February! God is so cool.

 Guys and gals, God is so cool. 

This month has been so fast, but in a good way. Of course, the goal is not to be rushed. I read this book over the summer called "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry". Ironically enough, it is a very quick read, but I highly recommend it. A line that has stayed with me this month goes that  "if the devil cannot make you sin, he'll make you busy. There's truth in that. Both sin and busyness have the exact same effect - they cut off your connection to God, to other people, and even to your own soul". Of course, this quote is not scripture, but it has helped me develop a mindset of being slow and interruptible, even during the quicker paced weeks, so that I can still listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him guide my conversations and actions. 

With that in mind, God has been working this year at UTD in a way that I have not seen over the past four years being connected to this ministry. Students are SO hungry for community and spiritual conversations. People are more ready than I realize to get to know Jesus. I am careful to not say that God has not been moving in the past, because He always is! But usually around this time as I have led groups in the past, I see students become more tired in the academic year, limping towards Spring Break. Instead, there seems to be a buzz of energy as friends are inviting friends to come experience this community across all the different small groups.

This is my small group from earlier this month. Not seen, the people standing in the doorway or kitchen....

Just the other night, my coleader and I very purposefully wanted to use our weekly small group time to just hang out with no agenda around a fire with hotdogs, smores, spikeball, a football, and some frisbees. You know, building a warm atmosphere. This idea came from a request specifically from one of our guys who has a roommate that is not Christian, but seems to need community. He wanted to invite him to our group of guys from him to make some friends, without immediately feeling the pressure to read the Bible or have a discussion about God. 

Fire from the other night. My girlfriend, Jaryn, leads a small group that meets on Wednesdays too, so after she finished hers, she brought her girls to hang out with us. I know she's reading this, so I just wanted to say I love doing ministry with you Jaryn!

There are now about 35 guys involved in our small group. Most come weekly, but some only come to hangout after. Some don't want to come at all, but ask weekly when we are going out to eat or when we can go play basketball. At times, people just feel like they belong before they can believe. There is such a wide range of students in this group. Some are on fire for God and excited to share about Him, some are curious but interested to learn more, and some come only because they love the friends they are making. Just this year, I have seen cool transitions in people as they learn to love Jesus and put their trust in Him, or equally with people who had no interest in God start to ask spiritual questions and visit church with me. God is just so cool, and I plan to share some specific stories down below. Like always, I apologize in advance for the length of this. I am just excited to share with you all the work God is doing through the support that you are giving me this year. You have seen this growth since the beginning!

I finished FOJ (our one on one Bible study) with Omar!

I also finished FOJ this week with Jeremiah!

An update with my FOJ studies I am doing. A few have fallen off because students lost interest, which is expected. But many are still going strong! I have seven cooking on the stove right now, but two of them just finished with Omar and Jeremiah. My coleader is also guiding several students through this study, and we even had to start asking other students to lead some from outside our small group. With our weekly events being group oriented, this study is a deep dive on the personal level what a relationship with Jesus looks like. 

I have been studying with a Hindu student since the beginning of the school year. After about a month, he started to come to church with me. In December, he joined our small group and started to meet a lot of the other guys who go each week. And now, just this past week, I heard him introduce himself to another new student. The newer student asked how he was involved and if he had a faith. This Hindu (or previously Hindu) student replied saying "well, I used to be Hindu, but now I am learning how to be a Christian". WOW! That was the first time I heard him publicly share thoughts like that.

This is what I mean by life feels fast. There are many new students starting to become involved in our group to where I cannot meet up with each person one on one throughout the week. I am learning how to let the Spirit guide me in planning each week, while also looking to build up leaders from the guys, like Omar and Jeremiah, who can help strengthen this welcoming environment that loves God and people. Would you please pray for my group of guys? That God continues to bring guys that are looking for friendship while also giving us eyes to look out for the interests of each other?

