February Ministry Update: God is Good!
Hi everyone! I hope you have been staying warm and then cool and then warm then cool again in this crazy Texas weather. Here is what has been going on at Collin College (and beyond) this month!
City Lights
Earlier this month I went back home to Cypress and volunteered with the youth group for City Lights 2025! For those who don't know, City Lights is an annual weekend retreat for the middle and high school students at Cypress Bible Church where students stay with their grade level Bible study groups in host homes. The weekend was full of worship, sermons, service, small group time, and a lot of fellowship with some really awesome dudes. I got to help out with the 11th grade guys group and had a blast! The theme for the retreat was that "God is Greater than the Highs and Lows" and the sermons were structured around questions submitted by students on God's love, how we know God is who He says He is, and how to deal practically with things like social media and video games. The youth group at Cypress Bible Church was where I began to really take my faith seriously has a very special place in my heart, so it was a blessing to get to be a part of what God is doing there for a weekend and to serve alongside my church family! Thank you so much to many of you who volunteer with life groups or pitched in to make City Lights special this year. I can attest that your investment in these students is changing lives and building God's kingdom. Here are some pictures from the weekend. Our service project was with the Houston Food Bank - we were boxing meals for kids relying on school lunches to take home and have something to eat over the weekend.
Core
Core has been going strong. This past Monday was the biggest core we have had this year (and personally the biggest core I have hosted as a part of FOCUS), so praise God for that! As the year has gone on guys have become more comfortable with sharing, with each other, and with inviting new students to core and I am really grateful for the growth these guys have gone through. Thank you so much for diligently praying for us - God is answering those prayers! We wrapped our mini-series on 1 Timothy and are going to spend a good chunk our time this coming week going on a prayer walk around campus, so please continue to think of us. I am so excited for what God is going to do with the rest of the semester and for how the seeds He is planting and growing in these students at Collin will have lasting impacts on the way they live their lives!
Connor, one of the guys in our core, made the decision to get baptized this month! It has been an honor and a whole lot of fun watching God work in his life this year. Please be praying for him (and the rest of the core guys) to continue to choose to live for Christ each day! Here are some pictures from core, Connor's baptism, and of Mahjong Monday - a weekly outreach and community building event after our core each week where we meet up with the other Monday core at Collin and play board games.
TNF and Pizza Theology
Last month I mentioned that we had started a series called "Disciples are...", and it is crazy to say that the series is wrapping up already! It has been so exciting seeing students take a lot of these subjects to heart. This month I got to give my first ever TNF sermon on "Disciples are Generous", and it was a powerful reminder of how God has been so generous to me and the way you all have been a part of it! I am praying that this series will be something that marks our ministry for a long time - that the students and staff would constantly seek to look more and more like our sacrificial, humble, intentional, generous, and servant-hearted Lord Jesus.
This month FOCUS also held an event we call Pizza Theology: a once-a-semester event where students from FOCUS ministries across the DFW area come together for an evening to take a deep dive into various Biblical topics with a break in the middle for some pizza. The topic for this Pizza Theo was having a Christ-centered view on money, fashionably titled "Biblical Facts About Stacks on Stacks." Having interacted with so many students from a variety of financial situations, it was a really meaningful time together to look at how disciples can wisely handle money while still putting God first. I hope that it will continue to inspire our staff and students to be generous, Godly stewards of the blessings God has given them. Here are some pictures from TNF, Pizza Theology, and a campfire after event we did this month.
Thank You - and an Exciting Announcement!
Thank you so much for being a part of my support team and for investing in the lives of students at Collin! It has been such a blessing having so many of you praying and thinking of us throughout your week and to get all of your encouraging messages and emails. God has been so good and I feel like all of the prayers I (and I know many of you, too) have been praying for Him to move on campus are being answered in mighty ways! I recently read Psalm 145 and love verses 3-8:
One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They tell of the power of your awesome works— and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."
I also want to share with you all that I am going to be staying on staff with FOCUS at Collin for two more years! As I have prayed this year about where I can best serve God whether in ministry or beyond, I can't help but get the feeling that He is not done with me being a part of the ministry here. I am so excited to see what God is going to do on campus and to get to be a part of it! I'll be reaching out to you all over the next month to give you more information.
Thank you again for all the prayers and support this year, and for taking the time to read this update! As always, a browser version of this blog email and the rest of the blog posts I have made this year are available at http://mick.mcafoose.anyfocus.org/. Attached below is a student testimony from Laniah, a student in FOCUS at the Dallas College - Richland campus. I hope to get to hear from you soon!
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