October!

 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 held together. Then, you start packing it. Build a strong core of snow that is relationally tight enough to welcome in and support new snow that you put on top as the snowball grows larger. In my small group this looks like getting them to hang out as friends outside of the once a week meeting. Go to the gym together! Eat lunch together in the dining hall! Play pingpong in the student union! We start looking at the spiritual needs of individual guys, and how the group can grow together to meet these needs. We want to condense this group tight, so new guys are welcomed into a stable and encouraging environment that knows how to love each other like Jesus. 

My small group playing ultimate frisbee together.

Like I said in my last post, I have a lot of new freshman in my group. Some come from a deep church background and some are completely new to Christian community. There are some unique challenges to this mix, but I have found that most of the time, guys just need an invite to something, and I often need to step away from a conversation to let these friendships form. One way I have been providing the space for these moments this month is through offering weekly breakfasts at my house! I live about 10 minutes from campus, and each Friday this month from about 10AM - 12PM I have let my house act as a revolving door for anyone who wants to stop by and eat pancakes. This started small with just my small group, but I have started to invite other small groups in our ministry to stop by too. Pancake mix is cheap to buy in bulk and easy to make (if you buy the 'just add water' mix). I stand at the stove all morning flipping away while my house is full of college students meeting each other over a meal. 

Pancake mornings! These guys are some of my good friends I met last year. I love seeing them step up as leaders in our community in how they help make those mornings welcoming to new faces.

This is Omar! He is one of the guys I am studying with one on one. He adds so much to our group and I love getting to know him. 

One of the needs Felipe and I currently see amongst our group is a better understanding of the Bible. Of course, this is something that matures with age, but now that we are through going through the fruit of the Holy Spirit and how to reflect that in our lives, we are going to change gears to looking at how to 'Level Up' our understanding and desire for scripture. This can be tricky when you are discussing the Bible in a group of Christians and non-Christians, but our goal is just that everyone becomes more inquisitive by nature and to become more comfortable to reading God's word not just by themselves, but with other people! 

Speaking of reading the Bible, I am almost done with my Old Testament class! During the past 12 weeks, I have almost read, studied, and listened to lectures over the whole Old Testament. Reading the whole story from Creation to the Remanent that returns to Jerusalem in such a short amount of time really paints an amazing picture of God. I have started to discover the beauty of the Bible and how intentionally the authors made it. If anything, this class has given me more confidence in studying the Old Testament and how it can be an effective part of my ministry. 

My evangelism class has also touched a lot on the topic of Spiritual friendship. We read this book called "More Ready than You Realize". This book explores the idea of evangelism first through friendship in our everyday life that allows opportunities to share your faith. I really think this resonates with me, because it puts into words the style of relationship I first felt coming to UTD four years ago that allowed me to realize Jesus' love for me. One example of this I have seen recently is through a guy that joined my first small group over two years ago. He was never super interested in Jesus, but would come each week to listen and occasionally ask a question. I really only kept in touch through casually seeing him on campus and getting lunch maybe twice a year, but always introduced him to new guys I met to keep him connected. This past week, I surprisingly saw him for the first time at our weekly fellowship gathering (The Grove), and heard he is now involved in a different small group, and even starting a Bible study with one of the leaders. How cool is that!?

Brahms is such a staple place to hangout at UTD.

So many people are decided to follow Jesus and be baptized! I love seeing how many people are willing to make time in their week to come celebrate with whoever made that choice!

Part of our model is to have two people as co-leaders in each small group. I wanted to take a moment to shout out my co-leader, Felipe! He is naturally intentional with the guys in our small group and is able to communicate genuine care in conversations with him. He is so hungry right now in studying scripture, which really inspires me to dive deeper into my own studies. Serving others is exciting for him, and he will often go out of his way to do so. Love ya, Felipe!

A funny memory from this month of Felipe being willing to serve. A guy in or small group ran out of gas, so we got to go help him out!

Some ways you can join me in praying for this next month is our upcoming 'Pizza Theology' event next Sunday. This is a deep dive into a topic or place in the Bible that we feel will really minister to our students or help them grow in their faith in some capacity. This semester, a man named Rick Watts is coming to teach over 1 and 2 Samuel. We take a break halfway through the seminar to eat pizza, hence the name Pizza Theology. This excites me, because Rick Watts helps teach some of my Old Testament Class from Regent College. I have not gotten to meet him in person yet!

We are also about to enter into our 'Keep Focus Growing' campaign ministry wide across DFW. I am so thankful for how you already have shown so much support to me and the ministry we do for college students. If you feel lead to give any additional amount towards this fundraiser, then I will provide the link below.

                                 Worship night outside on a parking garage! We went until 12AM!

This is what a weekly 'core' looks like, my Wednesday night small group.

I love sending out these posts, because it allows me to reflect on the past month and see all that God has done. It is an important reminder that nothing I do here would mean anything with Him, who prunes us each as our own branch, connecting to the vine that gives us life. If you made it to the end, the songs of this month I have been listening to are "Name Above All Names" by Charity Gayle, and "Saved by Grace" by Israel Houghton. Let me know what you think!

With love,

Paul