Photo from the event with the Muslim Student Association

This month, I got to help with an event with Cru, another student ministry on campus, and the Muslim Student Association. This event was called "Bridges of Belief", where we gathered a couple hundred students, half Muslim and half Christian, into a room to talk about their faith over a meal. We invited a Christian pastor and a Muslim Imam to share about their faith on the topic of "How can you trust in God when times are hard?". The Pastor and the Imam both got to talk for about 15 minutes, and the rest of the night was centered around conversations at each table, which seated 3 Muslim students and 3 Christians. The conversation was SO GOOD! The goal of this event was not on the site conversion towards either faith, but rather just open dialogue to freely ask questions and share about your own belief. I was able to reconnect with Muslim students that I actually tutored in Chemistry back when I was a student, and we plan to continue that relationship to play pool together sometimes soon. 

Photo from our second Pizza Theology

This month, we also had our second Pizza Theology event for the school year. If you remember, this is on a Sunday evening where we spend a total of four hours diving in depth to a college level understanding of a certain topic with a nice pizza break in the middle. This event is always super well attended. Close to 500 students showed up! We looked to consider a biblical approach to money, including how we think about money, how should we use our money, budgeting, and even some practical advice towards credit cards, student loans, and saving. I honestly learned a lot, and I think it is such a helpful topic for college students who are learning to manage their own money, or if not, will soon be.

The Superbowl!

Earlier this month, I got to host a Superbowl watch party at my house. Close to 80 people came and went during the night, which was a lot more than expected. Through crowdfunding of the people who were there, I bought 300 wings and 30 pizzas....and just about all of it was eaten....

With hanging around so many freshmen, because that is just the age of just about all the guys in my small group, I really am remembering how much free time they have. I love that they try to include me in so much, like wanting me to go play basketball in the rec with them at 12AM, however I also have to remind myself that I still have many other responsibilities and cannot live like I do not have to wake up until noon the next day...like many of them do. Part of those responsibilities include my classes! I have finished studying the Gospel's in my New Testament class and have moved on to Paul's letters. It is cool to study more in depth the continued narrative that Paul carries through a lot of his letters, and to try and align them with the different journeys that he went on. Along with classes, I am also preparing a sermon to give to our Friday night crowd at the Grove! Would you please pray this month that I go to God for guidance on what to say and that I remain truthful to his character?

Loving this weather and moving all my meetings outside. 

As we are approaching the last three months of this internship, I have been faced with the question on what to do next. I remember about a year ago from now when I was having my first interview for this job at UTD. I felt so unsure at first and spent most of that time in prayer with God for His continued guidance as I went through that process. Going through the past seven months, I have just seen blessing after blessing. There has been support from so many people, great friendships have been formed between the students, and decisions to live for Jesus have started to grow. I knew I needed to make my own decision on what next year would look like, and after months with God and conversations with many people, I have decided to stay on staff with FOCUS! I am thinking about committing to serve here for the next three years. I am just not ready to leave this sweet part of my life, and I do not feel like God is trying to rush me into the next. If anything, He has opened so many doors this year that I did not think were possible. 

Me and CK! He may not like this photo because he usually has a really nice beard, but I guess that just means he needs to take more pictures with me since this is the only one we have.

A friend that I wanted to highlight this week is CK. He is doing this apprenticeship with me at UTD, and is also someone that I just met this year. CK is so intentional with his words and actions and knows how to laugh harder than anyone I have ever met. He loves Jesus and shows that to those around him with an insane level of patience. He encourages me to be better in that way. Love ya CK!

I feel like every month has now turned into like "no, THIS was the best month ever", but I genuinely am in a season of my life where that feels true. I know it will not stay that way and that there are ups and downs in everything that we do, but until God points us in a different direction, I am excited to keep following Him.

As always, I could not do this without you all. Thank you. Seriously. I hope you can see just a glimpse into the work that I am able to do through your generous giving. If you ever want to talk about it, just shoot me a text! I'd love to. If you made it this far, the songs for the month are "Why I Live for You" by Phil Thompson and "We Want Revival" by Red Worship. I am in a Gospel music kick if you cannot tell.

With love,

Paul M