In just a few weeks there will be thousands of freshmen, transfer, and international students converging on college campuses all across the United States (and the world, for that matter). I'm grateful that I get to be a part of what is going on in the DFW area with FOCUS, but for campus ministries everywhere, the fall season is always a special time of the year! It was 12 years ago that I walked onto Collin College's campus for the first time and my life was forever changed. Men & women that love Jesus decided to invite me into their lives and my vision for myself as a disciple was forever altered!
I love getting to be that for new students every year. I am seeing that they are hungry with excitement and passion to figure out this thing called "life". I turned 30 years old a month ago but I'm grateful that these college students keep me young!
I think that as each year goes by, God continues to shape and push each new generation to seek him. Now that I am entering my 7th year on staff with FOCUS, I definitely see how limited I am in my vision and how God's vision extends all across the globe. There are so many students who the world would 'write off' or not think much of but God has BIG plans for each of them. As a campus minister, I view it as my duty to help students see themselves the way God sees them: priceless.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for believing in what we have the privilege of doing on God's college campuses.
This year we will have our largest leader team ever at Richland College! We have had one, maybe two small group bible studies every year but this year we have FIVE! Our student leader retreat is coming up this weekend so please be praying for our students to be well prepared and excited for what God has planned!
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| I turned 30 in July! My dear friends took me out to lunch after church to celebrate with me :) Cheers! |
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| Reece, one of our incoming Richland student leaders got baptized this summer. He's going to have such a great year sharing his faith & life with his fellow students this fall. I'm so proud of him and excited to be a part of his missionary journey! |
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| After his Baptism, we all gathered around him to pray! |
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| Our final Summer FOCUS for 2018. It was a joy to get to worship with students across all of our campuses |
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| My beautiful wife and I celebrated with my family in a traditional Ethiopian wedding. Ethiopian weddings are usually several days long and due to time constraints, we were unable to have a traditional Ethiopian wedding. My wonderful mother did such a great job planning this celebration for us and it was a blast! How do we look?! |
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| This is a picture of our male staff across all of our FOCUS campuses! We had our staff retreat this past weekend and it was so encouraging to catch up with all of them and share in what God is doing in our lives. |
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| Our staff retreat was so great! Every morning we would start with worship, prayer, and have a discussion topic preparing us for the 2018-19 school year. I'm so humbled to be working with such an amazing team of ministers. They have all impacted me deeply and love Jesus so much! |
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| Our FOCUS Apprentices for the 2018-19 school year. These are some of the most hardworking, positive, and high-energy apprentices that I've ever been a part of! |
Thank you so much for your support and partnership! I'm blown away that I have the privilege to begin my 7th year of campus missions. When I graduated college I had my own dreams and desires but thanks to your faithfulness and support God has completely (and continues to) re-shaped my life vision. I appreciate you all so much and am honored to have you on my team.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need prayer for anything in your life!
Your brother & campus missionary,
Sirak
