Weeks of Online Welcome

 Hi friends! I can't believe it's been a month since I first started.  It's been a busy month!


Welcome Week

    Every year most college campuses hold welcome week events for the first two weeks or so of the new school year.  Typically, most welcome week events are in-person and are a great way for students, especially freshmen and transfers, to get involved on campus and make friends.  This year, of course, has been very different; every event has been moved online.  It's presented some pretty unique challenges for FOCUS: how do we reach out to students online?  What could we do online?  So, we did daily streams on Twitch (I've linked to UTD FOCUS' Twitch page so you can take a look at what we offered if you like) to give new students an idea of what our ministry is about and almost daily activities online, like Scribblio, an online drawing game like Pictionary, and Among Us, an online version of the card game Mafia (although with a pretty cool video game twist).  Honestly, while I had difficulty seeing how God could  use the Internet as a platform for us to minister, he has definitely come through in preparing hearts and bringing students to the ministry.  

Me and the other UTD apprentices (Andrea on the left and Lindsey on the right). This was the first time I've ever taken a selfie using the timer feature, and it was honestly kinda weird. I'm super excited to lead, grow, and learn alongside Andrea and Lindsey this year!

Core!

    Last week, we started cores!  Core is the "core of our ministry"; in a nutshell, they're small, same-sex groups of 6 to 10 students aimed at building friendships, growing together, and exploring faith.  We try to keep from calling core a simple Bible study, because it's more than that.  We really look at how we can apply the Bible and the teachings of Jesus to our daily life and walk with each other through all the unique seasons life goes through.  This year, I'm leading core with James Boyer, a math major and political science minor senior.  He is by far one of the smartest guys I've met since coming to UTD, and I look forward to leading our group of guys with him towards Jesus this year!


A screenshot I took from our first core online on Discord last Tuesday! Not everyone is seen here, but we had 8 guys (including me and James) join us.

Classes

    We're still moving through the Old Testament together, and we've just gotten into reading the minor and major prophets.  The prophets were always the books in the Old Testament that I was most interested in.  I think the reason for that is how attuned the prophets were to injustices and sin occuring in Israel and Judah and understanding how that affected human relationships with God, with other humans, and with creation.   Reading the prophets always leads me to reflect on how serious sin is in how it has altered how we live life and just understanding how serious God takes our decisions, even if they're to our detriment.  Even in our sin, however, God always has a plan for redemption and hope that is always so clear in every prophet's writings.

This is what a typical reading day looks like. We get to do our own day of reading while still having some fellowship together. It's honestly hard not to get carried away in conversation and joking with each other instead of reading. There's also some unfamiliar faces to you in this picture, like Clint (an apprentice with the Northeast Garland church) in the front who I forgot why was so shocked, Erin (on staff with FOCUS at Collin College) in the middle left, and William (an apprentice with Northeast Garland's teen ministry, CTF) in the back left.

Prayer Requests

    This month, I ask that you pray for the students at UTD and students at really any college campus in the nation.  This year is especially isolating and lonely, with students forced to stay in their dorm rooms to leave only to eat and go to in-person classes, if they're lucky to even have one.  I've already talked to many students who just having someone to talk to, even online, outside of class has been so impactful.  Also, please pray for persistence and creativity for the FOCUS staff at all of our campuses and all of our core leaders to best minister to the college campus this year.
Until next month!


Much love,

Jacob

Take a look at our student testimony for the month!

Comments

  1. Pita BassSeptember 2, 2020 at 7:14 AM

    Praise the Lord for His wonderful and creative ways! His spirit has no boundaries and longs to dwell with all of His children; to Em power them to share the true life and hope that He offers! May the Lord bless his servants richly on the college campus. May the eyes of lost ones be opened to the truth of the Gospel, and may they thirst for His living water as they encounter Christ through his people!

    With much love and admiration,

    Pita & Bryan Bass

    ReplyDelete

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