April Update

As I look back over this month I am very encouraged. Our school year is coming to a close, as next week is exam week for our students, but it has been neat to reflect over the last nine months and see the growth that has occurred. On the girl's side of the ministry seven out of our eight student leaders were brand new to this role. As an eighteen or nineteen year old, and really your first time regardless of your age, trying to lead people to Jesus is intimidating and scary to say the least. All of those girls, despite their fears, have jumped in and let God use them this year. They've reached out and befriended new students, they've studied scripture with people one on one, and they've planned and lead a small group! I am super proud of them. They've taken all my challenges for them very well, while challenging me at the same time. I'm most proud of how they've chosen to make their lives about other people. They work hard, they put in a lot of hours, and a lot of emotional as well as physical energy; and it has not gone without impact. They have risen up new leaders for next year, and continue to teach and move others along. Four of our girls are going to be sticking around for next year, and we're taking four more to leadership training this summer, so it's looking like we'll have another awesome set of leaders, and another great year of growth!

We had another girl get baptized this month! It was soooo neat. Nicole, a girl new to our ministry this year was baptized by Cierra, one of our student leaders who has spent time a lot of time studying the bible with her and really teaching her the cost of discipleship. Cierra cried through most of it, and it was so touching to me. It was clear that she had a deep love for this girl, and that she was overflowing with joy that she was making Jesus Lord of her life. That's what it's all about! Nicole recently started studying with her mom, teaching her the same things Cierra has taught her. That's our vision, that those who have been taught go back out to teach! I hope you're as encouraged by that as I am.

Nicole's Baptism

Another thing from this month was our annual event Help Us Help the Homeless. Every year we build a box house and man it for 24 hours, trying to raise money and supplies for the Samaritan Inn. We also do this to have a presence on campus and give us an opportunity to meet new students and possibly strike meaningful conversation. I thought it was our best year yet!

Our box house this year, and the famous Ally :) I'm studying the bible with her right now.

Intern class has been great this last month as well. One of my assignments was to write a sermon over the book of Philippians. I was supposed to pick out three important points that encompass most of the book. It was really cool to me to see what I've learned thus far in class come into practice. It was clear to me that not only have I learned a lot of scripture and its meaning but I've also learned a lot about how to read scripture and connect it with other scriptures to find the real meaning. I've always loved Philippians, and read the book and pieces of the book a lot through the years; but I have never understood it as much as I do now, and I love it even more! The Word is so neat, guys. It is truly amazing and something to be loved and cherished. I pray that you will grow in your love and desire for it, and in turn, your understanding and love for Jesus. The pursuit of scriptural knowledge should always be to understand Jesus better. If it doesn't lead you to Jesus then you've missed it. Jesus says in John 5:39-40, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." As we've heard over and over in our class, "Continue to exact your view of Jesus." For out of Jesus should all of our beliefs flow; beliefs about life, ourselves, others, God, scripture, all should be constructed out of our understanding of Jesus.

Please continue to pray for our ministry. Pray for the studies that are still going on and that will continue through the summer. I have two that I am doing right now, one that I am close to finishing and one I am just beginning. Pray for those, pray that summer will be a time of great growth for our students and not a time of regression, and pray for our summer Focus meetings. All of our campuses will be meeting together over the summer rather than separately like during the school year; it's gonna be awesome!

God bless, much thanks, and much love!

Bri

March Update

Another month of God being good! This whole semester our ministry has been going through a simple sermon series on what it takes to follow Jesus. Specifically this month we've talked a lot about vision, and taking on the vision of Christ, both in view of the future and just in how we see things day to day. I feel our students have had a good response to these lessons and are striving to take on Christ's vision more and more.

Last week we had a baptism within our ministry! One of our student leaders had been studying scripture with this girl from the beginning of the year. At one point during their study, the girl ended up walking away from the study because she wasn't ready or willing to give up some of the things she would have to in order to follow Christ. Through a lot of prayer and continuing to speak truth into the girl's life, she came back to the ministry, finished the study, and decided to give her life to the Lord! How exciting! She is now seeking to study with other people and point them to the new hope and truth she has found! Good things are happening and students are making powerful decisions for the Lord. Keep praying for His work in our ministry.

Now I'll leave you with an encouragement, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of view. In order to follow Christ our view point must change. Seek to see the world as Christ does! Seek to see your future as Christ does. Christ shouldn't fit into your vision, you're vision should be His vision.

God bless, thanks for all your support, and love you all!!

