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!

You may remember Jaden from an update last Spring. He came to SMU last year as a freshman and an atheist, then came to know the Jesus this past March! 

He's been rapidly growing in his faith since then and has really taken up the call to serve and make disciples at SMU.

Jaden has been a consistent part of our Community Group (a few guys from that group shown above), and has been inviting guys from his dorm and volleyball team to join.

Just this week, he shared about a meaningful conversation he had with his roommate, who's grown up nominally Jewish and has been hesitant this semester to talk about Jesus and Christianity. Jaden has continued to be non-pushy, and has still been inviting him to FOCUS.

On Tuesday, he finally opened up to Jaden about his beliefs and gave Jaden the chance to share the gospel with him! He admitted that following their conversation, he's more open to Jesus now than he has ever been before and wants to have further conversations and investigate the faith. Praise God!

What an incredible mission you and I get to be a part of, making disciples who make disciples who make disciples, and so on, as we prepare for the return of our Lord, Jesus. What an honor! My prayer is that the Spirit fills you as you go about your work, family, and neighborhood this week and that He uses stories like Jaden's to inspire you to be a bright light in a dark place. (Matthew 5:13-16)

KFG

Finally, FOCUS is beginning their annual fundraising campaign called Keep FOCUS Growing! We do this every November to fill in operational costs like retreats for students, leadership conferences in May, and benevolence funds for students in lower-income homes, or who encounter large emergency expenses.

If you would like to give an additional donation to the KFG Campaign, you can do so here!

I'll likely send out a brief video about KFG sometime this month which includes updates from other FOCUS campuses in DFW, so be on the lookout!

Thank you all for taking the time to read about what God has been doing at SMU, and in my family. I'm so grateful for you all and am honored that you would entrust me with your generosity and with building the kingdom at SMU. Please keep praying for these students! I love you all.

Your brother,
Taylor

P.S. This month, FOCUS selected an SMU student, Luke, to share his testimony! He and I get to hang out weekly and lead a Community Group together :)