff member of FOCUS, I have been challenged to own my role as a pastor. For those of you who may not understand or be familiar with what exactly a pastor is, in this context of campus ministry, my duty as a pastor looks like filling the role of mentor, friend, teacher, preacher, companion, and whatever else (within reason and within the scope of the mission/vision is for our ministry) people are seeking; with the ultimate hope of bringing all who are interested/seeking and searching for Jesus, to become a follower of Him.
All that said you will see pictures of some of the things I've been able to do so far this year, the new people I've been able to meet, and the community that I have grown to belong to, love, and be loved by.
AUGUST
Staff Retreat
These next couple of photos are coming from our FOCUS Staff Retreat! Staff retreat happens 2x per school year: once before the school year starts and once after winter break. Staff retreat is a time for resetting and refocusing ourselves on the mission and vision of our call as followers of Jesus.
We drive to a camp site a 1-2 hours away for about 4 days to partake in team building and vision casting activities as well as different recreational activities. The topics we discussed as a staff this semester were "God's Power In Our Weakness," "Denying Ourselves," "Denying Ourselves in Ministry," and what it means/looks like to "Love Deeply From the Heart."
All of these talks are given by our senior most staff members followed by a group discussion where we share, thoughts, insights, experiences, questions, fears, and even confusion. We are encouraged to reflect, be vulnerable and honest about certain things we have been thinking through, wrestling, or struggling with while we were away on our summer breaks, and are met with kindness, grace, guidance, love and truth.
It also looks like us staying up late and playing different board games, basketball and volleyball games, swimming, working out, walking and talking with each other about a topical question, breaking out into team building amongst our campus specific staff teams, and cooking and eating meals together! Staff retreat is definitely a highlight of the year for a lot of us!
Here are some pictures below!
some of us getting ice cream together before driving to the camp site
Me and my friends Andrea and Emily
My friend Rhett (we were all taking pictures cuz that lighting was hittin' right 😁😏)
a picture of me taking a picture of people taking pictures
a volleyball game that went way too long, but was fun the whole time
This is Hannah! A new addition to our UTD FOCUS Staff! #myblacksista
One of the meals for dinner or breakfast...cant remember
some of the guys playing some nerdy board game
two guys pretending like they're on the Titanic
My coworkers :)
Us within one of the talks taking notes
As Im putting this together and going through my photos, I see that I didn't take too many good pictures of the actual camp, but we will have winter camp at this same place in January, so I'll add some better photos then!
Welcome Week
The next set of photos are from our campus's Welcome Week which takes place during the first 2 weeks of school. Welcome Week is a time where the FOCUS staff puts on 1 event (or sometimes more) to serve as an introduction and welcome to the new students on campus, as you probably gathered by the name. This is a time where we as FOCUS are making it known to the students that we are a community of people that they are welcome to join, belong to, ask spiritual questions in, deepen their faith in Jesus, build deep friendships in, and have fun in! You obviously won't be able to gather the fullness of how fun Welcome Week can be from pictures alone, but I hope this gives you an idea of what its like! (Email me individually if you'd like some videos! This website makes it really hard to upload videos/diminishes the video quality)
This is most of our student leader team. We gather the students together the Sunday night before the start of school to vision cast, pray, and get them set up with tips and reminders of the how to's and best practices of reaching out to students.
This is a snapshot of our Board Game Nights in the Freshmen res halls. We do this for 3 nights in a row in alternating Freshmen res halls. I have never played uno and spicy uno so much in my life! I also have learned to play some weird games that I never thought I would like Yahtzee, Codenames, Telestrations and Ping Pong.
This is from our Zombie Tag night. A UTD favorite! This bottom picture however is not of the people who were actually playing Zombie Tag lol. These are the people who didn't wanna run around making bracelets, playing uno, and coloring. But for those of you who don't know what Zombie Tag is, its a game that happens in a classroom building (multiple levels) and the Zombies can only walk while everyone else can run. The ultimate goal is to not get touched by a zombie, but each round of 8 minutes has different rules and surprises with it!
When we all went to Whataburger after Zombie Tag!
Field Night! This is when we bring every sports ball we can find, that big parachute from elementary school, fill up 10 gallons worth of coolers of Gatorade and water, get a bumpin playlist going (made by yours truly of course 😏) and play different sports for a looooong time. You are guaranteed to leave here smelling like outside!
A snapshot of our worship night that happens the Monday before the upperclassmen come to campus. Our worship band is made up of all students which is super cool! We really value a worship atmosphere that is not concerned with impressiveness, celebrity, or consumerism, but is concerned with training up our students to become mature disciples who live out the idea that worship is not about us and how we sound, but about God and giving him glory. Although, we've got some pretty talented people that we are privileged to have on our team! Also, did I tell y'all that I get to serve as a worship leader this year?!
