We’re a solid month into the school year now, and things have been going great! God is moving in such sweet ways and we’re just trying to keep up. Cores have started up and are gaining traction. TNF has continued to be sweet if not a little overwhelming. Which leads me to one of the bigger updates which is that we are now starting to have 2 services occasionally!

TWU Chapel Night

Split Service

As a pastoral team we’ve been talking for years about having TWU have a separate fellowship service of its own, and with our struggles to find a room big enough it was finally time. Space wasn’t the only factor though. Even when we were in a room that fit us all, having everyone together doesn’t feel the same as it once did. This is seen in a lot of churches and large organizations actually. When you reach around 300 people the feeling and atmosphere of a gathering changes. You can no longer know everyone there, it’s harder to find people, and it’s much easier to default to being an audience member more than an active participant. A lot of these things work against our goals of creating a warm and vibrant community on campus where people can feel known. So, our goal with splitting TWU off during certain weeks is create a space on each campus where we can go back to our roots and have a lot more of that warm dynamic that we all know and love. We’re still early in the experimentation with this, and who knows, we might scrap it and go back to being all together every week. So far though, students have really enjoyed it, and it seems to be working towards our goals! I’d love for you to be praying about this decision and how to best be faithful with what God has given us!

A group of students and pastors went on a trip over the weekend to South Padre for a triathlon.

Introductions

As much as I love the big group stuff, my real bread and butter is the smaller ministry settings like Core and one on one meetings. I love this time of year because I get to start building up these new relationships with the people in my sphere this year. I wanted to take some time to introduce them to you so you can be praying for them as well!

Okay I’m realizing I’m so bad about taking photos of our NCTC Core. More photos to come in future months! But for now, here’s a bad one of us playing some games

NCTC Core

This is one of the big things on my plate this year. Leading Core at NCTC and specifically trying to raise up some leaders at this community college. We’ve got a consistent group of people at Core who are all so sweet.

Jonah, Andres, Aliah, Sofia, Daniel, David, Carmen, Mary, and Matthew. I specifically get time with the guys from that group, and I’m really praying that Jonah or David might become a leader for us one day!

Ben baptizing Julian earlier in the year!

Peer team

These are the Core leaders that I get to coach and support this year. These are the students I often get the most time with and have the greatest influence on. They are all such amazing guys that I’m blessed to be able to pour into.

DJ- One of the most well known guys on campus, and universally loved. He helps lead a music major Bible study with around 40 students involved!

Asher- He helps lead Core over at the Flower Mound campus of NCTC and is such a goof ball but so very sweet and relational.

Vincent- One of the most talented artists I know, and has a very keen mind for strategy, he surprises me often with the level he’s thinking on different things, it’s like talking to a seasoned pastor.

CJ- One of our music major guys, he’s such a good friend to so many people but more than that just loves God so much and shows so much initiative.

Ben- One of the sweetest and funniest guys I know. He’s consistent and faithful, and it one of the leaders I’m keeping my eye on to see where God leads him after college.

Julian- He has one of the best attitudes of anyone I’ve met. He’s always got a positive spin on things even when they are rough and keeps gratitude and thankfulness to God at the front of his mind.

Grant- He’s a counselor in heart through and through. He’s so curious about people and asks great questions, he’s thoughtful and considerate, and uses his talents to really point people to Jesus.

Mikey- Another guy with a great attitude. He’s servant hearted and full of love for those around him. He really embodies Jesus’ nature of lowering oneself to raise others up.

Some of our pastors who participated in a triathlon together!

Pastors

My role in a lot of ways includes looking out for our pastoral team as a whole, but this year I get to specifically supervise two of my fellow pastors.

Reagann- She’s one of our most seasoned pastors and helps oversee the TWU ministry.

Hayden- An apprentice this year, but he’s already had such a huge impact on our ministry throughout his time as a student that just continues to grow.

While throughout my weeks I get time with a lot of different people in the ministry, these are the people that I have consistent time with week to week. I’d love if you’d join with me in praying for them. That they’d grow in their love of God and their love of others. That you’d bless their ministry and that God would help me to be of service to them.

30 Year Celebration

FOCUS is turning 30 this year and so we’re going to have a celebration of what God has been doing all these years. I’d love to invite you to join us for it! We have an entire weekend of celebration planned, and we want you to be a part of it. Whether you were a student in our ministry, you're a longtime supporter, or you just recently found out about us, we’d love for you to be there because you’re part of what God has been doing!

With the 30 year celebration we are selling some limited edition merch. Every item sold goes a little bit towards supporting our mission on campus.

You can RSVP or order 30 Year Merch here: https://anyfocus.org/30year/

It’s going to be such a blast, so I really hope you pray and think about coming out! And thank you again for helping me be on campus pouring into these people. I’m so thankful for what I get to do and for you in helping me do it!

First TNF of the year!

We are officially underway with the school year! After a summer of prep and planning it’s exciting to finally be into the year. And if I’m being honest not a small amount of exhausting as well.

Baptism service before the year started

We’ve got the largest student leader team we’ve ever had, with 64 student leaders, even the logistics of keeping that many students all on the same page and on mission has been a hurdle. We used to do our leader meetings and prep days in our pastor's houses, but we can’t do that anymore. You’ll see that finding space to do things has been the challenge of the month. That being said, these leaders are just fantastic. They all spent 2 weeks on campus every single day for most of the day doing outreach and connecting with new students. It’s a huge ask, since it’s basically like a 2-week long mission trip but you’re also starting school at the same time. They met that challenge with eagerness though. They were consistent and had great attitudes and loved on these new students so well. At one of our events during welcome week, I overheard a new student say, “man, the vibe here is just so nice, everyone is so welcoming.”

