Marks Campus Ministry Blog

Hi everyone! Welcome to my campus ministry update for the month of January. This month has been slower than normal, so I don't have quite as many pictures (sorry!), but its been a month of reflecting and preparing for the new year and a new semester. Some sweet students in our ministry organized a New Year's Eve party! We started out the new year with Focus staff retreat, where all the Focus staff from all the campuses (about 50 of us in total) drove out to central Texas to spend time with one another and realign our hearts for the upcoming year. Focus has a sister ministry in Washington called CCF (Campus Christian Fellowship) and Brady and Shirley Bobbink, who have been ministers there for more than 40 years came down to encourage us and answer questions about ministry. There was lots of time for us to hike and play games as well, so I got to know several of the other staff a lot better.  Watching the sunset at staff retreat Hiking at Ink's Lake state...

Hi everyone! Welcome to my ministry update for the month of December! This month has been a really great end to the semester and God has been faithful in some really cool ways. This month, all of the Focus Apprentices gave sermons with the topic "This is My Gospel." This was a challenging assignment for me, as it is really difficult to condense all that Jesus means to me into 20 minutes. I rewrote my sermon about 5 times, but I finally wanted to settle down and focus on what it means that Jesus died for us, and that the cross changes the way we live our lives. Because of the cross, we know that God isn't distant. We know that he is willing to go through suffering, to live among his people. They say the best leaders are those who don't call you do anything they won't do, and Jesus shows us that he is a God worth following because he has already paid the highest price for us. If you want to read my full sermon, here's a link: https://docs.google.com/do...

Hi everyone! Welcome to my ministry update for the month of October! I want to start off by sharing some of the things God has been teaching me through my ministry. Earlier this month, I was talking with Cody McCarty, my pastoral supervisor, and he offered some comments on how I've been doing as an apprentice so far. Overall, he was super encouraging and thinks I'm doing a good job, but two areas that we've both noticed I need to grow in are boldness in confronting others and being vulnerable with others. I was praying about this, and God was showing me that both of these are the symptoms of a bigger issue, namely wanting to please both God and people.  I tend to be someone who likes to please others, but obviously pleasing God sometimes means displeasing people. Earlier this month I had to call out a student who asked another student to participate in a fight with him, and I was so upset because I didn't want to rock the boat on our relationship. Pleasing God meant c...

Hi everyone! This is my ministry update for the month of October, and I want to start by sharing a personal story and some of things God has been teaching me out of that. About two years ago, I had a friend in my life who was dealing with some problems with drugs, and I was really trying to help him out. He ended up moving in with me, and I spent so much time, spiritual, and emotional energy trying to help him and convince him to get help and turn his life around. I prayed for him fervently because I really believed that the only way things would turn out well was if God stepped in and acted. The situation ended really poorly, and because it felt like God didn't answer that prayer, my trust in God basically hit a wall. It wasn't explicit, but I implicitly assumed that prayer didn't work so I didn't pray very much, and certainly not with the same faith and expectation I did for that situation. I've been learning to trust God again for the past couple years, and God...

Hi everyone, school has started now and there are so many cool stories about what God is doing ! I want to thank all of you again for your prayers and support! I couldn’t do any of this without your help. This first month has been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I’ve read about two thirds of the old testament, experienced welcome week, and seen God working in our leadership team in so many ways. Welcome week is the first week of school. We spend a lot of time on campus meeting students and inviting them into friendship. We meet a lot of new students, and God was really faithful to help us share his love with people. I met one guy during an outreach event who ended up coming to Core (Focus small group). Later he shared that he had moved two years ago and was so thankful to hang out with friends and find a place to grow in his faith. Fellow apprentice Adriana and I preparing for welcome week Meeting new students and playing games at Spring Creek Campus during welcome week ...

Hi everyone, I’m so excited to get to begin to share my experiences as a campus minister with you! It feels like I’m taking my first steps into a new world and finding that God has been preparing me to learn and grow in new ways. I want to thank all of you who are supporting me financially or praying for me. I couldn’t do any of this without your generous support and you have all been so encouraging and loving as I begin my work. Getting to partner with all of you is a huge privilege! My fellow apprentice ministers and I on the night of our ordination ceremony A few weeks ago, the ministry held an ordination ceremony for all the new staff members. In this ceremony two students representing the ministry describe our calling and a vow is extracted from the staff members that we will fulfill our duties to the students. We make promises that even when we don’t feel like it, we will preach Christ and him crucified. When students ask us to tell them what they want to hear, we hav...