My friends & team!
October was a beautiful month! As a ministry, we had our annual fall-camp and the students loved it! Our theme this year was "taste & see that the Lord is good!" :)
Within our theme, we focused on the characteristics of,
(1) taste & see God's: fire;
(2) taste & see God's: fruit; and
(3) taste & see that God is fun.
Fire.
Fruit.
Fun.
Way back in August, our pastoral team engaged with a book called "The Critical Journey" by Janet Hagberg. This is a marvelous book that details the stages of faith one moves through as they follow Christ. Hagberg writes that stage 1 of the journey is always: Awakening to God's love.
For a long time I have supposed that the 1st stage of the spiritual journey is: discipleship. I define discipleship as: learning, reading, studying, and participating in the life of Christ. In "The Critical Journey", it is stressed over & over that throughout the Bible, one must first respond to the love of God before they begin discipleship.
This has re-shaped the way I view college ministry in some significant ways. Many of our students are not raised in Church and FOCUS often becomes their primary and, often, first experience of Christian community. In other words, maybe these students are not quite ready for discipleship... Some, of course, are - but the majority may not be.
I began asking myself: How can FOCUS help create a space for students to encounter the love of God to hopefully taste & see that the Lord is good?
I am just in the beginning(s) of engaging with this question. Community college ministry is mostly unchartered territory for me (and many others). I am learning new things month-to-month and I am hoping to stay organized & faithful with what new insights, discoveries, and opportunities are in front of me & my team.
Please pray for us as we explore this question! Our students are only with us for a brief part of their college-journey's - pray that they can, as Janet Hagberg writes - encounter the love of God!
Enjoy the pictures below :) Thank you for your support and for believing in our mission!
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| Anaya dressed up as a princess for her 1st Halloween! :) |
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| Our Richland FOCUS ministry :) Praise God for this group of students! |
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| Our Wednesday Night FOCUS meeting :) - each week, we gather in a circle to worship & connect with one another. Sitting in a circle has been awesome! Since making this change, our students seem more engaged and participative during our meetings. |
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| Anaya is growing & is now able to sit up straight on my shoulders! Love her so much :) |
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| Our 2025 Richland FOCUS Fall Camp was so so so so fun! We had a blast :) |
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| Every Wednesday we have been going through different stories of men & women throughout the Old Testament who awakened to God's love :) It has been so awesome to slowly work through the different stories! |
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| On the 2nd Wednesday of every month we have been having lunch with one another :) It has been so awesome to eat, share, & connect with the students on campus! |
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| Praise God! One of our students, Mahagony decide to get baptized! She is one of our most consistent and loving students; I'm so proud of her for making this decision. |
Thank you for your support & for believing in our mission to love college students. My prayer for our students is that they would encounter the love of God in a profound & meaningful way - leading to a life built on the love of Christ!
I hope to talk to you soon - do not hesitate to reach out to me if there is anything in your life that you'd like prayer for.
Your brother & campus missionary,
Sirak
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