He Is Risen Indeed! (And is full of surprises!)

My friends & team! 

We're almost at the end of such a meaningful year of campus ministry and I'm beginning to notice a universal truth: God is full of surprises. It's bewildering to live in the midst of a "surprise" (miracle, phenomenon, revelation, etc.) currently happening in your life and even more so to reflect on one that happened and you may have completely missed!

Yesterday our Christian tradition celebrated Easter and we marveled at the hope & beauty found in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. It provides us with a hope looking forward to future "surprises" (mini-resurrections?) while still inviting us into our own crucifixions that we may be experiencing in our circumstances. 

Fatherhood has been an experience full of surprises. 

I was raised with an absent father and that, no doubt, has influenced the way I prepared (and projected) for what the experience of fatherhood would eventually be like for me. In short, fatherhood has been full of surprises! It's more fun than I ever could have expected! It's harder and tiring than I thought. It's more beautiful than I ever could have imagined and yet it is stretching me in ways that I could've never prepared for. 

Isn't that how surprises work? No matter how well you plan for something...the nature of a surprises is the "aha!" moment that it gets you. Though you may never get it...

The healings, baptisms, miracles, sermons, and life of Christ leading up to Easter were all surprises! At least, they were surprises to us...

Maybe what a surprise is to us, is just the protocol & purposes of God. In fact, even after the resurrection Jesus is still busy surprising people (Luke 24 - "While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them..." - but they didn't recognize him!). 

I want to have the kind of faith that lives in to the surprises! I hope the surprises of God never become normal or boring in any way. Should a mature follower of Jesus be surprised at God's faithfulness? Well...the answer is: yes! After all, what else could I (we) be? We serve a God that is anything but normal...or boring...

My prayer for us as we wrap up this wonderful school year is that we would be a people continually surprised and bewildered at the majesty and goodness of God - anticipating what he is up to next! 

Thank you for your support and for believing in our mission to love college students :) 

I look forward to catching up this summer :) 

Happy Easter! Anaya loved her first family-easter (even though she frowned at most of everything - there's just so much to take in!)

daddy & baby <3 

She's eating all sorts of new foods! Sloan has done a great job introducing her to a wide variety of solids - Anaya is growing and loving life! 

A few weeks ago, Joey planned an scriptue-reading after-event and the students loved it! We read the Easter story together and prepared our hearts for Easter! 

Our Wednesday Night FOCUS meetings! We have had some of our most consistent weekly showings of students to connect with God and become more & more a part of our community! 

Our Richland FOCUS pastoral team! I'm so grateful to get to lead & work with these sharp folks :) 

Our weekly "Exploring My Strange Bible" group! Have loved getting to read through 1 Corinthians w/ these students. 

Thank you for you support and for believing in our mission to love college students :) 

I am finishing my 11th year as a college pastor and I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you for walking with me as we love & invite students to surrender their lives to Christ.

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak 

February Has Been Faithful!

My friends & team! 

Thank you so much for your support & believing in our mission. I wanted to share a prayer w/ you (below) that has been on my heart & mind. It is the prayer of St. Francis.

2024 has been an up & down year - moments where I feel in control (which, of course, is an illusion) and others where I feel as if life is acting upon me. Fatherhood has brought me to the heights of joy and the depths of fear & worry. 

In the midst of the ups and downs, I am continually trusting that God has a rich and perfect plan for me. My prayer is that God would use me as an instrument even though the tune that is being played through my life feels a bit out of tune, at times. 

As a leader team, we have been having conversations surrounding what it looks like to build a culture of love & outreach versus feeling the individual pressure to reach out to & love every student that we come across. In other words, we are learning that it is not our job to care for everybody but it is our responsibility to help create a culture where everyone is cared for. 

We are learning the tough lesson that we cannot do it all nor can we carry the weight of all that needs to get done! 

Pray for us as we lean into how to build a culture that long outlasts us on campus. Our prayer is that this culture can change & shape generations to come! 

Our Richland FOCUS ministry! Thank you for your support <3 

Our 2024 FOCUS Winter Retreat photo - grateful for each of these students! 

Our weekly Wednesday Night FOCUS gathering - love our students so much! 

I got to play some electric guitar for our "Night of Black Church" last week! It was wonderful <3 

My girls <3 

Baby Anaya is getting so big! We feel so blessed <3 

Our Men's FOCUS leader team - grateful for each of these guys! 

Each week we get together to pray about & read through 1 Corinthians - this has been one of my favorite meetings this year! 

Thank you all for your support & believing in us week-to-week! I feel so blessed to have you on my support team & walking with me through this experience of being a campus missionary.

Love each of you!

In Christ,

Sirak 

Thank You Lord for January!

My friends & team!

January was a wild month! Well, January is typically always a wild month in campus ministry. The ups, downs, back-to-back events (staff retreat & winter retreat), students returning, and re-adjusting from Christmas break can all potentially overwhelm, but, God has been good in preparing us for what is going to be an awesome Spring semester!

In some ways, as a college pastor, I feel as if I never quite left college. Hah! Spending the majority of my time with college students is a blessing and reminds me of how unique & special of a season of life it is to be graduated from high school and pondering the interpersonal, cultural, and spiritual questions of life! 

Jesus met me in college in a fresh way that invited me to consider what my faith can look like in the context of community & a shared life among one another (my fellow students/classmates). It was revolutionary and forced me to step out of my individualistic & self-focused methods of expressing my faith. 

Even as a 35-year-old, married, father of one - I am still learning how to express my faith in the context of community. I am still reminding myself that our faith - is just as much about us as it is about me. 

