Spring Semester beginning update!

Hello friends and supporters!

January has been an exciting and eventful month! The beginning of the Spring semester is well underway and we've seen God do some powerful things in our community. In a community of around 150 students (at both Preston Ridge and Spring Creek Campuses) we've had over 100 one-on-one Bible studies led by our students and staff so far this school year. Our 10 week Bible study is called Focus on Jesus and it is aimed at getting students to look at the life of Jesus, consider what he really says, and ask themselves if they are following him well. It's a very personal and in-depth study between two people who develop a friendship under the banner of Christ. Some of these studies don't pan out for various reasons but many end up finishing and being life-changing. Many of the studies that began in the Fall are now done, and as a result we've been seeing a lot of students hand their lives over to Jesus! When a student who either doesn't know Jesus or hasn't given their life to him yet studies FOJ, it's not uncommon for them to have the same response as the Ethiopian eunuch that Phillip connects with in Acts 8; basically they say "Well I love Jesus and I want to follow him forever, so why not start now?" Baptism is an important part of bringing people into the community of believers under the lordship of Christ. I've been so blessed to get to see so many students make this decision recently, and I'm reminded of how the priesthood of believers, constantly pursuing the Lord together, is powerful beyond any institution or nation in this world.

Winter camp was also in the month of January, and despite the persistent rain it was truly an amazing experience. Winter camp drew over 600 of our students from campuses all across the metroplex to worship, learn, and develop relationships that will change the course of their lives. It was neat getting to see my students connect with people from other universities and develop deeper ties with one another. Getting to worship together and acknowledge the big work God is doing on our campuses was overwhelming to me. What a great and memorable experience it was! Finally, I'll just talk a bit about the beginning of the semester on both our campuses at Collin. We've tried to put some more time and attention into being on campus and drawing people in to have fun with our students, get to know us, and get plugged in to community. So far we've done just that! We've had a lot of new students showing up, especially at Preston Ridge, to our weekly hangout on campus (We call it Tuesday Hang at PRC and Wednesday Hang at SCC). Student life is so hard to come by at the community college campus. We're trying to fix that one week at a time as we stay faithful to inviting people to connect with their peers, develop friendships, and start a conversation with Jesus in their lives. We're going to keep being faithful with what we're given and let God do his work. We're excited about these new initiatives to reach students more! 

Thank you so much for your prayers, for your support, and for sharing in bringing the good news to our campuses. It means so much to me to be able to partner with you in this important, life-giving work!

In Christ, 

Garrett