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An Amazing Beginning!

Hello again, my friends!

Weeks of Welcome
UTD students began arriving to campus 2 weeks ago, which marked the beginning of UTD's annual "Weeks of Welcome." For the first couple weeks of the school year, UTD hosts tons of events to foster an environment in which students can build friendships and connections with one another. The pastors and student-leaders in FOCUS have been hitting the ground SPRINTING, hosting events once or even twice a day, trying to make the most of these two weeks. 

Here you see one of the unofficial events I put together... Spikeball! Spikeball is one of my absolute favorite games and the only thing that can make it better is also doing ministry at the same time. :)

Here, also, is a selfie 3 UTD freshmen and I took on our way back from Whataburger after one of our many packed board-game nights!

From left to right we have Spencer, Hansen, Cade, 
and myself. (With a beard! Unlike last week's blog...)

They repeatedly expressed how meaningful it was that a graduate (myself) and a senior in FOCUS (Luke, not pictured) took a bunch of freshmen to eat when they didn't have their cars on campus. It reminds me how powerful a simple shared meal can be when loving on our neighbors!

One of them came to our weekly "Friday Night Fellowship" (FNF) and is going to get plugged into a student-led core! (Small group) This makes me especially joyful because cores are one of the most important parts of all that FOCUS does as a ministry. I've met nearly all of my best friends through cores over the years.

Friday Night Fellowship
Speaking of FNF, our efforts during the weeks of welcome were a total success! We had about 200 students show up for the first meeting of the semester! We worshiped God together, received an impactful message from one of our campus pastors, Brandon, then casually hung out for an additional 2 hours, giving the students the chance to further build relationships with one another.


Bonus points if you can find my forehead ;)

Gautham!
Lastly, I wanted to share about my new friend Gautham! I met him at FNF last week. He's an international student from India who just landed in America a few weeks ago. While identifying and growing up with the belief system of Hinduism, he's expressed a significant curiosity about Christianity and the various ministries at UTD. My hope and prayer is that Gautham responds with open arms and an open mind as God pursues him during his time in America.

Bonus points if you can find his forehead in the FNF pic too.
(Hint, it's next to mine...)

We hung out yesterday at Starbucks and he tried a Cappuccino for the first time! While we were talking I learned more about his life back in India, his aspirations for post-graduate school, and how he plans to spend his time while in college. He loved FNF and especially the worship. He literally stood in awe whispering "wow..." as the students finished singing to God all together. He said that he'd like to make FNF a priority this year as he's starting his part-time job on campus. He's also expressed an interest in core and I'm praying he decides to check it out! I am abundantly confident that he'll develop loving friendships that point him to Jesus like none he's had in his entire life. 



Thank you again so much for your support! Without y'all, stories like Gautham's and the hundreds to follow would not be possible.

Pray
  • Core (small groups) - Our student leaders (along with me and a few of the other campus pastors) are starting core this week! Please pray that God gives them wisdom and compassion as they strive to start off the year on a strong foot.
  • Gautham - Pray for Gautham and the thousands of other international students at UTD. Our Lord loves them so dearly and wants them to draw near to him even more than do any of us.
  • Fall Camp - UTD hosts what's called "Fall Camp" every year which is a 24-hour retreat designed to create unity and friendship across the students in the community. It's been a very meaningful time for me in the past, and will take place on September 18th. Please pray for the relationships that will be established and grown during that time!


I look forward to sharing with y'all what God has in store for September. :)
Your brother,
Taylor



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