November Update

With just a week and a half left in the fall semester, I have so much to rejoice about and praise God for as I look back on the past few months.

We had more students than ever before, right around 20, step into some kind of leadership role this year. That means there are at least that many young people going onto our campus each day with a purpose in mind that exceeds and supersedes what is going on in their classes—they are there on God’s behalf. Each one of them is engaged in befriending their peers, initiating valuable spiritual conversations, and studying the bible one-on-one.

I would estimate we have somewhere in the range of 40-50 one-on-one bible studies going on right now. How cool is that?!?

I was really encouraged by a conversation with one of our corefas (student small group leader) last week. We were talking about the guys in his core and thinking about potential leaders for next year. He mentioned that a guy named Matt, who is a sophomore this year, has really been stepping up in their core.

As I reflected on that, I began to think through the process by which Matt came into our community. Two years prior, a freshman named Chad got connected with FOCUS through his older sister. I had the privilege of spending some time studying the Word and forging a friendship with Chad that year, and the following year he stepped up and led a core. That year, he reached out to a student named Tong from Thailand—befriending him, studying the Word with him, and helping him grow in his faith.

The following fall, Chad transferred to UNT. The first day of school, I was eating lunch in the café at Collin College, and in walked Tong. With him were two guys he had just met in his Computer Science class. He had initiated with them and invited them both to eat after class. One of those two guys was very quiet and shy. His name was Matt.

In the following months, I watched Tong use the things he learned through his relationship with Chad to shape his friendship with Matt. Now, a year later, I have another student leader telling me how much Matt is growing and stepping up.

Tong and Chad

Matt (left) with Tong and guys from core

This reminded me of so many powerful truths. First, that God can and wants to work through each one of us to impact the people around us.

Second, that it’s not as hard as we make it out to be! If we just take the time to be bold in initiating with people and invest in them, God will do the most difficult work.

Third, he doesn’t need people with amazing talents and communication skills—he just needs hearts that are surrendered to him. He used a 19 year old that struggled with doubt to impact a student from Thailand who was fairly timid and unconfident in his ability to communicate. He used that student to impact a quiet freshman on his first day of school, and now he’s using that guy to minister to a whole group of guys that he meets with every week.

And lastly, it reminded me that this is how the Kingdom grows. We must have a vision beyond the here and now. We don’t have to impact thousands. We only need to help one person build a relationship with Christ and understand His call on their life. The impact of one relationship can send out a wake beyond our wildest imaginations, altering countless lives and changing the course of generations to follow each of those disciples.

I hope you are as challenged by that as I am. And I ask you to pray for MANY more stories such as this one!

All my love and gratitude to each of you,
Casey

October Update

I have been really encouraged this month getting to see and hear how our students are growing in their relationships with one another and with Christ.

I'm currently studying the bible with a young guy that I've been spending some time with on and off for about 5 or 6 months.  He's been around our ministry for a couple years, but never very involved or invested.  This past summer was a real low point for him, leaving him feeling disenchanted, isolated, and estranged from God.  On top of that, while it was obvious to him that something was wrong, it was obvious to me that he wouldn't take advice to overcome those things!

I challenged him pretty hard about it near the end of the summer.  About a week later, he contacted me with a much different attitude about the things we'd spoken about.  And while it wasn't overnight, I've gotten to watch him slowly change his mindset and habits.  He committed himself to being a part of the community, to look for ways to give, and to work on building spiritual friendships with some of the guys.

What a change it has brought about in him!  At the end of our time last week, he told me he feels like he's been missing out his entire life.  Growing up without a father in the picture, he said he's never had guys in his life that could help him figure things out and navigate this life in a way that glorifies God.  I just can't wait till he gets to turn around and play that role in the lives of other young men.

Another cool story...  One of our student leaders at Collin this year had shared with me back in the summer that she really wanted to find ways to reach out to her co-workers.  She works at a bank and is by far the youngest person in her department--most of them are old enough to be her parents.  But she has purposefully worked to that end, buying a couple of her co-workers a bible along the way.

Long story short, I found out today that she has set up a one-on-one bible study with a woman in her 40's.  What 20-year-old does that?  This one does!  God is raising up young people in our midst that go into spiritual battle every day in their own spheres of influence.  This isn't just about our campuses, this is about the Kingdom of God expanding wherever His people go.


Please pray that our one-on-one bible studies will be fruitful, that students will come to know the Lord, and that they will understand what it is that He is calling them to.

Thank you for your prayers and continued support.  This work is indeed impossible apart from the grace, love and power of our Lord.  May He receive all the glory!

