Happy Thanksgiving!

November was so fast! I hope all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and know how grateful I am for all

of the prayers and support that you have given me! I pray that this holiday season is a reminder of all that

we have to be thankful for!

November Recap

This month, I feel like we are wrapping up our semester and have had so much to do! My core and one-on-one bible studies have been going great and I look forward to meeting with my girls each week! I got to take a short weekend trip to visit my sister in Maryland and got to help out with Alumni night. We wrapped up this month with Keep Focus Growing and planning our Christmas party!

Pizza Theology

Each semester, FOCUS puts on an event called Pizza Theology where we take an academic approach to looking at scripture and talking about different topics that affect our community. This semester’s Pizza Theology was extra special because we flew in a retired seminary professor, Dr. Iain Provin, to talk about things that have entered the Church and made a home in it that should not be part of our regular practices. Dr. Provin talked about how we often accept things as they are rather than questioning the traditions that we have. I appreciated a lot of his perspectives and found myself thinking about what he talked about for a few weeks after! It was special to meet Dr. Provin in person because us apprentices have been listening to his Old Testament lectures all semester. It was so cool to hear from him live and to get to pick his brain about things that he has spent years researching and studying.

Alumni Night

This was one of the sweetest FNF’s that I have ever been able to be a part of! Alumni from all different generations of UTD FOCUS came and spent their Friday night together. It was so sweet to see friends that had graduated over the last couple of years and to get to hear from people that were in FOCUS several years ago. I was especially impacted by one family that came and shared about how FOCUS continues to impact their lives and how the lessons that they learned while in college have deeply impacted the way that they have raised their children. Would you join me in praying for our current students and that the lessons that God is teaching them now would stay present in their minds for the years to come? I think it is so special that I get to be part of a community that has shown so many people Jesus and continues to do so!

Keep Focus Growing

Each year during Giving Tuesday, we have a fundraising push called Keep Focus Growing where people

are invited to join us in the mission of bringing FOCUS to the next generation of college students. I have

been directly impacted in so many ways by this community, and it is so special to share ways that people

can get involved with our mission to make and mature disciples across DFW College Campuses. So far this

year, we have raised $46,300 from generous donors. We still have $8,700 left in matching funds and areconfident that God will finish what He has started. Would you be praying that we see clearly what God’s

vision is for our community and are faithful with all that He has given us? If this is something that

excites you, I would love to tell you more about it!

Thanks again for joining me in ministry this year and for being so supportive of all that God is doing at UTD! Your prayers and support have been so apparent and appreciated!

Until next time,

Jessica :)

P.S. Can you find Waldo?