Our leader prep day

I consistently saw these students spur one another on and encourage one another through the 105 degree days of being outside. It’s a lot of work for them and us. Our staff were running about 3 events each day on campus to meet people and invite the new students to. Once TWU started up school as well, we had more like 5 or 6 events a day our team was coordinating. It was a ton! But through God’s grace it all went so smoothly! And I know it was worth it. I was talking to a freshman about how his transition to college was going, and he told me “Finding FOCUS has been the best part of my week. I’m not a social person, so it’s all new to me, but these events have been my favorite thing I’ve done.”

One of our split events, paint and sip. This was happening at the same time as a water ballon fight across the way.

Our Cores (small groups) have started up as well, and I’ve heard so many stories of students just absolutely loving it. A story I heard today is that after Core wrapped up one of the new students pulled the leader aside and hugged him and said, “thank you so much for inviting me to this, I never expected to have something like this in college.”

Multicultural worship night

We’ve also had two TNFs now (Thursday Night Fellowship). I’ve been around for years and have seen God multiply His impact on campus, but saying I was blown away is a bit of an understatement. God showed up and so did the students. We had around 350 students show up each TNF so far. The energy in those rooms was pretty indescribable. So much excitement and joy and so many new faces. Our pastors were looking at each other in shock. Which maybe shows a lack of faith, because who are we to be surprised by what God can do! One of my favorite stories from the last TNF was a student who told me he’d recently become a Christian and was worried about showing up and being judged for being new, but said he felt none of that, and only felt loved. Then he said, “I think I found my people.” He was in tears during worship just because He was blown away by God’s goodness. As much as the numbers stuff is always cool and pretty mind boggling, it’s stories like his that really get me.

Second TNF

Thank you so much for investing in this mission to reach these college students. We couldn’t do it without you!

Some prayer requests:

Finding room- We’ve had a meeting place on campus these last two weeks, but that’s because the university has basically bent over backwards to accommodate us. We’re still trying to figure out a place that we can count on to meet weekly on campus, so prayers for us to find a space would be great!

Fighting comparison- Some of the student leaders that I meet with had a bit smaller turnouts for their small groups and are feeling discouraged because a lot of their peers have these huge Cores and comparing to them. Comparison is the thief of joy, so be praying for them to find joy in who God has given them to care for this year.

Faithful stewardship- It seems we’ve got a lot to steward this year, and so I’d love prayers for us to be able to do that well and be able to point these students back to Jesus over and over!

Just a little pic of me and the boy, it’s been a while since I put him in here!

If I’m being honest, this month is a lot like last month. We’ve still doing a lot of planning, support raising, selecting leaders and having conversations with them, and getting everything squared away for the year. So instead of regaling you with the tales of me trying to fix our drum set to get it ready for the year or the 15th conversation I’ve had with a potential leader, I figured I’d share with you what I’ve been thinking about with God instead.

Our summer staff retreat is next week. We’ll bring together all 60+ pastors from all of our campuses to recenter on God and strengthen our relationships with one another before diving into the school year. This retreat I’m giving a message to our staff based on 2 Timothy 2. It’s an interesting and challenging passage that has had me reflecting for some time, and I wanted to share that with you.

The passage is as follows:

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say you should spend some time doing what Paul says here for yourself. Reflect on this for your life and circumstances, and the Lord will give you insight.

Students at TNF!

He’s certainly been challenging me from this passage. Paul uses three analogies here, the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer. All invoke a sense of hard work and a level of complete devotion to the craft. You cannot do any of those things without orienting your life around them. You cannot be a part-time soldier, athlete or farmer. At least not if you want to get a harvest, a crown, or please your commanding officer. It evokes a whole lifestyle of devotion to the craft, and a lifestyle of being willing to be immensely uncomfortable as well. They all require someone to live a life that would be deeply uncomfortable for me to live. Soldiers back then would spend weeks marching through terrible circumstances to even get to the battlefront. If an athlete wants to actually win, they have to devote themselves to constantly push their limits and push their body to the edge. A hardworking farmer toils all day under the sun to maybe one day see a crop.

Another planning day with our pastors!

So, what I’ve been reflecting on is this call to join in suffering, to embrace discomfort and hardship. We know we are to model our lives after Jesus, yet would he drive a Nissan, or a Lexus? Or perhaps no car at all, would he be a public transit kind of guy? In the ambiguity of how to live like Jesus in our modern day, it’s easy to default to the easy path. In Paul’s language, to get entangled in civilian affairs, to not compete according to the rules, to not work hard. Step by step, we build our lives around things that make it more comfortable. How we spend our money, our time, who we surround ourselves with. I see it in myself. There’s a temptation to pursue the American dream instead of the radically different Kingdom. Don’t get me wrong, comfort is not bad. But it is a bad master. And we cannot serve two masters. So, the question I have been asking myself throughout my days is this: is comfort driving this decision, or Jesus?

Our incoming apprentices!

When I look at the life of Jesus, I see a life that would often make me even more uncomfortable than the three professions Paul references. Yet when I think about it, why would I ever want to live a life that Jesus wouldn’t? Why would I want to do it a way He wouldn’t? Shouldn’t I be grateful to suffer alongside my savior who willingly suffered for me? So, if comfort comes, great! But if suffering comes, great! Jesus is Lord, not my comfort.