Much love and thanks,
Casey

September Update

Well we're 6 weeks in already!  People ask me often how things are going, and my most common answer is simply, "Fast."  I guess that's a good thing, because it tells me there's a lot going on...and there is!

Our students have done a tremendous job purposefully meeting, engaging, and befriending people.  We've definitely got the biggest group we've ever had at Collin; I'm betting we've broken 100 several times on Thursday nights.  I've attached a couple photos of Thursday Night Fellowship for you to see:

Where are the guys!?!?

It's a lot of fun to look around and see a full cafeteria, but the truly exciting part is knowing that each of those students are being drawn into relationship with Jesus-people that can share His love with them and speak truth into their lives.  The student leaders have already set up many one-on-one bible studies; in fact, I think most of them have several each.  Please pray that God speaks powerfully through His Word and within those spiritual friendships.

Two weeks ago, we traveled out to the Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment in Cedar Hill for our annual Fall Retreat.  After getting a huge influx of new students every August, we plan this retreat each September as an opportunity to get away and get to know everyone a little bit.  We had a few students  share a bit of their story, had some walk-and-talk times, shared a few meals, played some pretty crazy games, and talked about the kind of community we desire (and God desires!) to become and the potential roadblocks to getting there.

FOCUS Fall Retreat

Bottom line:  We want to be a place God dwells--a place where people can come and experience Him.

I've been encouraged by all the good feedback we've gotten about camp.  Brianna said several of the girls shared at core group the next week about how thankful they are that they've found FOCUS and how they are really going to make the community a priority in their life this year.

I think the thing I'm most excited about is...well, there are two things.
1. Our student leaders are growing so much already.  God is using our community to raise up workers for the harvest--life-long disciple-makers that will be sent out to many different schools and workplaces in the years to come.
2. God has brought us people that really need him.  I don't know everyone's story, but I know enough to know that we're in the trenches and we're fighting the right battles.

Of course we know that the battle belongs to the Lord.  The victory is His already.  So I ask you to pray for our staff and our students, and for our campuses--that the Kingdom will be advanced.

To Him be the glory!  With much love and gratitude,
Casey

August Update

There goes August!  Beginning a new school year is always a stressful and overwhelming time for me (well, for all of us).  Selecting new leaders, planning welcome week events, and prepping for a year's worth of sermons, meetings, and mentoring relationships is quite a task.  Thankfully I've got 2 great interns to help with all of that.

Brianna Worsham and Matt Clark stepped into our full-time internship this year.  Brianna graduated this past spring from the University of North Texas, where she helped pioneer a campus ministry last year.  She shared her vision for herself and for our ministry this last Thursday night, and I seriously had to keep myself from crying; it was so powerful.  She will be mentoring all of our women leaders this year, and so she has spent the last few weeks beginning to build those relationships.

Matt was actually one of the guys I got to disciple when I was a student at UT Dallas.  He graduated several years ago and has been volunteering his time to help out at Collin College for 2 years.  Already having built many relationships and mentored some of the young men in our ministry, he has been able to make a pretty seamless transition into a more full-time role.  I can tell he puts a lot of thought and heart into each relationship, and it shows in his impact on people's lives.  Matt is a talented guy, and he has designed all of our new artwork for this coming school year for all 4 campuses. 

 So God is good; He always provides.  And we're off to the races.  We've got a great crew of 9 corefas (our small group facilitators).  We also have another 8 or so students that have stepped up to lead in various ways.  This team of people has already been such an encouragement to me--they sincerely love God and love people, and they want to see Jesus impact their campus in a powerful way.  I'm sure I'll have some neat stories to tell about them as the year progresses.

As of now, each of them are hard at work meeting and befriending students.  One of our second year students, Gabe, came up to me on the first day of school; he had already met 5 new people and gotten phone numbers from 2 of them so he could follow up.  And that was before lunch!

Their work is paying of thus far.  We probably had over 80 students hanging out at our volleyball night in the on-campus apartments, and 90-100 at our first Thursday Night Fellowship.

We know the real work is yet to come, and it happens one-on-one.  We'll be starting our small groups this next week, as well as looking to set up one-on-one studies.  Only God brings growth and change, so be in prayer with us that He does mighty things in the hearts of young people at Collin.  Big numbers are exciting, but they mean nothing if we're not building deep foundations of faith.

Thanks for your faithful support.  Much love and gratitude to you all,
Casey

P.S. Here's a pic from our intern and staff retreat.  All four campuses are represented.  Bri is above me in the white, and Matt is next to me in brown.