Fall Fellowship - October Ministry Update
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23
God's mercies really have been so sweet to experience this month and his love has been clearly evident. Your generous support has been part of God's mercies to me and he has been doing wonderful things in the lives of the students here at Collin! It has been so sweet to get to ponder on the faithfulness of Christ and how he uses people to spread his fragrance.
Reading Through Philippians
In our small group this month, we were able to read through and study the book of Philippians. As we read this short, but rich book, we were able to explore and be challenged on topics such as contentment in the face of adversity, humility, service, spiritual goals, accountability, prayer, rejoicing, and assurance of hope. Before we started the series we decorated journals together. It has been so sweet seeing the women come with great excitement each week, taking careful notes, and often staying long past our end time to be with one another. It is such a neat reality that 2,000 years later, our small group got to study what God did in Paul's life and invite God to do something similar in our own!
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| A few of the wonderful ladies in my small group! |
Fall Retreat
One of the highlights of the month was easily our Fall Retreat weekend! Fall Retreat is a 24 hour excursion where we take a break from the bustle of the everyday routine and drive out to Mt. Lebanon to spend time communing with God and each other. At Fall Retreat, we concluded our sermon series on Jesus teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In the final talk, one of our campus pastors, Adriana, led us through two types of roads, two types of prophets, and two types of foundations. The call to action was that we might choose the way of Jesus and build our life on his words.
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| Collin Fall Retreat 2023 |
In addition to the sermon, some of our students lead us into a time of worship where we got to sing songs of praise and songs of lament, worship through poetry, journaling, and art, write out confessions to God and surrender them at the foot of the cross, take communion as remembrance, and end our time with exuberant songs of gratitude. The final day we participated in a time of community sharing and I was so encouraged by the many different ways students were making connections to their own lives and ways they wanted to respond when they returned back to their day-to-day. Here are a few of the responses listed by students:
- Taking more seriously the importance to live with integrity
- Deciding they were going to truly forgive
- Commitments to surrender anxieties to the Lord
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| Dinner Team & Worship Time |
Looking Ahead
Thank you again for your partnership in campus ministry! God has really been working this semester and with about 5 more weeks to go, I am eagerly anticipating the many ways He will continue to bring life, light, and freedom to students. On November 5th, we will get the neat opportunity to hear from Professor Iain Provan at our semi-annual Pizza Theology. He will be talking to us about his book, Cuckoos in Our Nest: Truth and Lies about Being Human. Having him as a professor for our Old Testament class has been a wonderful experience and I am so looking forward to what he has to impart with our FOCUS community. Additionally, each year FOCUS has a fundraising initiative. Our staff will be matching donations. If you would like to join me in praying for this and that God might bring generous hearts to us, that would be hugely appreciated.
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