Sorry this post is a little late; I usually aim to have my blog up the 1st or 2nd of the month but every January we have our staff retreat the first week of the month and I like to wait to release my blog so that I can tell you how it went! So I'll start with our staff retreat and work my way back through December. Here we go!
Staff retreat this year was an amazing experience. Before we went to the retreat in Llano, Tx we all read a book by Brennan Manning titled "The Signature of Jesus". It was an amazing book when I first read it over 8 years ago, and reading it again served to confirm that. So much of my mindset regarding following Christ emphasizes the victory and grace I have in his resurrection, but rarely is his death on the cross (what Manning calls the signature of Jesus) and what that means for the life I'm supposed to live on my mind. It's easy to win with Christ, but will I also lose with him? Do I look more like everyone else in the world, vying for position and comfort, or do I look more like the Christ who gave up his comfort and worldly success in order to bring God's kingdom? Those were questions we chewed on at the retreat. Besides our discussions, we got to spend a lot of time getting to know one another. We have such a young and lively staff; we laugh a lot together and enjoy each others company immensely. I feel so blessed to get to work with these people, especially considering the kind of work we get to do on college campuses across the metroplex.
The other big ministry thing that happened in the last month was our Collin Christmas Party. I'm sure you're done with Christmas now, as am I, but reflecting back on that event is fun for me. We had over 100 students show up to sing songs of worship, play games, and celebrate Christ's birth together. Our theme was "awkward family photos", and needless to say, people looked weird. It was a ton of fun, though, and was a neat way to end the semester! Pictured to the right are our guy corefas and myself posing for an awkward photo.
The last two weeks of the year is technically the time we take a break. I used those two weeks to meet up with people I don't normally get to spend time with, do woodwork, and to rest. It was fun, but I'm glad to be back to a more normal busy schedule where I get to spend a lot of time with people in ministry. Pictured to the left are the Collin apprentices and myself, the people I get to do another semester of ministry with. I couldn't be happier about these weirdos, and I love working with them.Finally, we have Winter Camp coming up in less than a week! Winter camp is the single largest and most difficult event we put on as a ministry each year. Over 500 Focus students from campuses all over the metroplex will meet at Sky Ranch in Van, Tx to spend 4 days worshipping, learning, and building friendships. This is such an important part of our ministry and so I'd like to ask that you be praying that God would prepare everyone's hearts and minds to follow his guidance and be sensitive to the Spirit speaking to us. I can't tell you how thankful I am that I have you all in our corner, praying for us, thinking about us, financially supporting us, and making everything possible. My prayer for you all is that God would continually bless you as you work to let his kingdom come and his will be done.
Yours in Christ,
Garrett
That seems like a neat book! I just read a similar reminder from a chapter of a book my small group is reading called "The Jesus I Never Knew." Also I'd love to hear more about the SMU plant. I saw from a post on the FOCUS facebook page that it was talked about at wInter camp and I would love to know more and be praying for the specific ministers going there! God is Good!
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