What that means for my day to day I have to figure out day to day. But it’s been a helpful to keep in mind as I go about my life, and I hope it’s helpful for you too.

Be praying for us as we head into the school year! The students are back in two weeks and we’re going to hit the ground running; it’s such an important time so please be praying every time you think of us!

Summer is always an interesting time to be a campus pastor. Students are on break, and in a town like Denton that means a lot go back to their home cities over the summer. It’s always a bit of a bummer not being able to see some of these students as much, but in some ways, it can be helpful because we have so much planning and prepping for to do. I wanted to bring you guys into some of that so you can be praying over all the work we’re doing to till the soil in order to be ready to plant new seeds in the fall when school starts back up.

Summer TNF!

Support Raising

This is a big one for us over the summer! God continues to be so faithful and generous to us, and it’s been a great season of support raising so far! We’ve got about 400/month left to go to reach our goals, and we’re confident the Lord will get us there! Darby and I have been trying to meet up with different ones of you to catch up and connect, and we’ve absolutely loved it! It’s always great hearing how God is working in your lives and it’s a joy to share about how God has been working in our ministry as well. If we haven’t had a chance to connect yet I’d really love to find time to do that before the summer is out!

One of our planning sessions with our pastors!

Selecting leaders

This is always a huge project for us in the summer. Our student leaders really are an extension of our pastoral team, and so selecting the right people to do that role is huge for us. This year we’ve actually had a unique problem, which is that we have too many people that are ready and eager to do that role! Last year we had 20 male student leaders, and this year we have 40 prospective leaders! On the women’s side it’s similar, they had about 30 last year and have around 40 this year as well. I’ve really loved meeting up with these different students, getting to know them more, and having the opportunity to talk to them about what it would look like to take another step in their journey to start discipling others as a leader in the ministry.

This is Hayden, one of our incoming apprentices that I’ll be supervising this next year. Apparently, he’s already decided to copy me in aesthetics.

New Outreach initiatives

I believe I’ve mentioned before that we’ve been working on this idea about reaching these pockets of campus that are normally hard to break into. We already saw some progress on this during the Spring, but this next year we want to make a much bigger push into these new areas. This summer we’re trying to take that from an idea to an actual plan of action, plus figure out who is going to go implement that plan and how to support them well. It’s exciting stuff, but it’s also uncharted waters. It already feels complex to think through because of it being new, plus there is the added layer of how we might need to create new roles in order to reach that goal and how that might affect our existing structure. Adding this new initiative on top of having more leaders this year puts a strain on our pastoral teams already full plates. We’re thinking through what balance looks like in that and how to make sure we are faithful with what we have already. All of that needs a lot of prayer, so please join us in praying for that and if you’ve got any input, I’d love to hear it!

Our pastoral team for the upcoming year! There’s so many of us yet somehow still more than enough work to go around!

I’m excited for this next year to get underway; it really is shaping up to be a great one! Thank you so much for being part of all of it and supporting our mission here on these Denton campuses!

This has been a month full of outreach and missional initiatives for us! It’s been exciting and fast-paced, and I’m excited to update you on some of the things we’ve had going on.

Stop the Rot

The first big initiative we took on this month was called Stop the Rot, a campaign designed to help students both in and outside of our ministry cut down on screen time, “brain rot,” and endless scrolling. We did outreach inviting people to join us in small challenges centered around getting off our screens and going out to enjoy the life God has given us and His creation.

It was so fun getting to invite people into this, and many of the students we met were really excited about it! It all culminated in a “Touch Grass” event, where our students hung out, played games, talked, and shared about their experiences cutting down on screen time.

Overall, it was a really fun initiative that seemed to get our students thinking more intentionally about how they spend their time throughout the day, especially since we had heard beforehand that some students were logging more than 12 hours of screen time daily!

Spring Outreach

This past week, we had a group of awesome students come down from Washington to spend their spring break doing outreach with us. We had eight of them join us this year, and they gave up their spring break to be on our campus doing evangelism.

We hosted them in various ministry houses and provided meals and transportation throughout the week as they spent most of their time on campus engaging in different forms of outreach. Some of my favorite activities were shoe cleaning (a modern-day expression of foot washing) and spiritual conversations (asking people if they had any spiritual questions they’d like to talk about).

We saw a good number of new students show up at TNF as a result, and I’m really excited to see what God does through all of this!

Fraternity and Sports Outreach

Over the past few months, God has given us several opportunities to reach areas of campus that are typically hard to access, especially students involved in Greek life and athletics. These communities are often tight-knit and busy, which can make it difficult to start building relationships.

But God has opened some really exciting doors. One example is a fraternity that reached out to us and asked if we would lead a Bible study for their members. Another is that we now have four different connections with the UNT football team through various relationships.

Both of these opportunities are still developing. The Bible study with the fraternity has already started, and we’re continuing to explore what it could look like to serve the football team. I would really appreciate your prayers for both as we step into these new waters!

Little family photo from our Spring Break vacation!

All in all, it’s been a busy month, but God is clearly moving. It’s been incredibly encouraging to see our students building momentum in living on mission and becoming more outwardly focused. Thank you for making all of this possible!

I want to take most of this blog to share about a new initiative we’re trying with our students that I’d love for you to be praying for.

This spring, we’ve decided to heat up the value of being on mission and relying on the Spirit to empower us to do that. We’re preaching through Acts right now, which is a perfect fit for these ideas, but we’re also trying a couple of new things to help cast this vision of living on mission and being bold in that endeavor. One of which was an invite a friend night where we met in the biggest room that UNT has for our weekly service and had a great turnout!

