Paul's Ministry Update!

Hello! Almost two full months on campus have come and gone. August was full of outreach, and September has been full of starting up our small group again and beginning my one on one Bible studies. I meet so many people during the first two months of school, it can be difficult juggling so many different relationships and conversations while integrating them with friendships formed last year. In my time with God this month, I have been reminded of how He describes himself in Exodus 3 as the faithful " I AM". Knowing that He is the "I AM" who will be there with me as I am moving about campus or going to meet with someone. But what a good reminder that without God, nothing can grow from the seeds I plant. No matter what conversation I have, questions I ask, or meetings I plan. God provides the growth (1 Cor 3). Our core group this year! We are probably sitting at around 25 people with 3/4ths of them being new to our ministry. We call the small groups of our ministry ...

 Hello everyone! The students are back and school has started! Hopefully I can share a lot of photos in this post for you to give a glimpse of what has been going on this month, especially the last two weeks as students have arrived at UTD. Photo from our staff retreat in early August. As we are growing to new campuses like NCTC and TCC, our staff is growing too.  The first week of August, we had our first of two staff retreats during the year. I always really look forward to this time because it is after a long summer of everyone being in and out of town on different schedules. We spend this time building relationships with each other and refocusing our hearts on the mission at our college campuses.  I feel like I have met hundreds of freshmen at this point. This was at one of our many field nights outside the Res Halls. I love these nights because only the freshmen are on campus the first week, and the school does not host many events to welcome them. That is where we s...

Hello everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the sun this time of the year. I am trying to get back into running, but I absolutely will not do it when the sun is out. This month I have found myself running at 5AM but also 10PM. Both help me feel productive, but I also want to go to sleep immediately after. But in two weeks, we really will start hitting it hard to be as ready as possible for the students arriving. It is super exciting to see our student leader team start coming together as students make the commitment to lead a small group for the next year. We also are putting the finishing touches on our ‘Weeks of Welcome’ events on campus in August. We will be hosting field game nights outside the Dorms, pass out coffee every afternoon in the Student Union, and each night for two weeks host some type of unique welcome event like Line Dancing, Zombie Tag, and painting (Bob Ross style lol).  Sweet group of friends from the 4th of July. They love Jesus so well and spur me on towards ...

 Hello everyone!  I hope you all are doing well this summer and enjoying the heat of it all. This is my first summer spent in Dallas since moving here five years ago, usually spending my May through August at summer camp outside of Houston. But now, having slower days of work in Dallas, I really have come to see how much I love summer (it always has been my favorite season to begin with). I love the heat, the smell of the warm air, the sun, the sound of bugs in the trees....compared to the cold of winter, this is so much more enjoyable for me.  If you are reading this blog for the first time this month, welcome! I post one each month with tons of photos, updates, and prayer requests of what God is doing at UT Dallas. I am so honored that you are taking the time to read this and have decided to join me in prayer and donations to follow God's direction on college campuses. Feel free to reach out to me at any time for anything or go back and read any of my previous posts. I'...