This is our first leader meeting of the year. This is where all of our student leaders gather each Monday to continue to be equipped and trained up in the how to's and best practices of being a student small group leader. This is a place where students can ask questions, get advice, share good news, challenges, fears, insecurities and more.
This is a snapshot of our event: A College Level Look at the Book of Jonah! We as a ministry are all about deepening our biblical scholarship and understanding of scripture.
This is a glimpse of our annual Black People Meet and Greet hosted by me and the other black students of FOCUS. I am so excited about this endeavor! We as a ministry are aiming to have more effective and more intentional multi cultural/ethnic outreach, and this is one of 3 initiatives that we started (the other 2 being Hispanic and Asian as those are the people groups represented on our staff and in our ministry). I decided to call our (the black people's) section's initiative B.L.I.S.S which stands for Black Lives In Soulful Solidarity. The mission and vision of B.L.I.S.S is still developing, but at its core, it is essentially a space where black students on campus can find each other and hang out together, while being comfortable to be fully black. Since black people are such a minority at UTD, this can be hard to come by. It is also a way to reach more black students that are looking for a ministry/looking for a place for spirituality, but are unattracted to something like FOCUS that is predominantly white. This is in its very beginning stages and me and the UTD staff team are still in process of further defining the logistics of it, but the point is to create a space where reaching black students is more accessible.
This is our Latin Xplosion event. 1 of the 3 initiatives I spoke about in the section right above this. The ideas and goals for this gathering are similar to B.L.I.S.S
A day that we had free coffee and snacks in the main area of campus, otherwise known as "The Plinth."
One of my apprentice-mates wedding!
Our first Sunday doing carpool to church bringing new students to church who wanted to come!
This is our Everything's Bigger In Texas event! This is where we have oversized everything along with popsicles and bug spray so people can come and play.
September
CORE
These are the girls in my small group this year, (aka Core)
This is Taylor, Ashlie, and Jasmine
Thats Zaili (on the couch). She's my co leader this year 😊
That's Morolake on the floor.
row by row from left to right: me, Morolake, Inny, Jasmine, Brianna, Haley, and Cherissa!
Some of us at Fall Camp
Haley...this is from our 1:1 Bible study together!
Cherissa again with a photo that she took that was published in the university magazine!
Fall Camp
Me and some of my coworkers at lunch before the students arrived!
Erika and Carolina
people doing rock painting
small group discussion
Worship session
This is Jadon. One of our student testimonies!
Thats Haley...the one who they made the signs for in the picture above! She's a cancer survivor!!
This is Ally! One of our student testimonies!
The Fall Camp group photo!
Have you ever preached a sermon before? Its HARD!! Lots of books and preparation went into it. There are so many things you can say, so its so hard to make just one point!! Though this was challenging, people told me they were deeply encouraged by my message. All praise to God because I was not sure about it!!
Me while preaching on what it means to follow Jesus. The message was: "You Cant Follow Jesus and Stay Where You Are" Contact me for a link to the message if you want to hear! To my knowledge it hasn't been uploaded yet, but if you want to know I can let you know when it is!
October
BLISS Karaoke Night
These are some photos from our B.L.I.S.S Karaoke Night! So many students at UTD love Karaoke so this night was a hit! A lot more people ended up coming than pictured here.
Tennis and Pickle Ball
My Tennis and Pickle Ball adventures! Fun Fact: I played tennis my Freshman year of high school...its so fun to be playing again!
Family Night
Family Night is a night that is for....you guessed it!...Families! A lot of parents send their students off to college and hear their student saying "FOCUS this, FOCUS that," so we have a family night so that new parents can understand what FOCUS is and what our values/mission/vision are as well as hear some parent testimonies that speak to the ways they have seen their student change or grow from being a part of our community. Its always so fun and interesting to get to meet people's parents!
Texas State Fair
GUESS WHO GOT FREE TICKETS FROM A STRANGER OFF THE STREET?! And we are so thankful for that because State Fair tickets are expensive!
If you didnt know, the Texas State Fair has all kinds of things to do and for sale. You can come here and ride rides, watch a rodeo show, buy a car, a mattress, kitchen appliances, the latest gadgets, eat very odd fried foods, go to a petting zoo, arcade, and Im sure there is more that Im missing. Let's just say the Fair is your one stop shop for a good time.
Zaili (my small group co-leader) facing her fears of this Fun-House that she was always terrified of as a kid.
BLISS Roller Skate Night
We had a roller skate night for the students! This was a great time! Definitely my kind of jam.
As you can see A TON went on in these first three months of the school year. I have built on the relationships I started from last year, as well as begun new ones, and I am looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring. If you could be praying that God would give me a clear vision for B.L.I.S.S and for a flood of ideas for engagement and cultivating real community, that would be very appreciated.
Thank you all so much for supporting my ministry. I literally would not be able to do this without you. Please feel free to reach out to me via email or text with any questions you might have!
How can I be praying for you? Let me know!
415-933-3877
Thank you so much!