Our invite a friend night!

While I see so many students excited about Jesus and eager to know Him more, I also see many of them wrestling with fear when it comes to sharing about Him. That fear is especially compounded by concerns about making situations awkward or making someone feel uncomfortable by bringing up faith. Many of our students have friends in their classes and people around them who don’t really know Jesus, but they feel hesitant to bring Him up.

To help address this, our pastors have been emphasizing the idea of having 20/60 vision. It’s not a play on needing glasses, though we like to joke about that. Rather, it’s the idea that with 20 seconds of courage, we could change the next 60 years of someone’s life (and really their whole eternity, but that’s not as catchy).

From our Black History Month service

We’ve talked about how we don’t need to suddenly become super bold, charismatic, or confident people. Instead, each one of us, with just 20 seconds of courage a day, can make a huge difference. Each week, we’ve had students share about how they stepped out in courage and the impact it made. It’s been so encouraging to see so many of them get excited about this and begin living it out.

As part of our large group time each week, we have any new people stand up alongside the person who invited them so they can introduce them. Every week, we have 10+ new students standing up that we get to cheer for! I’ve loved hearing their stories and seeing how God is working through simple steps of obedience.

This is the group we’re sending to SICM this year, so many potential leaders!

I’m so excited to see what God does with this idea and the momentum we’re building around being outward-focused and loving toward those around us. I’d love for you to join me in praying that our students would be bold, that they would step out with 20 seconds of courage, and that God would use that to change the next 60 years of someone’s life.

We’ve been off to a great start this semester already! We’re three weeks into school, though it feels more like two because of the winter storm that shut our campuses down for most of the week. Before all that, though, we had an amazing Winter Retreat that I want to tell y’all about!

Our UNT, TWU and NCTC crew at retreat!

Winter Retreat is one of my favorite events of the whole year. It’s three whole days with a bunch of students who are fired up about Jesus getting together to worship, learn about Him, and have lots of fun. This year was our biggest retreat yet, with over 800 people attending, which is pretty mind-blowing to me and the rest of our pastors. We’re literally using almost every single bed at the camp where we host it. We might have to start brainstorming some new options for next year!

Retreats are always special as a leader because, if you’ve ever been to something like this, you know how people get into a different mindset. Walls come down, things come out, and conversations that you’ve been hoping would happen all year finally happen. Breakthroughs abound, and the cohesion that happens in a ministry afterward is just amazing. I feel like I was able to experience all of those things this year in so many ways.

I’ve had a student I’ve been meeting with all year who, whenever we meet and I ask about what he’s going through or if he ever needs help, always replies with something like, “Yeah, all this stuff went down,” or “This big decision came up, but it’s okay I’ve got it under control. I’ve got a plan, so don’t worry about it.” Over and over, his friends and I have been trying to get him to ask for help instead of dealing with everything on his own. Finally, at this retreat, the walls came down. He got burned out from taking care of everyone around him without taking a moment to get help himself. That led to a great conversation around 1 a.m.—because, of course, it had to happen at 1 a.m. The weeks following have been so much more encouraging, especially in his willingness to bring things up before he’s got it all figured out.

I was able to have several other conversations like that over the weekend. I saw a Core group be so thoughtful and caring when one member found out someone in their family was in the hospital. A bunch of 20-year-old guys who wanted nothing more than to go play games with their friends dropped everything for hours just to sit and be with one of their friends.

I saw people look out for those sitting on their own. I saw people who had never engaged much in worship jump up and down until their legs were about to give out.

It was an amazing time, not least of which was because of how incredible the sessions were. Marty Solomon from the BEMA podcast was our speaker for the weekend, and if you haven’t checked it out, you’ve got to, it’s amazing. His content this weekend was just as incredible. We covered the whole book of Genesis, and the way he brought it to life was so encouraging. I’ve heard so many stories from students about the impact it’s had on them. I was particularly encouraged when Marty said that we have something very special here and that he’d want to come back and be with us again.

It’s times like this that I’m just floored that I get to be part of something so special.

I wanted to thank you again for supporting the ministry I get to do with these students! Darby and I are going to try to raise around another $500 a month for this next year, so it would mean the world to us if, as you’re considering what you want your giving to look like in the new year, you’d pray about being part of that.

This is one of the students I get to meet with!

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Merry Christmas! Having a kid has made this season even sweeter. Not only because of seeing the joy in his eyes around anything Christmas related. But also because it’s made me realize how absolutely crazy it is that our God came here as a little child! I hope this season has been full of joy for you!

Our Denton FOCUS Pastors

December tends to be one of the slowest months for campus ministry because the students are into finals the week after Thanksgiving and then a lot go back home once they are done.

One of the Christmas Cores

But before the semester wrapped up I got to help with multiple Christmas Cores for our students. Having our students host these big get togethers is multi-purpose. It gets them time to connect before a big break, but it also gets our student leaders practice in intiating and organizing getting so many friends together. So many of their generation don’t have the initiative or boldness to organize something like that, and so we help them learn to do that with the hope that after college it prepares them to be people who initiate and invite people into their lives where their friends can encounter people living for Jesus up close.

My 10 year Core reunion for the first small group I ever lead!

Another thing that happened before the break that I’d love prayer for is that one of the student leaders that I meet with had his mom unexpectedly pass away. Obviously it’s a big shock to him and he’d already been having a rough semester. So prayers for him and his family would be greatly appreciated. The bright spot in that is how much our community has shown up to support him, even raising over $5000 in a day for the funeral expenses, mainly coming from fellow students just donating the few bucks they had. I know that’s gone a long way already to helping him know that Jesus is with Him in this time.

