Posts

November!

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 Hello all! I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the holiday season. This honestly is my favorite time of the year, as long as the high temperatures stay above 60 degrees. With Thanksgiving break around the corner for our college students, this is always a good time of the year to thoughtfully reflect on our lives and show gratitude towards God and those around us. In my devotional times, I have recently finished reading through the Gospel of John. One of my favorite stories is when Jesus rises Lazarus from the dead in John 11. We see that before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, He gives thanks to God, saying "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me..". You cannot miss the parallel here to Luke 22 when Jesus is at the last supper, and gives thanks to God for his own body and blood as "He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it....saying 'This is my body...(and) this cup is the new covenant in my blood'". I am reflec...

October!

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 Happy Fall!  T-minus 2 days until it looks like the temperature will drop significantly (at least in the DFW area). The highs are still almost 90 degrees here, but we have cool 70s and rainy weather on the horizon. During my four years at UTD, I would always take harder semesters of classes during the Fall. Something about this weather makes me want to sit at my desk, put on rain sounds, and do my homework. I still have classes I am taking, like my Old Testament class, so now I get to invite other students into the magical world of rain sound study videos on Youtube. Wow. Writing this now, I am in my 13th week working on campus. A main goal of mine this month was just to develop a routine. August and September were full of outreach on campus and gearing up for our fall retreat. Now, Felipe and I (the coleader of our small group) are looking to condense the guys God has given us. It is like the idea of making a snowball. You gather up all this snow that at first is loosely hel...

September!

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 Hey y'all! Thank you for taking the time to read this post! September has gone by so fast, but God has filled it with so many new people that seem hungry for Jesus and a community centered on Him. I am meeting new people daily that remind me how to love and serve others from a place of expectant hope that transformation will occur, because God is in the business of transformation.  This is my small group, known in our ministry as "Core". We call this a 'core' because it is the 'core' of our ministry. These are the guys I meet with weekly as we do life together. The goal for core is that it is a vibrant, intellectual, and outreaching where disciples can be made and matured. We welcome Christians and non - Christians alike and foster real friendships between these guys. We are currently talking about the fruit of the spirit by going through different ones to consider how we can best live them out among community. Last week we talked about joy, and this week...

August Ministry Update!

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The students have arrived and August is in full swing! Hello everyone!     Thank you so much for all the prayers and support you all have shown me over the past few months. With August more than halfway over, I wanted to share some updates about things I have already learned and seen both in class and the first days on campus as we welcome in new students and reunite with friends returning from the summer. I hope to include as many photos as possible in these letters, so you can see personally the love that your support allows us share generously to so many people.  Photo from staff retreat of everyone! Play "Where is Paul?" .     It has been so great to meet all the other people on staff from across different campuses. Fellowship of Christian University Students has an organization at most major Dallas universities, so across the team there is so much wisdom and experience that I have the opportunity to learn from. At the beginning of August, we went on a three...