Sirak's Update! (Approaching the end to a very unique school year...)

I hope you're all doing well :)

I typically do my monthly update the first week of the month so I do apologize for the delay. 

We have about one month left in the school year before summer vacation begins and we are not slowing down :) 

I have a joke with a few of my students that this entire past year has felt like a summer vacation for some of them. Classes are 100% online, campus is closed...summer vacation, anyone? 

God has brought together such a sweet group of students who love and cherish one another - I am grateful for each of them. I'm grateful for each of you for your support and friendship throughout this time. Thank you. 

This past weekend, we had our spring park day and the students had a blast (see pictures below). Our FOCUS apprentices, Bridgett and Ashley did an amazing job planning it and the students really appreciated their time with one another. 

Our weekly Wednesday 2pm core :) Grateful for these guys for showing up each week!

Tom Miller, a good friend of mine and volunteer staff w/ Richland FOCUS has been spending some time preaching & teaching w/ our students. I can tell that the students really connect with him and adore him. 

During our Thursday nights together we will often break up into small groups to discuss the content of the evening and share what is going on in one another's lives. 

Our fall park day was a blast! I enjoyed getting time with all of the students. It was a mixture of fun games and personal reflection on the year. Bridgett and Ashley did an awesome job planning it!

God has provided so much this year and I'm thankful for each and every one of these students. Their hearts have encouraged one another during a time of discouragement for so many. 

In these last few weeks I ask you to join me in praying for this fall semester. In many ways it will be a "re-start" for our Richland FOCUS ministry. Last year we had a momentum that was cut short due to COVID and I'm proud to say that we made the best with what we had. 

This fall we are bringing in 3 new apprentices to Richland FOCUS in addition to sending around 4-5 student leaders to our SICM this year.

They still have not made an official announcement as to whether or not campus will re-open this fall but faculty & staff did begin reporting to campus in early-April (GREAT NEWS!). 

Thank you all so much for your support and for believing in our mission to make and mature disciples for the glory of God. 

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

It's Already March...Wow :)

 My friends! My team!

I can't believe we're about to approach the 1/4 mark of 2021. Crazy. Wild. But, such is life :) 

Even though we are at the 1/4 mark of the year - we are also at the 3/4 mark of the school year! We have 2 months left school and this, truly has been one of the most unique school years that I think I will ever experience. 

Even though this year campus was closed, I am deeply touched by the students who stuck around this year to make this a special season of our lives. We all social distanced - we all wore masks - we all tried our best to reach out to new students - most important: we were faithful. 

We know we are not alone in all of this. College ministries all over the world are struggling. Ministries all over the world are trying to make sense of doing ministry during a pandemic. I just want to say that I am so proud of these students at Richland FOCUS who have stuck around and made this such an awesome year. I'm honored to call myself their campus pastor and their friend. 

It is a joy - a true joy. I'm also honored to have you all on my team - being with me through this year and the years to come. 

I'm looking forward to these last two months of the school year. Our students are feeling more & more at home with each other. They are consistent and involved in the lives of one another. 

Please be praying for our students as they continue in their online-classes and that they finish the semester strong! 

Lucas, Matthew, and Simon discussing scripture with one another on Thursday Night! Love these guys!

I got to be in a discussion group with Brian and Benji! Love these students :) 

Our Thursday night thunder group - thankful for each and every one of these students!

I've loved getting to lead core with Dayo (in picture). We get together each week to hang out, plan core, and pray for our guys. Here we are eating ramen together. 

This year has been a little crazy - we've had to cancel a few of our in-person events to be on zoom with each other. The weather has been unpredictable but we are grateful for our consistent group of students!

Thank you so much for believing in our mission and for loving college students! We have a lot of the year left so let's finish strong!

please don't hesitate to let me know if you need prayer for anything in your life!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

January 2021 Campus Missionary Update!

 My friends & team!

I hope you're all doing well today - It's hard to believe that we're in February 2021!