Our pastoral apprentices gave their first sermons. This is Casey, one of the Denton apprentices that I supervise.

It’s a bit of a shorter update this month, but I’d been counting on that because I wanted to share an article I wrote and have been reading with our students. It’s about things to be aware of while consuming Christian content. Over the holiday season I know a lot of us have some more time on our hands and sometimes that means we spend more time than normal watching or reading things. So I hope that this article is helpful to you as well! I’ll also be teaching a class for our students at Winter Retreat over this general premise so if you have some thoughts you think would be a good edition let me know!

I hope you liked my little article and that it spurs good conversation for you!

I’ve been working with FOCUS for seven years now, and if you count my time as a student, I’ve been around FOCUS for eleven. When you’ve been part of a community that long, you get used to certain things about how the organization operates and the culture it fosters. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on some of the things I’ve taken for granted—one of which is the idea of unity, not uniformity. That’s a core value in FOCUS because we see it as a core value in Scripture.

Some of our students at Pizza Theology!

One of my biggest takeaways from the New Testament Foundations class we take is just how big of a deal Jesus, Paul, and the apostles make about unity, oneness, and fellowship among believers. Once you start looking for it, you see that it’s everywhere in our Bibles. A key part of biblical unity, at least in my understanding, is that unity doesn’t come from us all being exactly the same. Instead, unity comes from many very different people gathering together and being united under Christ. He holds us together. He unifies us and makes us one.

While our broader culture today says plenty of nice things about unity and even claims to value it, if we’re honest, we’re pretty terrible at actually being unified. Division is rampant, and sadly, that’s often true in the Church as well.

Rikk Watts talking at Pizza Theo, it was amazing, if you want the audio let me know!

But even with all of that, I often forget how bad the division can be, because that’s not my experience in the church, thankfully. I look around the room at one of our Thursday Night services and see a crowd made up of people of all different races and backgrounds. It’s hard to even determine if there is a “majority” in our ministry because it’s so diverse. And I don’t just mean in terms of skin tone, I mean in terms of background, especially religious background. There are Pentecostals and Baptists laughing and joking together. There are students from all sorts of backgrounds— Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, you name it. All together, loving one another, learning about Jesus together, and walking through life together. When I step back, it’s pretty amazing, but I often forget how special it is.

We had a beautiful night of worship right in the middle of campus!

One of the reasons this has been on my mind recently is because we participated in another United Worship Night with nine other campus ministries this month. Not a single one was from the same denomination. And yet we all worked together to host a worship night in the middle of campus, creating a space where students could see the Church coming together to love Jesus and serve Him side by side. When’s the last time you heard of nine different churches doing something like that?

A worship jam we hosted at our place!

The college campus is such a unique space, and it gives me so much hope for the future. I hope that if this is the norm for our students while they’re here, they will grow up to be people who build bridges, peacemakers who actively pursue unity in the Church instead of division. I hope they carry that heart not only into their churches but also into their workplaces and everywhere they go. That’s been my prayer recently, and I hope you’ll join me in praying for that!

We’ve kicked off our KFG fundraiser for this year, which is a really big deal for us. It really is the thing that lets FOCUS continue to grow and be at campuses that nobody else is at. So, if you’re looking for a place to do some end of year giving, I really encourage you to pray about making a donation!

It’s been an eventful month for our ministry—literally.

Just a few weeks ago, we had our fall retreat, where 270 of our students spent the weekend learning to trust God, building friendships, and being absolute goofballs. I was able to have some incredibly deep conversations with our students (which always seem to happen right when I’m about to go to bed). I also saw so many students diving deep with each other and with God.

Such a sweet group of students!

Getting soaked playing our camp cup games

The week after that, a group of our students hosted a Hispanic Worship Night to give us a glimpse into how their heritage has shaped their walk with God. It was such a sweet evening—full of fun, celebration, and powerful testimonies. Next week, we’re having a united worship night with eight other ministries on campus, and I’m excited to see how God moves!

Hispanic worship night!

In the midst of all these events, I’ve been reflecting on what often feel like mountaintop experiences. We sometimes call them camp highs—those seasons when you feel like you’re up on the mountain with God, like Moses at Sinai or the disciples during the transfiguration. Most of us know how fleeting those moments can be though.

What I see again and again in our students is this desire to camp out in those mountaintop moments. They’re like Peter, wanting to set up tents to stay in the ecstasy of the transfiguration’s glory. But Jesus leads the disciples back down the mountain. Moses eventually comes down, too.

The volume in that room was insane

These mountaintop experiences are sweet and meaningful, and God really does work through them so seeking them out isn’t a bad thing! But it can become harmful when we start to think that if we’re not constantly living in those moments, we’re doing something wrong.

All the different teams for the games!

God is just as present in the plains and valleys as He is on the mountain. Sure, some people seem to live up there, but that’s not most of us. Most of us live in the plains, and that’s okay! God works in the plains. He leads us up the mountain when we need to be there, and He walks with us in the valleys when we find ourselves there too.

I’ve been trying to help our students understand this because I see so much guilt and shame around not being able to “stay on the mountain.” In those moments, it’s easy to miss how God is still working right where we are. He’s in the mountains, the valleys, and the plains, and realizing that can be incredibly freeing. I hope that truth is as encouraging to you as it’s been to me.

