Skip to main content

Fall then Bald

H

ey everyone! I hope you enjoyed Halloween if you had any festivities this year. And I hope you've been enjoying the cooler weather. It's given me the chance to finally try out my SMU hoodie!

Fall Retreat!

Once a year in the Fall, we'll invite our students to a retreat center outside the city for a weekend! It went extremely well! We worshiped together, heard several students share their stories, and spent a ton of time building relationships through games, crafts, and 1-on-1 "walk & talks" through nature!

Here's the whole crew! (Besides 3 friends who had to leave early!)

Rock painting

(Arm...?) painting

On our way to play football & volleyball (Jerry with the goggles was WAY too serious) lol

Volleyball!

Miles, Jerry, and Jacob

Can you tell it was way too early?

Firepit & S'mores! (I also thought this was a great pic of my friend Will!)

And there's Fall Retreat! It was a blast and I can't wait for Winter Retreat in January, where all the FOCUS campuses throughout DFW come together for a full 3-day weekend! That's one of my favorite events for the year and our students are pumped for it. :)


From Nigeria to America

Meet my new friend Benji! He was actually first a part of our FOCUS ministry at Richland College until he transferred to SMU. Very interesting guy! He grew up in Nigeria, moved to America a few years ago, and is now finishing his undergrad degree while working with our football team!

Halloween!

We just had our Halloween Party last night! A student shot photos with his nice camera so they won't be developed in time, but I did want to share one from my phone...

Feast your eyes. 
And yes, I (actually Erin) did, in fact, shave my head.

It was based on this Scottish character from a Medievil show Erin and I have been watching. I've got to be honest, I think we were pretty spot on!

Erin quite enjoyed the task

Keep Focus Growing!

Finally, save the date for November 29th! Coordinated with Giving Tuesday, FOCUS will be holding our big annual fundraiser called Keep Focus Growing! Some of our generous donors have banded together and agree to match up to $57,000 in total donations during this campaign. So, if we receive $57,000 in total contributions, they will kick in a SECOND $57,000! If you feel comfortable, I'd like to invite you to consider giving! I'll likely share about it once or twice on Facebook when the time gets closer!


Regardless, I'm so grateful for each of you on my ministry support team. Those who partner with me financially and those who have been praying for me or for our students make all this possible. Thank you!!




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone, and happy new year! At least that's how it feels in FOCUS when August 1st hits. Welcome Week is around the corner, brand new pastoral apprentices are joining our team, and a whole new wave of students are coming to DFW to begin or continue their college careers, and will hopefully encounter Jesus while they're here. Last Summer FOCUS of 2024 Tonight is our last Summer FOCUS, where all the local students join together for a weekly worship service.  We took a group picture last Thursday, and you can see just how many students make the drive each week, some from all the way across the metroplex. One of the most special moments this summer was when a group of Hispanic students & ministers led worship together in both English and Spanish throughout the night.  It was a really cool way of experiencing the first fruits of the Biblical promise that we will witness a "great multitude from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the...

Baby Bass!

Hi everyone, I hope you and your families had a fun Halloween and are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas! As you could see in the title, Erin and I have huge news!! We're expecting our first baby this May, 2025! We will hopefully find out the gender later this month, so there's a good chance I'll get to share that by the next ministry update. We've been thinking and praying about having a child since getting married in 2022, and are overjoyed to have one on the way. Please pray for Erin's safety as pregnancy progresses, and that our baby grows strong and finds a life waiting for them filled abundantly with love, and a passion for the Lord. Shoutout to our old friends from UTA FOCUS, Nathan and Parker, who did a FREE photo shoot for us! Check out some of our favorite reactions from family and friends Update with Jaden! Our baby isn't the only encouraging thing to share this month! October has also been really exciting with regard to SMU and ministry! Y...

Boulevard Debut

Hi everyone, happy October! I can't wait for the temperatures to drop, and for all the holidays to start rolling around. Ministry on campus has been so encouraging this month! I'll share more throughout this update but in summary, lots of guys are getting involved and diving deep into faith and community. Tim Meet Tim! He's from NJ and started his freshman year this semester. He's in the process of joining a Christian fraternity called BYX, and has been coming around FOCUS as well. We started a weekly 1-on-1 bible study a couple weeks ago called Focus on Jesus, and it's already been a blast. He has a hunger to grow in his faith, and is inquisitive and driven. I'm so excited to watch how God uses him to impact BYX, Focus, and the rest of SMU over the next several years. Since there are so many guys getting involved, I'm thinking I'll share about 1 or 2 specific students each week and share a little about them. I have a feeling you'll be hearing more a...