Around this time one year ago our ministry was coming back from Winter Camp, excited and anticipating a new semester, new friendships were being formed and we were moving full steam ahead into a great semester. 

I began seeing more & more news articles surrounding COVID-19 but, at the time, it didn't mean much to me - I was focused on our students & the success of having an awesome year!

In early-March 2020 we were making preparations for a groups of students from Seattle to come down and help us with outreach during their spring break. We call it SSI week and it is one of the most exciting weeks of the year. As COVID news stories began to rise and the uncertain nature of the future began to break - we ended up cancelling SSI week. 

We were moving forward until one Thursday afternoon I got an email from the college that said, "All large group meetings of 20+ people will not be allowed to meet moving forward." It was then that I began to grasp how different our lives & ministry were to become. 

One year later I still am unsure what the future holds - will we get to do outreach on a busy, vibrant campus again? Will I be able to walk around campus meeting new students? Will campus be closed for another year? 

Ministry at the community college level is always a challenge because students transfer quickly. They in your ministry for a short amount of time and they leave. Now that campus is closed we have struggled with meeting new students and developing a presence on campus. 

Please pray that campus would be 100% opened or, at least, operating at a hybrid-level format for this fall. God is faithful and he will continue to provide for our campus ministry @ Richland, but, we are struggling with trying to paint a passionate picture of the future. 

Thank you so much for your support and for believing in our mission!

From left to right: Dayo, Brian, Ricky, and me! This is our Wednesday, 2pm Men's core Bible study! It has been going well and I'm so grateful these dudes!

Even though this year has looked different and campus is closed - I am grateful for these students and their desire to be a part of our mission :)

We make some decisions on a week-to-week basis regarding meeting place/time/etc. - and, when all else fails, we usually meet on Zoom. Even though Zoom is 100% NOT the same as meeting in-person...it still is a gift to get to connect with each other :)

This year, we had an in-person staff retreat and a Zoom staff retreat. Even though I streamed in to our staff retreat, it was still a great experience :)

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need prayer for anything in your lives!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

I blinked then all of a sudden it was 2021... (Sirak's December Update!)

 My friends :) My team :)

Here we are, another year. I was listening to "The Thanksgiving Song" by Ben Rector and there is a line in it where he says: "Life never stops changing but some things never change." It touched me because of how true it is. Time never quite stops moving on but we find that in each new season that arrives we are a little different...the world is a little different...our society is a little different...technology is different...etc.

There are some things that never change in campus ministry: meeting students, loving students, and discipling students. These never change. But, 2020 has shown us time and time again that life truly never stops changing. We experienced some drastic changes in 2020, but, maybe the changing has always been there but we just finally experienced it on a deep level. 

As we enter the spring semester we have a lot of ideas as to how we can keep the constants continuing: meeting students, loving students, and discipling students. But, no doubt as we have seen: things will change. This semester may present new issues and things we may need to shift & move around, but we're here for it!

Thank you for your support and for believing in us! December was a relaxing month of reflection, reading, and remembering what God has done this fall and praying for him to move this Spring. We have an awesome group of students that were consistent with us this past fall and we're looking forward to an awesome spring semester!

Our end-of-the-semester Christmas service was an awesome time w/ our students. We had dinner with each other (individually packed) and worshipped while sharing about the semester with each other! 

We even had a student-led choir!

This year for our preaching lab, we invited Bill Watson (back center) to be our guest and listen to Adam (2nd from left), William (far right), and Andrea (front center) preach 20 minute sermons and receive feedback. Our apprentices were split into 3 groups and this was the group I led! They all preached such powerful sermons and I enjoyed our time together!

Just in case you haven't seen me in a while - this is an updated photo of me doing what I love: enjoying pho!

Thank you all so much for your support and for believing in me! I am blown away to get to serve alongside you on God's campuses. Even though this will be another online-only semester, we still hope to meet new students and love them!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

Sirak's November 2020 Update!