One of our students got baptized a few weeks ago!

Before I wrap up, I also want to highlight that Keep FOCUS Growing is right around the corner! This is our annual fundraiser that helps FOCUS take the next steps in building God’s kingdom. The money we raise each year not only helps us function as an organization but also funds new campus plants, expands existing ministries, and supports what God is calling us too next.

You all have already been so generous, and I’m beyond blessed by your support. But if you’d consider giving towards this—not just to support me personally, but to invest in what God is doing across DFW—I’d be deeply grateful!

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is getting to know some of the new freshmen who have joined FOCUS. I try to be intentional about spending time with as many of them as I can, hearing their stories and seeing how things are going for them. Sometimes I also meet with students who haven’t yet decided to plug into a campus ministry but are still open to meeting up. The contrast between these two groups of students is often striking.

Some of the guys I meet with!

One of the students I met with this past month—we’ll call him David—is currently agnostic. He’s been to a FOCUS fellowship night and attended one or two other ministry events at the beginning of the year to check things out. Beyond that, though, he hasn’t really been involved in Christian community. As he told me about his first few weeks on campus, he mentioned that he’s made friends in his dorm and in his major. But with those friends, he’s experiencing near-constant drama. Conflict is everywhere—friendships form and break at the drop of a hat. Each week, advice is flying around about who to cut off next. David is caught in the middle, feeling stressed and sad one day, only to be on cloud nine the next when everyone is getting along, until the next conflict inevitably flares up. He told me he’s never felt so unstable in his whole life. His friendships are unpredictable, and on top of that, he’s trying to navigate the challenges of adulthood and making decisions for himself, which has been stressful. Everyone around him is also a freshman, so he’s left trying to figure things out largely on his own.

More students at our after hang!

Now contrast that with another student I met recently, whom we’ll call Ethan. He’s in the exact same stage of life as David—a freshman living on campus, with friends from his dorm, his roommates, and his classes. But his experience has been completely different. Unlike David, Ethan got plugged into community during the first few weeks of school. He’s built friendships with upperclassmen who can help him process all the changes he’s going through. His friendships aren’t based merely on convenience but on a shared love for Jesus and a commitment to loving others. Instead of being stuck in cycles of conflict and drama, Ethan is learning more about God and how to love the people around him.

I see this same pattern play out every single year. Early decisions can cause paths to diverge dramatically, shaping the entire trajectory of someone’s college experience. That’s what excites me so much about helping students find a better path. I’m hoping David will stick around and honestly, I’m praying he’ll grow weary of the drama and choose to build healthier, more intentional friendships. I know there are a lot of Davids out there. In fact, I know there are more Davids than Ethans. So please be praying for us as we continue to go out, meet students, and help change trajectories.

Each week we continue to see new faces at TNF. Just this past week, around 20 new people showed up! Normally, our numbers start to drop off around this time of year, but God keeps moving, and people keep inviting their friends to come check it out. Please also pray that we would be faithful with the students God brings our way.

Can’t resist putting a little Elias photo in. Learning to ride his little track.

Thank you for being part of what God is doing. Thank you for helping make a way for students to have a better college experience. One that, Lord willing, will change the course of their lives for years to come.

As always, these first weeks of school have been hectic, crazy, exhausting, and wonderful. If you’re new to my team, here’s what to expect: the start of the year is full of outreach—every single day, for hours on end. We meet hundreds of students, plan events to invite people to and connect with them at, and ultimately aim to get new students plugged into Christian community as soon as possible.

Students at our first TNF

So, it’s hard to decide what to include in a short blog post. God has been doing so much, and there are so many stories worth sharing. But one thing the Lord keeps drawing our attention to is this: it’s all about Jesus, not about the tasks.

During these first few weeks, it’s easy to get bogged down by everything that needs to get done—events to plan, logistics to coordinate, details to communicate with leaders, lessons to prep, and more. It’s enough to fill your schedule twice over. Every year, we have to be intentional about remembering that it’s about Jesus—not just all the things we need to do. Yes, those things are necessary and helpful, but they aren’t the point. They’re just a means to the end. And in seasons like this, I feel so tempted to put the cart before the horse—to let the tasks drive me instead of listening for the slow, steady voice of Jesus.

Multiculturtal worship night by the dorms

This year, we’ve tried to help our students focus on Jesus too—not just on tasks. We equipped them with what they needed to go out and do hours of outreach each day, but much of that equipping was helping them center their hearts on loving God and loving people. We wanted them to avoid turning people into projects or burdens and instead see them as image-bearers of God—students whom God is already working in, powerfully.

God helped us not get rained out!

When you focus on Jesus and what He’s doing, it slows you down. It helps you notice Him in the small, quiet moments with students—not just at the big events we throw. For example, I was on campus and sat down with a random student named John. We started talking and quickly dove into faith and his thoughts about God. He told me he’s an atheist but admitted he wishes he could believe in and follow God. He had the desire but was facing some barriers—some of which we were able to talk through right then.

Hanging with some students!

As we continued our conversation, John mentioned a similar chat he’d had the day before with another stranger. It turned out that stranger was one of our other campus pastors! On a campus of 50,000 students, that’s no coincidence—God was clearly at work. John came to a multicultural worship night we hosted later that week and loved it. Then he came to TNF for worship and a sermon. He joined a small group and says he’s loving being part of FOCUS. That’s just one of so many stories from these past few weeks of meeting new students on campus.

Packed room at our first TNF!

