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Endings and New Beginnings

We've made it to and past the final stretch! I've got some bitter-sweet pictures to share with y'all this month.

End of Year Party

We had our last big event of the year! The university offered to cater dinner, and the students spent time sharing how they've seen God working through individual people in our community this year. We also took some time to recognize our leaders and seniors, thanking them for all the effort they've poured into their peers.

Laurence, our campus director, is officially on leave with his new baby! He's the one with the artistic touch so that means Siena and I had to do our best. I think it turned out awesome after all!

Wholesome

Wholesome part 2

Our graduating seniors! We made them Christmas ornaments as a gift so they can have a yearly reminder of the ways God has blessed them through this community while they were in college! We asked each of them to say a prayer each year for the new students who will be following in their footsteps. Ruth, Abs, Abby, Jacquelyn, and David, congratulations on completing your degrees at SMU!

A closer look at one of the extras that got a little toasted
Teams!

Here's our leader team from 2022-23! We had very quirky and endearing leaders this year. It was a blast getting introduced to the SMU community largely through these people.

Finally, we have our 2022-2023 ministers team! Jacob is a volunteer with us, while he works on his PhD at SMU.

Next year will look a little different! Laurence just had his second child, Oliver, so he is transferring to a campus closer to home (UTD). But nonetheless, our minister team is growing!

Garrett is one of our longest standing campus ministers with FOCUS! He helped start it back in the day at UTD and will be joining SMU's team, filling Laurence's role! We've already started meeting 1 on 1 and I can tell I'm going to learn so much from him.

Meet Renee! I actually don't know her very well! But I'm excited to get to work with her. I've heard great things about her over the years! She's a fellow UTA alum and worked as a professional dancer for several years before joining FOCUS staff as an apprentice last year alongside me and the rest of our cohort!


You'll surely see more about these 2 as the summer unfolds and ultimately, the next year of campus ministry! Thank you all so much for your support, making this happen. The many stories our students shared at our banquet would not exist if not for your generosity.


Please be praying for our annual campus ministry conference! It's hosted up in Washington state and we'll attend each year with our students who show leadership potential. This year, we're bringing 4 students from SMU! We'll be flying out next week!

Your brother,
Taylor

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