-Bri

February Update

Sorry I never have a really clever title. Our staff was making fun of each other the other day because we realized that we all always start our blogs talking about how fast time has gone by and that it's a new month already, and so on and so forth. You'll notice they all managed to not do that this time.

Anyway, my oh my how time does fly! I can't believe it's March already. :) February went great. It was a significant month in our ministry because this is when we spend a lot of time thinking about leadership for next year, as crazy as that may seem. One of our main forms of training for our leaders is sending them to a conference in Washington State called SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry). It's a week long training on how to do campus ministry. This isn't just fun and games either, you're in class for about 8 hours a day. It's intense, but it's awesome, and extremely helpful. I remember going after my freshman year at Collin and how impactful it was on my life and ministry. As God continues to bless us, we have taken more and more students this year. I heard we invited over 60 students! And these are students that are serious about God and who we see as being able to lead in our ministries next year. That's a lot of people and so exciting to think about how many lives can be effected through that many people, and the people we took last year, and the year before, and so on. Catch the vision guys, God is working on college campuses to change the world. I've seen so many people's world radically changed already.

The new potential interns have also turned in their applications, as of yesterday. Interviews will be going on this week to decide who those people will be. I'm excited for them. I know I've said this before, and I'm sure I will say it again on this blog, but the internship has changed my life. I have learned so much, I have grown in  my abilities, and capacities, and my love for God and people. I have had changes in my perspective, attitude, and heart. It hasn't been easy, and when some things get easier, there are new challenges around the corner, but I can honestly say it has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. I am honored and privileged to get to work alongside such Godly people. I want you guys to know that the people I work with are the most committed, most faithful, most in love with God, and most eager to do His will people you'll find. And they love college students, and have a passion for them to know the Lord. That's who I've been learning from all year.

Great things are happening, keep praying. A lot of our one on one studies are starting to get to the last few lessons. That's where the rubber meets the road, people decide to be a disciple of Jesus or not. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY for these. Pray for us and our student leaders that we can do a good job teaching these lessons, and pray that God will work on these people's hearts and in their lives, and that more and more will be added to His kingdom to join us in reaching others! This is a very exciting time in our ministry and where we see a lot of the fruit of our years work. God is good and He is faithful. I love you guys and am blessed to get to work alongside you for the Lord.

Thank you and God bless,
Bri

January Update

Well the semester is well underway and going great! We have had lots of visitors at FOCUS as well as our small groups. God is bringing people our way, and raising more people up from among us! As I talked about in my last blog, spring is a time for change and the emergence of new leaders. How exciting! We have a number of girls stepping up and trying to do more for the kingdom than they’ve ever done before. Pray for them, that they will continue on and that we can be a great support and encouragement in helping them continue to grow.

One of the girls I get to study the bible with told me this week that she was explaining our study to her dad and why she does it. I think the idea was pretty foreign to him. She said that she told him, “You don’t understand, I get to do this with someone else when I’m done.” That was what she was most excited about. An eighteen year old is investing heavily in her own walk with God, so that she can then invest heavily in others. She also said she is excited to move out and closer to the school so that she will have a place to bring people in who maybe don’t have a good home situation and help them, and give them a place where they feel loved and cared about. That doesn’t really sound like a typical eighteen year old to me.

This is a picture from winter camp, that's her in the middle :)

I would like to finish with some things we've been discussing in our intern class that will hopefully be an encouragement to you. This is an excerpt from the last paper I had to write for class. We've been talking about what it means to be saved by faith. 

"What is it that we are to have faith in though? Faith in God: faith that He’s the deal and that He’s got everything taken care of. This means we don’t try to earn our salvation. When we start thinking we can attain our salvation by what we do, we are no longer living by faith. We have shifted faith in God to faith in ourselves, and about this Paul says “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” We are to have faith that Christ can and has atoned for our sin for the sake of our salvation, and that we could never attain such a thing by our own efforts. Faith like this, if it is true faith, will inevitably produce complete devotion to Christ, which is ultimately what God really wants from us; not a list of laws kept, but a life surrendered to Him brought about by our faith."

It's pretty simple. Be devoted to God. God's not looking for people who do everything perfect, who keep all the "laws," and do what "good" people do. God wants to look at you and see that you are crazy for Him and that you trust Him completely. And this isn't a cop out for not being obedient, this gives us reason to be even more obedient!"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2).

Be crazy about God, He's so crazy about you!

Much love and thanks,

Bri

A New Year and a New Semester!