I wish I had the space to share more—it would take hours to read, much less write them all. But the Lord has been moving in such sweet ways these first weeks of the semester. I see His hand on our students and staff, guiding us not to lose sight of Him in the hustle and bustle. He’s inviting us to sit beside Him, to participate in what He’s doing, and to lead others into that same place.

We’ve met so many new students this year—many of whom are considering following Jesus for the first time. Your prayers as we try to be faithful with what God has given us would be so appreciated.

God is so good. I’m excited to see all the seeds planted in these first couple of weeks begin to grow over the coming months. Thank you for being part of this and enabling us to be on campus, reaching out to these students!

The school year is right around the corner, and I can already see God at work, lining things up for a great start. Our pastoral team is so excited to get things underway, and I’m incredibly thankful to be on campus this year—thanks to your generosity.

I truly believe this ministry is a team effort. My entire team of partners plays just as vital a role in reaching these campuses for Jesus as I or any of our other pastors do. Your support and prayers are what make this ministry possible.

With that in mind, I wanted to spend this update highlighting some specific things you can be praying for as we head into the semester. More than anything, I want this year to be covered in prayer.

Some Prayer Points:

• Freshmen Arriving: Over 7,500 freshmen are coming to campus this year. Most of them have no faith community here, so please pray that their hearts would be open to encountering Jesus and connecting with a Christian community in these crucial first weeks of school.

• First Weeks of Outreach: The first couple of weeks are some of the most pivotal. Pray that our leaders and pastors would be faithful in evangelism and outreach, and that students would not only be receptive—but excited—about what God is doing. Pray they would be eager to join in.

• Student Leaders: We’ll have 48 student leaders this year. Please pray that they are filled with the Holy Spirit and guided by Him as we begin. Ask for excitement, energy, and a “get to,” not “have to,” mindset. Pray that they would grow closer to the Lord throughout the year, and through that, help others do the same.

• NCTC Campus: NCTC is always a wild ride, largely due to the fast-paced nature of community colleges. Pray that God would move in big ways on this campus. Specifically, ask Him to bring students into our ministry who have been prepared by Him to lead and help advance His Kingdom here.

• Campus Pastors: Please pray for our campus pastors as we head into the new year. We have some new teammates joining us, and we’re asking the Lord to help them feel loved and welcomed. Also pray for wisdom and guidance as we seek to lead this ministry well and love our students faithfully.

I’m so thankful for you and your partnership in this mission. In the next update, I’ll be sharing how the first weeks of outreach went—I can’t wait!

Darby and I speaking at a conference for campus ministers from around the country!

This past month has been filled with planning, picking, and prayer (I couldn’t help myself with the alliteration—something about being a pastor makes it irresistible). But it’s true. We’ve had several 10+ hour days of planning for the upcoming year—thinking through our events, refining our discipleship methods, and figuring out what we want to tweak moving forward.

The "picking" part has been about selecting our leaders for next year. That involves a lot of conversations—with students, among our pastoral team, and most importantly, with God.

Prayer has played a big role in my time this summer. As always, there are seemingly endless things to pray about, especially with all the decisions we’re making during this season. But beyond that, I’ve found this slower-paced season of ministry to be an invitation—a chance to quiet down and focus more deeply on God.

Part of our Denton team for next year!

What I’ve noticed, though, is that when I have the opportunity to spend more time in prayer, I often end up feeling frustrated. I find myself talking to God a lot, but not hearing from Him nearly as much as I’d like.

Or at least, that’s how it feels in the moment.

What I’m continually learning is that God is speaking—constantly—but I’m not always a great listener. Years ago, someone encouraged me to spend more time just listening instead of talking. That was a great step, and it helped a lot. But something still felt like it was missing.

I’m realizing now that what was missing was an awareness of how God often speaks. Not through extraordinary experiences or divine knowledge downloads (though I sometimes wish for those), but through the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday moments of life.

He speaks by gently leading my thoughts down well-worn paths of wisdom He's shaped in me over the years.
He speaks through the quiet presence of a listening friend.
He speaks by stirring compassion and love in places I wasn’t even praying about.
He speaks through the simple joys and rhythms of life.
He answers questions I wasn’t asking and grows me in ways I desperately need—even when I wasn’t focused on them.

Moody Summer TNF photo

I’m learning to see just how constantly God is working, speaking, and moving—and how often I miss it simply because it comes in such ordinary forms. Which, when I think about it, really shouldn’t surprise me. There’s something that feels almost scandalous about God working through the ordinary and mundane. He’s God! Shouldn’t I expect Him to do something big and dramatic and obvious?

But that very expectation is what tripped up so many in Jesus’ day. They couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea that the God of the universe would come down and become a human—a human who lived in near obscurity for 30 years. Eating, drinking, laughing, playing—doing all the normal human stuff.

So why should it surprise me that a God who would do that would also choose to speak to me through the small, simple parts of my own human life? My hope is to keep learning how to listen—to be more attuned to the quiet, ordinary ways He speaks, and I hope to pass that on to the students I minister to as well.

Summer is often a time for our staff to recharge and prepare our hearts and minds for the upcoming year of ministry. As I’ve entered into this season—post end-of-year celebrations and pre-summer events—I’ve been reflecting a lot on the past year. Two themes keep standing out to me in particular, at least in terms of what I’ve been learning and processing: fatherhood and the profound reality of God’s grace and the Gospel. You might already see the connection. So much of this year has been about those two ideas intertwining and interacting in both my mind and my ministry.

