The End of a Great Year!

Wow, I can't believe that we have arrived at finals week on campus - which means - the end of the semester is near. I had lunch with a couple of our student leaders this week and asked them what they've learned from God through their leadership experience, and one said that he learned not to have confidence in himself but to put all of his confidence in Christ. What a powerful lesson to learn! I think that as disciples, God teaches us this same lesson on and on throughout our entire life and I have been honored to have been a part of the journey with our students.

This is now my third year of campus ministry and each year God has blown my expectations out of the water regarding what to expect out of myself and others. When we place our confidence and trust fully in Christ we make ourselves more available than we ever have before for him to work in and through - I have learned this firsthand throughout the year.

Top row: Ryan, myself, Austin, and Morgan; Bottom row: JD, Charles, Stephen, and Marcus.
I had the precious opportunity to meet with these students weekly and help them serve the students attending their small groups. They all grew tremendously in their faith and helped raise another generation of disciples!

During April we had a few of our last Friday Night FOCUS's of the year. Our attendance has traditionally dropped at the beginning of each spring semester, however, this semester our attendance has stayed strong!

Our last FOCUS leader meeting of the year!

I began playing the board game, Avalon. Have you heard of it? It's very intense and causes very heated discussions to happen, however, it's been a great way to spend time with students and laugh together. 

Our students during our last Friday Night FOCUS of the year!

The UTD FOCUS staff that worked together this year. Every year the team has changed a bit but nonetheless it has been a honor to work with such God pleasing men and women.

I wish you were all here to see first-hand what your support has contributed to this year. I am overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness as I look back on the last three years of serving in campus ministry because of the partnership I have received in you all :)

Last night at FOCUS we had an open-mic sharing time and the prompt was: how have you seen God work in yourself and others this year in our community? I was very encouraged by one of our freshmen students named Tim, who said that after transferring to UT Dallas from Florida he was so anxious and worried about not having any sort of a Christian community to get involved with on campus. However, God opened the door for him to get involved with FOCUS, study the bible with other students, get involved in the worship team, and now he's pumped for his Sophomore year this fall where he can be ready for all the upcoming freshmen walking onto campus that need discipleship - so encouraging!

Thank you again for all of your partnership and prayers - it's been a continued journey of praise and thanksgiving that I'm forever grateful for. I plan on getting in touch with all of you this summer to catch up and share how God has been working, you'll be hearing from me soon :)

Your campus missionary,

Sirak