Dancing through Life

Eleven months down, one more to go! It really is crazy to me how fast this year has passed and how we only have one more month of 2024. I am incredibly grateful for what God has done over this year and am so excited for what He is going to do in 2025! I am also incredibly thankful for all of you who help me get to be on campus daily and are a part of our mission to reach college students across the DFW metroplex!

Pizza Theology

Each semester, FOCUS holds a 4 hour, college-level bible teaching that we call Pizza Theology where we have a speaker and invite all of the campuses to come together and listen to a teaching on various topics. This semester Pizza Theology was over Samuel. We flew in a New Testament scholar, Dr. Rikk Watts, to teach us and it was an incredible experience. Rikk, as he asked us to call him, taught the New Testament class that I took last year, so it was so neat to be able to learn from him again through this seminar. He explained that the book of Samuel has a ton of relevant teachings to us as 21st century Americans and laid the foundation for us to think and pray about the Kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of the world. I appreciate the ways that he challenged us to think about the differences between the two and the ways that he brought to life the book of Samuel. Would you join me in praying for the hearts of the students who came to Pizza Theology and they would be reminded how good the Kingdom of God really is?

Thankfulness

During the holiday season, I am reminded more and more about all the things that I have to be thankful for. From work to friends to family to roommates to core and everything in between, I am incredibly grateful for the life that I have been able to live over the last couple of years. It truly is a blessing to be able to be part of a community that points me to Jesus, calls me higher, loves me well, and accepts me for who God has made me to be. Over the last couple of years, I have reflected on how life could look very different than it does right now and am in awe of how God works in and through people. Through this season, and hopefully every season thereafter, I am praying for a heart of gratitude, one specifically that never forgets the things that God has done for me. Would you join me in praying that our community would be marked by gratefulness and we would continually be reminded of all that God has done?

Keep FOCUS Growing

Each year, FOCUS, like many nonprofits, participates in Giving Tuesday, an annual fundraiser that helps us raise money for outreach materials & events, staff development, administrative support, and pioneering new campus ministries. All of us on staff, as you know, fundraise our salaries so this money goes directly to those things. This year, we have a generous group of people who have pledged to match $77,000 in donations that come in during this campaign. If you are looking for somewhere to give this year, and want to make a donation, you could head to https://anyfocus.org/kfg/, to make a donation. More than that, though, we would love for you to join us in praying for the future students that will be impacted by what God is doing in FOCUS and for the students who are currently making commitments to follow Jesus on our campuses!

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. Waldo was in the community pictures last month! Can you find him this month?