Even though I am feeling more & more "out of touch" with the trends & phrases & lingo of young people today, I am still very much convinced that our lives are to be shared with one another. As a college pastor, the most important job I have is to show up (regardless of how uncomfortable it may make me feel, at times - which, says as much about me as it does about them!). As a parent, we are invited to show up. As a friend, we are invited to show up. 

I say this as a helpful reminder because, truly - college ministry is not much different from any type of ministry. College students are a demographic that are asking particular questions related to their specific place in time. Based on that definition, does that not also describe every one who has ever lived? :) And what is it that they need? I believe the answer is: men & women willing to show up - to love them. To love them in the midst of their weakness (and ours!) and point to Christ! Daily & forevermore. 

Thank you for your support and for continually believing in me! I truly love each of you. Let's have a great February :)  

Baby Anaya has turned 6-months! We feel so blessed & filled with joy to have her in our lives. What a gift life is! 

Our Wednesday Night FOCUS meetings have been awesome! We are working out way through 1 Corinthians and the students have been deeply moved & intrigued by Paul and his message to the church in Corinth! 

Another picture of our Wednesday night FOCUS meeting! 

I've had the fun privilege of leading a group called, "Exploring My Strange Bible" - each week, we meet and read a chapter of scripture. Last semester we read through Mark and this semester we are reading through the book of 1 Corinthians!

Arnold, one of our student leaders, sharing about how Winter Retreat impacted & shaped his heart!

Winter Retreat was a blast :) What a gift to get to spend a holiday weekend with students across our campuses :) 

We had a great time during praise & worship with our gospel choir! Our students loved it and were deeply moved. Lailah (one of our staff at UT Dallas) did an awesome job leading it!

Our FOCUS staff retreats have been a blessing! During the first week of January, our staff got together to prepare for the semester & winter retreat. I feel blessed to serve with such an awesome group of ministers!

A nice candid shot of our student leaders! 

My two main men: Yoni (in blue) and Bernard (in the back)! These guys have been consistent and reliable week. They have committed themselves to continual growth and participating in our shared life with one another each week! 

Thank you for your support & for believing in our mission :) 

I'm honored to get to walk alongside you on our campuses as we reach & love students together. 

Thank you!

Your brother,

Sirak 

God Of Fresh Starts :)

 Good morning :) 

Wow, 2024 is here :) 

I remember when my family and I moved to Texas in 1999 thinking: I wonder what life will be like in 2025? Well...it's on the way here pretty soon, buckle-up! 

A few months earlier we had made the move from Toronto, Ontario Canada to Plano, TX. I was in sixth grade and beginning to feel a sense of normalcy that had been absent for several months. 

I was 11 years old when I asked that question. I remember asking it with such...purity of mind. It seemed exciting to ponder and consider all of the possibilities. Who would I become? Who would be my close friends? Would I be married? Would I have children? In other words; I had no clue what it would be like! I couldn't imagine being 15 years old...25...30...even 35 (36 is coming this July!). It was pure anticipation and curiosity. 

These days I have way too many opinions, demands, expectations, suggestions, desires, repulsions, fears and worries that often keep me from that purity of mind that invited me to consider the future. For example, if I were to ask: "I wonder what being 40-years-old will be like?" I am immediately filled with my own expectations, potential disappointments, fears, and judgements...as if I am already not measuring up to the image of a 40-year-old created in my mind! 

I suppose these days I'm more productive and effective than that 11-year-old...but I sense that something is...missing? Or better yet...something somehow someway got "buried" underneath all of the years that keep me from that purity of mind that trusts that whatever the future brings that God will be there with me and it is going to be nothing like I expected. And that is a good thing! God's plans typically trump mine. 

I use to-do list apps to manage my day, calendar apps to mange my months/weeks, email apps to respond quickly to the demands/expectations of my life but I've felt more & more drawn back to...pen & paper. Journaling, reflecting & writing about what is right in front of me to do & experience. Things I'm grateful for. Things I'm feeling and may be drawn to process & surrender to God. 

Over the break I discovered a cool company, Monk Manual (www.monkmanual.com). Their mission is to help individuals combine their productivity with an emphasis on understanding why we are here, who we are becoming, and what matters most. I purchased a journal that they make (their 90-day manual) to kick off 2024 with an attempt to tap into that 11-year-old within me that was curious about who they were becoming without being lost in an agenda & laundry list of to-do items along with my judgements and fears.

Each month when I type this blog - it's a sacramental experience for me to reflect & engage with the past month & celebrate how God has been moving. My hope is that I can somehow integrate similar experiences in my day-to-day life! 

Thank you for your support! Enjoy the photos below - I hope they refresh & encourage you no matter the season of life that you are in! 

Our weekly Wednesday Night FOCUS has been missed! We took a few weeks off for Christmas break, but, we are kicking things off in a couple of weeks! 

One of our first year apprentices, Veronica, did a great job with her first sermon to our students! It was so creative and engaging. She is a true gift to our team & staff. Let's goo!!

Our students truly & deeply love one another :) They can truly hang out for hours and never get bored! 

Merry Christmas from the Asfaw family :) Love all of you & am thankful for you! 

The Richland FOCUS fellas :) We got dinner with each other a few weeks ago to catch up & hear about how our break has been going! Love these guys & am thankful for them! 

On our way to our annual FOCUS staff retreat, I got to catch up with Andrew (one of our former FOCUS apprentices and a co-leader w/ me from way back in 2010)! He's a good guy & I'm grateful for him - time flies! 

Our FOCUS pastoral staff has grown to over 40 people! During this time of the year we connect with one another and spend time in prayer as we prepare for the semester. Grateful for each of them! 

Thank you for your support & for believing in our mission to love college students :) 

I hope these blog posts encourage you & show what your support is going towards. I couldn't do this without you!

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have anything you'd like prayer for or if you just want to connect.

Thank you for believing in me!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak