My friends & team!
I feel so blessed to get to share this update with you! January was an absolute blast and God is doing some amazing things in & through our group.
This year has been a bit of a challenge within the realm of student-leadership. We have had three student-leaders step down from leadership for various reasons and have had to end one of our men-cores. We are beginning a co-ed core this week (led by me) and we feel great about this core supplementing the needs of our group. Please pray for our first gathering!
We are having visitors every week to our Wednesday Night FOCUS meetings and new friendships are continually being formed. Last week, we passed around sign-ups for two teams: the "Reach Team" & the "Serve Team". We had over 15 students sign up for each! What is happening??? ❤️
We feel encouraged and a bit overwhelmed, at times, by the new students and our growing fellowship meetings.
A thought: When I close my eyes and think of something that I would consider "organized", I think of...a bookshelf...a well-stocked pantry...or a zipped-up backpack.
God has been showing me that the way he defines "organization" and the way I define "organization" are very different.
God's way of "organizing" is a bit messy at times and interconnected in ways unseen. God designs ecosystems and nervous-systems; two examples of interconnected systems and parts that affect the other while still letting themselves be influenced by the world around them.
Often, my definition of "organization" primarily means: get more work done (ideally, in a shorter amount of time) or work harder & faster (while neglecting how your body feels and avoiding how it is affecting the people around you).
I am learning what the difference is between a task and a priority. For example, spending time with my wife & daughter is a priority to me. However, when I am not organized, these priorities can, at times, feel like tasks to check-off and not priorities to settle into.
Has sharing the message of Christ become a task to me? Is it still a priority? If it is a priority, then I will rearrange my day(s) & week(s) to reflect that. Being a college-pastor at 36 feels different compared to being a college-pastor at 26.
I grieve the days where I wish I could fit my duties, responsibilities, relationships, obligations, creative ideas, administrative-emails, etc. onto a nice organized bookshelf to sit back, enjoy the picture and feel good that life has a way of stopping so that I can finally get to the "things" I've been avoiding, hah!
Maybe life is meant to be an interconnect ecosystem of goals, responsibilities, relationships, and obligations? May the Lord guide us to prioritize what needs prioritizing and give us wisdom to walk away from the tasks that will remain tomorrow when we awake.
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| I had the privilege of preaching/speaking at our 2025 FOCUS Winter Retreat! I enjoyed getting to share God's word and I feel that the students connected with the message! I'm grateful for the opportunity. My message title was: "Letting Jesus Tell Me Who I Am" |
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| Somehow 18-months have flown by she is running, talking, playing, yelling, wrestling, and everything else! 🌈 We love watching her grow and we feel so grateful to be her parents! |
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| We had a scripture-memorizing activity last week for Sandra's sermon and the students loved It! There was definitely a bit of a 'competitive' spirit in the air as students were rushing up front to share their memorized-scripture, but, it was fun ❤️ |
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| Anaya and I were walking around TJ Maxx and were feeling cute, so, why not? |
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| Our FOCUS Winter Retreat was a powerful weekend! We loved getting to connect w/ new students and we definitely sense that God is doing something special across his college campuses. Feeling grateful for what's upcoming! |
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| Our Richland students had a quick pow-wow before winter-retreat began to go over goals & expectations for the retreat. We broke up into groups to pray for one another as well! |
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| Every January, our FOCUS staff connects with one another during our Winter Staff Retreat. We feel grateful for the space we had to worship, pray, and prepare for the spring semester. |
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| Laurence (UTD), Lailah (UTD), and I got to help serve our team by leading worship throughout the week. Feeling grateful for the time spent together! |
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| Sloan and I did our first...marriage puzzle. I have always thought of myself as someone who "doesn't do puzzles", haha - but, this one was so fun and restful. I am looking forward to our next puzzle that we get to do together. |
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| I feel so happy when I get to be with her ❤️ |
Thank you for believing in our mission to love college students - as the years go by I am continually amazed at the support and love that you all have shown to me through your prayer and donations.
I pray that you're encouraged by the photos and reminded of God's faithfulness not just on the college campuses, but in your lives as well. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have anything in your life that you need prayer for - or - if you just want to connect!
Your brother & campus missionary,
Sirak