Elias is helping me learn how to play the drums

I’ve struggled to accept God’s grace since I was young. There’s always been something in me that finds it hard to believe that when God forgives me, He still likes me afterward. I see this struggle reflected all the time in the students I minister to.

One student comes to mind. He grew up in a Christian home and, for the most part, has always been a “good kid.” He’s been a solid part of our community. But one week, I noticed something was off. It continued for a while, so I asked him about it. After some hesitation and beating around the bush, he finally confessed that he had fallen into what he described as the worst sin of his life—something far beyond anything he’d ever done before. He was shocked at himself and, more than that, deeply ashamed. Even though he knew theologically that God would forgive him, he felt he couldn’t even talk to God anymore. The real issue wasn’t whether God could forgive him; it was whether God would still want to talk to him.

Some of our boys up at our SICM Conference!

One of the many blessings of becoming a parent has been the perspective it’s given me on God’s love and grace. I now understand in a deeper, more visceral way how I think God feels about us when we fall into things like this student. When Elias, my son, does something like hit one of us out of anger, I know how frustrating it is. I strongly dislike that action. And yet, even in that exact moment, I love him so deeply. Even though it doesn’t excuse his behavior, I can often understand what led him to it. And even while I discipline him, I do it from a place of love—not retribution. These were concepts I understood before becoming a parent, but now I feel them in a new, more profound way—because I’m the one responsible for raising this child.

So now, when I look at that student I mentioned, I can attempt to explain not only how deeply our sin grieves the Lord, but also how deeply—even in the midst of that grief—He loves us. I can speak to this not just from a theological standpoint, but also from lived experience.

I'm praying that I continue to learn this lesson more deeply as I age. And I’m so thankful that the Lord has given me the opportunity. I'd love to hear what you have been learning in your walk with the Lord as well!

Somehow, we’re already at the end of another year.

Doing this for so long has granted me the privilege of mostly enjoying it rather than feeling sad about things wrapping up. That’s because I know that no matter how awesome this year has been, God always has more in store for us in the future.

Good Friday service with a line to nail things to the cross

That said, this year really has been magnificent. We've seen more growth than ever before, celebrated more baptisms, launched our NCTC campus and already witnessed God doing amazing things there. We've also created more ministry opportunities for our returning students and experimented with exciting new evangelism methods.

It’s been one of my favorite years of ministry to date. While I’m sad to see it come to a close, I’m also excited about what God has in store for us next and how we can build on this momentum.

Elias crashing my meeting with some student leaders while eating a NERF dart

Looking Ahead

Summer tends to be a tough season for many of our students. It’s sad—many think that with more free time, their relationship with the Lord will flourish, but often quite the opposite ends up happening. What I’ve seen time and again is that people tend to follow Newton’s laws of motion: a person in motion stays in motion, and a person at rest stays at rest.

The challenge is that over the summer, students often come to rest—even in their walk with the Lord. Of course, we do our best to prepare them and provide support for those who stay in town, but many return home to environments that vary in how spiritually healthy they are.

That’s where prayer comes in. I’d love for you to join me in praying for our students as they head into their summer break.

Laying on of hands to our departing pastors

I’d also like to ask for your prayers for our staff. Two of our long-time pastors are transitioning: one is staying with FOCUS but moving to a different campus, and the other is embarking on a long-term mission trip to Thailand! These are both exciting developments, but they represent a big shift for our team dynamic.

Next year, we’re also welcoming four new apprentices to our Denton staff! So, with all these changes, please be praying that we can send off those who are leaving well and warmly welcome those who are joining us.

Hey y’all!

This will be a shorter update this month.

Last week, we had almost 20 students from a campus ministry in Bellingham, Washington, called CCF join us for a mission trip. They spent the entire week doing outreach with us, bringing light to these campuses.

It was a really sweet week, but also exhausting! Coordinating five hours of outreach each day and hosting these students in the remaining time was a crazy task. That being said, God really worked through our efforts, and we saw so many amazing stories that I can’t even write about them all.

Some of the most consistent things we heard were about students having deep conversations with people who were spiritually hungry or just curious about what Christianity is all about. We used a variety of evangelism methods this week, which led to many different kinds of conversations. Two of my favorite activities were:

• Nailing burdens to an 8-foot tall cross that we brought onto campus.

• Spiritual listening, where we invited people to come up so we could pray over them. We’d listen to what was going on in their lives and ask the Lord if He wanted to give us any words of encouragement or specific prayers for them.

Both of these led to some really sweet experiences!

God provided some classic Texas sunsets for these students

My favorite story, though, happened at NCTC. I had a group of four Washington students join me for outreach there. We started by playing some games, and a girl we’ve been trying to get to join our Bible study for over a year joined us. She often plays games with us, but when anything spiritual comes up, or when we transition to a Bible study, she immediately leaves.

This time, though, after we finished the games, she decided to stick around. We were reading the Beatitudes, and as we read, she shared that she felt so encouraged by them. As our discussion continued, I looked over and saw her crying. We asked what was going on, and she said she had prayed that if God was there, He would give her some kind of sign. Then, she immediately felt overwhelmed by His presence and started crying tears of joy.

She went on to say that she felt like her heart was being healed. Our students jumped in and brought up the scripture in Ezekiel about God giving us a new heart. Right now, we have no idea where this will go or if she will come back, but regardless, it’s evident that God was moving powerfully in that moment and in her life.

Praying for the students before the week!

I’m so encouraged by all that God has been doing, and I’m excited to see what fruit comes from this past week!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support — I couldn’t do this without you guys!