My friends & team!
The year is off to a great start and I'm honored to tell you all about it. Our student leaders have been hard at work loving & serving our campus and it's been so encouraging to see life changes happen in real-time!
In December we had our end-of-the-year Christmas party and rested up in preparation for our Annual Winter Retreat. Winter Retreat is one of my favorite events that we do each year because it gives the students a vision for what their time in college can look like if they begin to surrender their plans & desires to Jesus.
I do believe that going to college is a good thing. However, many students have a small vision of what their education can be used for. Instead of getting a degree to "make more money" or "create a comfortable life" - we begin asking: What if God has placed you here in college to be a blessing to others? After all, globally, less than 1% of the world even gets the opportunity to go to college.
Winter Retreat creates a type of synergy that invites students into a space of considering what their time in college can look like as they begin re-forming their opinions & ideas surrounding what college is and how this time can be used to love and impact others and not just receive information to get a degree and make more money.
After all, gaining information is important - but, in the Kingdom of God - we are all IN-formation. We are actively being formed as we seek the heart of God. And where do we do that? Right where we are.
It is a privilege to get to love these college students and invite them to receive & respond to the message of Jesus. To seek the Lord and let him form you!
 |
| Our Richland FOCUS group! Thank you so much for your support & partnership. Each one of these students has been impacted by your love & generosity! |
 |
| All 14 of our FOCUS campuses! Winter Retreat was a huge success :) |
 |
| Sandra & Carlos! |
 |
| Our Richland Students getting ready to leave for Winter Retreat! |
 |
| During worship on one of the nights our students locked arms and sang with one another. It was a special moment that I loved they got to share with one another. |
 |
| I'm sure many of you know by now - but we are so excited to be expecting! The due date is July 29th so everything is definitely happening fast! |
 |
| Our worship team(s) did a great job leading us at Winter Retreat! |
 |
| It's been a while since I got to help with electric guitar at winter retreat, so it was fun to get to be up there serving our ministry on the band. |
Thank you so much for your support and believing in our mission to love college students! We are grateful and honored that we get to walk alongside you all on campus as God brings the right students in our path to love & invite to receive & respond to the message of the Gospel.
My wife & I do have a prayer request:
- Over the last two years we have been in the market looking for a house and, in many ways, it has been stressful and has stretched us to have faith and trust that the right housing situation will open up when the time is right.
- Would you pray for us that as we enter the spring season that God would open the right doors for us to find a home that is affordable and can be a natural extension of our ministry? A home that we can welcome college students into and that we can raise our family in?
- God is faithful! We just wanted to invite you all to join us in prayer :)
Thank you all for believing in us!
Your brother & campus missionary,
Sirak
