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Meeting on Their Turf

Hi everyone! I hope the first round of holidays were joyous for you and your families, and that you're looking forward to the second round throughout December! I have to confess that Erin and I have already had our Christmas tree up for a month.

Commons Outreach


I have an exciting strategic move to share with you all! SMU has 11 residential commons (dorms) that nearly all underclassmen live in across campus. The SMU FOCUS team got together and we decided to heat up outreach efforts in those commons, specifically, rather than trying as hard to pull students out from their dorm to a conventional meeting space.

SMU has revealed itself (from our observations as well as other seasoned ministers across campus) to be a very unique beast to do ministry at. Chiefly, campus is highly segmented and besides classes, students tend to either be out at parties, or holed up in their dorms all the time. I'm excited to get to be at the cutting edge of experimentation, figuring out how to best meet these students, and make and mature disciples on SMU's campus!




I've met with a few directors of these commons and have received a lot of excitement and positive feedback about our ideas! Our first move will be giving out free coffee and encouraging notes in the lobbies as students make their way to their final exams next week. Be praying that God will make big moves in these dorms and that ultimately students will come to know him and learn to better love their peers. My hope is that there will be a boom of bible studies and discipleship spreading through the halls over the next couple years, starting this spring!

Celebrations!

I hope you all had a restful Thanksgiving! Erin and I had a wonderful time with both sides of our family day-of, and stayed the night with Erin's side so we could celebrate her birthday with them the next day! (If you know her, you should definitely wish her a belated happy birthday)

Thank you for taking the time to read how God's been at work on campus and in Erin and my lives! I'm grateful for your support and with Thanksgiving and Christmas on the mind, it's left me feeling especially thankful for all of you. I'll see you all in 2024!

Comments

  1. AustinDecember 1, 2023 at 2:56 PM

    Proud of you, Taylor. Jesus sees all you're doing for his kingdom and he will remember it all. Happy birthday, Ern Derd!

    ReplyDelete

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