Paul's Ministry Update!

 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'...

 Hello everyone! Clossssingggg timeeeee (turn on song here). Funny story is that my best friends freshman year of college would always play this song when it was time to leave their dorm room at night. Subtle, but clear. I think it is funny to still play that song today at the end of events and see who is able to read the room and know it is time to leave lol. Some social skills just have to be caught, not taught. This may be a blog of photos. Well, actually, all my blogs have photos. But this one especially is already special to my heart as it is my last one that follows this school year of ministry. I have joked some that I am emo this month to see this year of ministry end as this job has exceeded all my expectations. This month we have gotten to say goodbye both through graduations and end of year parties, celebrated baptisms, and even traveled across the country to Seattle and Bellingham, Washington with 150 of our students! With all of this excitement, I have had to remind my...

 Hello everyone! I am writing this during the sliver of sunlight that God is providing us today. Really this month, at least it is starting to feel like. Maybe I should be taking advantage of this bit of sun to go outside, but I guess the schedule of my day reigns supreme. Overall, April has been a really bittersweet month for me, ministry wise. During April, you start to see everything wrap up. My FOJ's that started in the Fall are coming to an end, we are starting to plan all of the 'end of year' parties, and everyone is talking about plans for the summer. But with all of these endings, I am just reminded of the year of growth in so many different relationships between these guys and God. Just trying to reflect on our small group from the start of the year to now is so crazy. Going from a group of guys who didn't know each other at all to one that looks to include each other, love each other, laugh and encourage each other - words are hard to capture it, but I hope yo...