Emily U.'s Ministry Updates

First Summer Focus of the year! We love because he first loved us - 1 John 4:19 I like you just the way you are - Fred Rogers Summer FOCUS kicked off this past month and has been such a huge gift from God. Getting to worship together as a body again was a such a sweet thing to come back to. I was filled with so much joy that first night. I hadn't realized how much I missed worship like this and how God uses it to fill us up. We have started a sermon series focused on growing our affection for Jesus that so far has been so powerful. Each week a staff member comes with a story about Jesus from scripture that touches them. They also bring some form of art or media to help us connect to the story itself. If you want to watch a sermon yourself you can access past broadcasts here:  https://www.twitch.tv/utdfocus/videos Staff who are leaving this summer being prayed over. (Since I leave at the end of July they are going to celebrate me later).  Graduated students getting training for...

Staff and our student leaders. So thankful for these faithful servants.  3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  - 1 Philippians 1:3-6 When I reflect on this year I am blown away by God's goodness and his ability to sustain his people in the midst of a global pandemic. Not only did he sustain us he provided for and allowed us to grow. We are inviting more students to SICM than we ever have, had the largest leader team we have ever had, and had the most successful fundraising year in the midst of great uncertainty. In addition our wider ministry across DFW is poised for a big year this coming fall. We have 19 pastoral apprentices coming onto staff (including my sister Claire!), we are targeting up to 5 new campuse...

  Core on our quick Austin Trip! I have loved living life with these girls. Over spring break I got the chance to go on a short trip with my core girls. It was a really sweet time of fellowship and bonding in the beautiful city of Austin Texas. This year has been a weird one with masks, COVID scares, and no Winter Camp but God has done so many good things in spite of it all. We has no mass infections of COVID this year, we have gotten to worship together in person outside safely after a year without it, we are inviting 60 students from UTA to SICM (the leadership conference we send potential leaders to), core has continued to happen and flourish, and God has moved in each one of these girls hearts with two of them now considering baptism! Our God is a sustainer and life-giver who delights in us drawing close to him. And he is so good to let us participate in what he is doing.  We also got to do a week of outreach on campus a couple weeks ago. Several new students were invited ...

Valentines Day Party My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me,      the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns,      broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13 At a student leader meeting recently, Jalen (one of my fellow campus ministers at UTA) led us in a discussion on identity in God. Through Jeremiah, God was calling Israel to turn back to him. They had turned aside to things that weren't God and couldn't give them life. Broken cisterns that couldn't give them life giving water. What are your broken cisterns? Where do you go for things that God can give? I thought I would share the questions Jalen gave us as the process ministered to me. Perhaps it will minister to you. The following questions should help you to determine what your broken cisterns are: When someone asks you to tell them a bit about yourself, what's the first thing you want them to know about you? What aspect of who you are offe...

Cedar Ridge Preserve School is officially back in session and so is campus ministry! It has been sweet getting back into the swing of core and meeting up with students. Many interactions have been virtual lately due to the increase of COVID cases. I am so thankful that there are ways we can meet in person safely and virtually when that is not an option. Ministry would be much more difficult without the technology we have today.  On a hike with Juli and Riannon Due to COVID we rotate the people who can come to our weekly ministry-wide meetings (Deep Dive) with the service streamed to the rest of the community. It was my cores turn this past week and it was so special to get to come in person again. We also started our outdoor worship session that we are going to be doing every week before deep dive from now on. Worshipping as a church body is so vital and important. Every time I get a special chance to do it again safely I remember how sweet and filling the experience is. I am psych...

UTA Staff with the gifts we got in our secret santa. I seriously love this team. Earlier this month we had our annual winter staff retreat. It was smaller than usual and many precautions were taken before going but I am so glad we got to do it. Staff retreat is always so sweet and restful for me. It gets me excited for the upcoming semester. I get to see staff members who work on other campuses and hear about what God has been doing there. This year specifically we had two sessions where we talked through the history of FOCUS. (Those who couldn't attend in person joined us on zoom.) It was a time for each person in chronological order to share about how God brought them into FOCUS and then brought them on staff. We heard from those who were there when Focus came together in 1996 at UTD a campus that had no student life let alone christian ministries to get involved in. FOCUS actually started the first welcome events that UTD ever had in a effort to bless the campus and reach out to...