I’ll Just Say Yes, You Lead the Way

 I cannot believe January has come and gone! This month was full of sweet moments from God and has served as a continual reminder of the renewal that comes in every season. I am so excited to tell you what is going on at UTD this month, but before I do, I want to make sure that I say thank you! I would not be able to do what I do without the generous support and prayers from all of you!

Staff Retreat

At the beginning of each semester, our whole staff team from all of the campuses goes on a retreat to give us a chance to reconnect with each other and recenter on Jesus before another busy semester! This year, all of the talks we listened to focused on different aspects of the ways in which we love people, pulling from 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13. We also read A Tale of 3 Kings by Gene Edwards and I cannot stop thinking about it. This book is an allegorical telling of King Saul, King David, and Absalom and talks about how we often do not know why suffering happens or what God is doing in the midst of suffering. Over the last couple of weeks, I have thought a lot about how we are called to love in every season, regardless of the suffering we are facing and how love is who Jesus is and how he did that in the face of suffering. Would you join me in praying for our staff team this semester, that they would be people that bring the love of God on our campuses?

Winter Retreat

Winter Retreat 2025 was awesome! I do not have the words to explain how incredible it is to watch 700 college students worship, pray, laugh, and play together for 72 hours. This year all of our talks were around true discipleship and what it means to give things up for God. I was incredibly encouraged by how receptive all of our students were to all the ways that they were challenged. This year, I had a couple of the girls in my core get to come to winter retreat and it was so special to me to watch them love each other and love the new people they met! This weekend is transformative to so many lives and it is beyond sweet to be able to see the work that God is doing in the lives of college students. Will you join me in praying that the lessons that our students learned this weekend would stick with them and that they would continue to press into what it means to be a true disciple! 

…and beyond

A lot of this month, I have been praying through what this next year is going to look like and have been asking God to reveal to me His will. As many of you know, I only signed a one-year commitment with FOCUS and have decided that I would like to continue working with this ministry for the foreseeable future! I do not know what this next year looks like quite yet, but I do have an overwhelming peace that God is going to make it clear in His time and that whatever happens is going to be good. I am excited to see what God is going to continue to do in DFW and partner with Him wherever he calls! Would you join me in praying about what God’s plan is for next school year?

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 Christmas pictures! Can you find him this month?