Well are winter break is coming to a close. This weekend we go to our annual winter camp and the students will start school on Tuesday. I think the break has been good for our ministry. I know for me, getting to spend more time with friends and family was very refreshing and rejuvenating. Having had that time, and just getting back from our FOCUS staff retreat, I am geared up and super excited to start another semester.

Fall semester is always a neat time in ministry: lots of new people come in, it's exciting to see people start to change their lives and begin to live for Jesus, and we get to watch our cores go from strangers to a close knit group of people encouraging each other in their walk and close, deep relationships. Those things don't only happen in Fall semester but those, to me, characterize the first half of our year.

Spring semester, I think, is even more exciting. This is where a lot of people turn a corner in their lives. You see people on the fringe become core members, you see people who have been in our ministry start to think as leaders rather than members, they begin to look for ways to serve others rather than look out for themselves, those who have been so heavily invested in begin to invest in others. People start to step up, people make big decisions, and people get more focused on the Kingdom. I think this probably happens for a number of reasons but the two that stand out to me are, one, winter camp, and two, we begin to challenge people on some of these things.

Winter camp is truly a turning point for a lot of people. It was turning point for myself. My first semester at Collin in 2007 was kinda difficult for me. It was hard leaving high school and everything I knew there and start over basically. But at winter camp that year I deepened so many friendships, and began a friendship with the girl who was my maid of honor. Winter camp is designed to facilitate relationships, and to encourage and create a spring board for people in their walk, and God comes through every year. I hear all the time people saying things like, winter camp is why they stuck around, winter camp changed their life, etc.

And spring semester is a time of challenging. People have usually been around awhile and have become comfortable, and that means it's time to become uncomfortable :). We don't ever want to be a group of comfortable people. Comfortable people don't grow. We have a vision for the future, for having a campus ministry on every campus in the metroplex, of having a church near every campus in the metroplex, and ultimately of making and maturing as many disciples as possible. That's disciples, not mediocre, comfortable "Christians." Maybe that sounds harsh, but we've been put here for a mission, and we owe it to our awesome Lord to give it all we got. If we are going to do these things, then we have to raise up leaders. And spring semester is time to look for and develop the people who will lead our ministry next year and the people who will be able to step up and take on the vision as their own.

So those are our thoughts going into this weekend and into the Spring semester. Gosh, God has been so good to us, over and over again. We have had such a smooth and fruitful first semester, now it's time for the rubber to meet the road. This is the time for some big decisions in these students' lives. So please be in prayer for them. Pray for winter camp, that God would do big things in people's lives, that He would work through our leaders, and that His Spirit would be with us. Pray for the semester, that students will step up and rise to the challenge of really living for God and doing His work.

Thank you for your support in this work. I pray that you will be encouraged in your own faith, that this year will be a time of growth in your commitment and love for our great God, and that you will be blessed richly by Him and the great gifts that only He can give.

Much love,
Bri

God is Faithful

I want to use this blog to talk about the faithfulness of God. And how faith-deserving He is.


I love the song "Faithful." One of the verses says, "Faithful, you are faithful. I have found nothing but good in your heart." That is so true, and also one of my favorite things about God. There is NOTHING bad in Him, nothing sinful, nothing wrong, nothing harmful, no lies or deceit...NOTHING but GOOD, nothing but truth. What good news is that! There is One who we can have complete faith and trust in. He is completely good, completely faithful, He will never let us down, never lie to us, never harm us. He is the "one and only," as John refers to Him in his gospel. 


Our semester has gone awesome at Collin. This is now my 5th year of doing campus ministry, and from experience, I can tell you it has been a very blessed first half. We have so many girls who have invested heavily in our ministry and who have begun to catch the vision of what God can do in and through them.


I had one of our freshman girls over to my house a couple weeks ago for lunch. I was so encouraged by her story. She graduated from Allen High School and had planned to go off somewhere for college. When it came time however some doors closed and those other schools didn't end up working out. She knew her dad preferred her to go to Collin anyways, so she reluctantly decided she would go ahead and go there just for this year. One of her friends that summer before starting college had met some of our guys while they were out playing ultimate frisbee one night, and so, knowing she was a Christian, told her about the ministry and that she should get involved. She didn't think much else about it. Once school came, she started her new job, and her boss happened to be one of the guys who was a part of our Collin ministry early on. He also told her about Focus and invited her that week. Since she had now heard about it twice she thought she better go, that maybe God wanted her there. She went that first night and as Casey talked, she said she got kinda freaked out haha. He was challenging all the students to not think of Collin as a stepping stone, or a waiting period, until they got to their "real" college experience, but to seek what God's purpose is for them here and now. She said that was the exact mentality she had. She didn't want to go to Collin, she thought she would be depressed and bummed out all year, and couldn't wait till she was able to go somewhere else. But those words caught her attention, and she has been one of our most faithful and involved members this year. She is happy, she has tons of close friends here, she is growing in her walk, and is considering staying at Collin another year, and maybe even going to UNT after that to be involved with our ministry there (at least that's what I told her to do :) ). I foresee her being an awesome leader in the Kingdom and, God willing, in our ministry.

