Skip to main content

The Punchline of a 15-Year Joke

Hello again, my friends!

15 Years Later...
Well guys, the thing I was most worried about in doing the apprenticeship has finally come... Giving a sermon! (Or in this case, 1/3 of a sermon in partnership with the other 2 UTD apprentices.) I distinctly remember as a kid looking up at the pastor of my childhood church thinking I would NEVER do that. I would never want to stand up in front of so many people and give a sermon, and I would never be able to do so! I wonder if God chuckled a bit when he heard me thinking that, knowing where my path would lead 15 years later. Luckily, the staff in FOCUS have been extremely gracious with tips and training in helping us conquer our fear and communicate authentically and thoughtfully through sermons.

Even with all that training, I was nervous and even emotionally numb when the time came and I realized my only hope was to pray and ask God to speak through me in spite of my incapability. God answered that prayer! It went way better than I could have hoped and afterwards, tons of students and my fellow ministers came up to me and expressed how meaningful the talk was to them. How good are the gifts our God gives to his kids when we ask! I'm now fired up to give another one (this time a full 20-minute sermon) to the FOCUS staff & any friends who want to come participate on December 17th! I'm both excited for another opportunity to speak on behalf of God, as well as receive advice and encouragement from the other experienced ministers about how to communicate even better moving forward!


If you want to watch the first sermon, let me know! A friend recorded it and I'd love to share it with you. It's about 12 minutes long and is about being a servant who follows Christ's example!


Pizza Theology
After a 1.5 year COVID break, FOCUS finally got to do one of our biggest traditions - Pizza Theology! Once per semester, all the FOCUS campuses across DFW will come together to hear an in-depth teaching on a particular theological topic. During an intermission half-way through, we'll take a pizza break to have fellowship with one another and make friends with students from the other colleges! This fall, the topic was "How to Think Like a Christian." Two of our pastors, Garret and Brandon, covered a brief history of philosophy, changes in culture, and how our paradigms can skew our perspectives of the world around us. It was so thought-provoking and meaningful to me and the 300 students who came!

I hope you're growing familiar with these faces! These are the guys in my core (small group) who meet once a week and have become close friends! They all gave up their entire Sunday afternoon to come to Pizza Theology in an effort to "love God with all [their] mind" as Jesus commanded in Matthew 22:37. As per tradition, from left to right we have Nhala, Elijah, Jacob, Sion, Jared, Solomon, and myself.

I hope another thing you're growing familiar with is just how thankful I am for you! Without you, all these things I've been learning, growing in, and experiencing in ministry would not be possible. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your financial gifts, and thank you for your emotional support as I work to answer the call our good God has placed on my heart to the best of my ability.

Your brother,
Taylor



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

She's here!

Hi everyone, As expected, May was a very eventful month. We wrapped our final programming at SMU for the semester, sent off 100+ students from Dallas/Fort-Worth to SICM, and most importantly, Audrey was born! (Not biased at all) Get ready for the biggest photo dump of my career. Baby Last pic before becoming parents! Fresh out the oven Meeting dad Meeting grandparents Meeting grandparents Ready for the world Leaving the hospital Leaving the hospital (fit check) Dog approved Happy mode Angry mode Silly goofy mode Comfy cozy Camera shy First photo shoot First photo shoot First photo shoot Being a baby is exhausting My favorite SICM You've seen me write about SICM the last few months, and it's finally come! Tons of students from our ministries in Dallas / Fort Worth flew up to Washington for a campus ministry leadership conference. Here are a few pics of the whole group! SMU's team of students being prayed over Back to Dallas Thank you all very much for your support. If you w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer FOCUS

It's been a slower month on the ministry front. We've got a few new students transferring into SMU this fall who have already gotten connected. Besides that, most of my time has been spent raising support, meeting our local SMU students, and getting acclimated to being a father. Summer FOCUS We've still been having a weekly fellowship night, and it's been great! This is the ad we put up around SMU for Summer term students to see We've had a great turnout from our campuses around DFW! Probably around 200 students who drive out to Richardson on a weekly basis Students I've talked to have been feeling impacted by the messages, and touched by the worship. Baby Audrey's now been here for a month! Here are some recent highlights. First big smile! Honk shoo 🤨 Loves affection 🍵 Not too much to report this month, but once August and especially September rolls in, things will get crazy and I'll have lots of stories to share! I hope you enjoyed some pics of baby ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Over 600 students!!

Wow, the first month of 2025 has already wrapped up! I hope the new year has been going well for each of you so far. It's yet to be seen how this year with treat our ministry at SMU, but so far it's been very encouraging! Winter Retreat We just finished up our biggest event of the year! At Winter Retreat, over 600 students (possibly even 700) from across Dallas / Fort Worth drove out to spend the weekend in Glen Rose to praise God and grow in their faith. This was the most lively group we've ever brought. There were several occasions where we finished our worship session, but the students just kept singing and forced the band to pick the song back up! lol unfortunate for them, but what an incredible problem to have. We also had our largest group from SMU attend!  A total of 22 came out. That's about half our ministry! Now that more SMU students are experiencing winter retreat, they will get to share how great of an experience it was to their peers when it rolls back aro...
Post a Comment
Read more