This is a picture of her and I at my wedding.

That's just one example of the faithfulness we get from God. He takes care of us, He does what's best for us. He works everything out for our good. It is our job to listen for His voice, have FAITH, and just be obedient.

I will make a small note here: Yes, evil is in the world; bad things happen. Bad things happen to some of the best. But that isn't from God; God never wanted that. Don't let Satan fool you into blaming God for the bad in this world. If he can do that, then you have let him win. 

The good news is that God is so good that He can turn bad things around for good. And in the end God wins! We know the outcome of all of this. Good triumphs over evil! And until then, we've got the big guy on our side, working everything out for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).

Isaiah 48:17-18: This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.

God's way is always the best way, not always the easiest I might say, but always the best. He is faithful to us, and He is deserving of our faith.


Keep praying for our ministry! Pray for our students' exams, pray that their winter break will be fruitful, and be praying for our winter camp coming up in January! That camp is one of the most important things we do all year, it has changed many lives, pray God will continue to work as He has in the past, and even more and more!

Here is a silly picture of our ministry at Fall Camp in September :)

Much love and thanks to you all! God bless!

October Update

October was a fun and very crazy month. For starters I got married, which if you’re reading this you probably already know. That caused me to have a pretty fast and furious October; I felt mentally and physically exhausted a lot of the time. With that said, I am very happy to be married now, and to not be planning a wedding anymore! The wedding was great, I was glad to have it, it was fun and special, but I am ecstatic that it’s over and I get to just enjoy the married life and do ministry again without having a constant haunting feeling that I forgot to get something done and that my wedding will be a disaster. Life is good.

Even though October was full of stress, God is good and God is faithful. He’s been working fervently in our ministry and He has continued to bless me by teaching me new things and reminding me of things I know but seem to forget about.

On our girl’s side of the ministry I estimate that we have over thirty one-on-one bible studies going on. That is awesome! These are with girls that are involved in our ministry as well as those who aren’t. We aren’t a ministry that is focused on getting people to our large group meeting and building up our numbers. We are focused on helping people find Jesus, fall in love with Him, and ultimately give their life to Him. And if that happens through them coming to our ministry, great, but if not than that’s God’s business and we are happy to play whatever part He’s given us. One really cool thing from this month that I would like to share with you is a story of one our student leaders. She works at a bank with I think five or so women who are all quite a bit older than her. She was telling me that she has had some religious conversations with them here and there when it has come up, and has given bibles to two of them on different occasions after they had approached her with various spiritual questions.  She then told me that she felt like God was wanting her to ask a particular one of them if they would be interested in studying the bible, and although scared to do so, she did. The lady said yes and was very excited about the opportunity. Running into the girl’s mom later on she said, “You’re daughter’s gonna teach me!” How cool is that? A twenty year old has trusted God, despite fear and intimidation, and is going to teach the gospel to a forty-seven year old! God is good you guys, and He is working! I encourage you to look at your own life. What has God been pushing you to do? If you can’t think of anything, then you’re probably not opening your ears and listening. Paul tells us that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” If we are being led by the Spirit then we should have plenty on our minds of what we should be doing for Him, because there is plenty of work to be done. I was encouraged and challenged by this story, and hope you will take it to heart also, being spurred on toward saying “yes” to God in whatever He asks of you, and keeping your eyes and ears open to the Spirit.

We've got about a month and a half left of the semester and then it’s winter break. Which winter break is actually still a great time for ministry in our community college realm because no one really “goes home” since they all live close, so that will be just as exciting as the semester. Please keep praying for us! Pray big prayers, have big faith, and be looking for what God is calling you to do as well. I love you guys and gals. Thank you for your support in letting me get the chance to work for God in a really cool and exciting way, it wouldn't be possible without ya’ll.

Let this be a month full of praising God and doing big things for Him!