My friends! My team!

This time last year we were preparing for Winter Camp and our students were looking forward to a much needed break! It was a challenging semester but one that was full of joy and seeing God's faithfulness. Even though the last 365 days have stretched us as a ministry and as individuals, I am deeply grateful for the students and relationships that God has placed in my life to experience life with. 

We have an amazing group of students, amazing student leaders, and one of the best staff teams I've ever served with. The past year couldn't be possible without them. 

Many college campuses are moving forward with the 'hybrid-campus' model where on-campus AND online classes are both offered with on-campus classes being around 10% - 20% of the classes offered. This spring, Richland College will again be 100% online. Even though I deeply want to be on campus again, I am encouraged by our awesome fall semester and am looking forward to the spring! 

Thank you all so much for your continual support and for believing in our mission to meet students & love students on :) 

I hope that these pictures below encourage you wherever you are. I am grateful for each and every one of you and the many ways that you've been supporting me! 

 My good friend, Dr. Mary Poplin, came into town a few weeks ago so she and I grabbed lunch. She came and spoke at our November 2019 Pizza Theology event and the students absolutely loved it. I am glad to have connected with such a brilliant woman of God! She has become a dear friend of mine. 

At our end-of-the-semester Thursday Night Thunder, we got to celebrate with one another through having a meaningful Christmas Service, dinner, and then Karaoke/Board Games. Our students love to party with each other! I'm grateful for each and every one of them! 

Our worship team did an especially great job! Bridgett and Ashley did a great job planning out the evening and we even had a great choir made up of students come along and help us with the singing! 

Valentin, one of my favorite students of all-time, came back to Richland Thursday night and hung out with us. I am thankful for him and his heart! He has since transferred from Richland College and now attends UT Arlington FOCUS. He is doing awesome over there! Love him!

(from left to right) Matthew, Simon, and Valentin! Love these students so much!

Our end-of-the-semester Christmas service was a success! I loved getting to be with all of our students and it was a very meaningful way to end the semester. 

(from left to right) Dayo, Ricky, Simon, and Lucas. I'm grateful for all of our students and their heart toward one another!

This semester I have loved getting to watch our other Richland FOCUS staff and apprentices get to preach & share with our students. In this picture, Ashley Obregon, one of our FOCUS apprentices is preaching on - How to love God with our mind! Our students have been so attentive and appreciative of when reading or hearing God's word! 

This year I have had the privilege of leading our Men's Wednesday 2pm Bible Study. The students who show up are attentive, excited, and engaged. Even though it is difficult at times to hear what the others are sharing (due to wearing masks), our guys have still been consistent and have had an open heart to one another!

Thank you so much for your support and for believing in me! I'm so honored to know that you are all there with me when I am on-campus loving & meeting students. It means even more to me to know that even though campus is 100% online you are all still there side-by-side with me as we love & serve college students.

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have anything in your life that you need prayer for! I'm here for you!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

A Long Semester Felt Pretty Short :)

My friends! My team!

Thank you for your time reading this :) As I sit in this coffee shop and type my blog I am filled with many emotions. It's hard to believe that we have only a couple of months left of 2020 and the semester is coming to a close.

I love getting to work with the amazing students and staff in my life. They are courageous, kind, bold, and attuned to what God is doing around them. I've always struggled with thankfulness - I can be more pessimistic than I am optimistic - I can be more negative than I am positive - I can be more hostile than I am warm; these are some of my 'natural tendencies' and I have seen God grow and develop me in. 

I can honestly say that right now I am optimistic. I am positive. I am warm towards what our ministry and communities are going through. Our students have responded jumped into the year in stride and are opening their hearts to one another each and every week. Our leader team is warm to one another and the visitors that we have in our meetings every week. 

This has been a year to remember - not just in campus ministry but in the world at large. I hope that you all are encouraged and reminded that optimism, positivity, and warmth are all choices that you and I can make on a day-to-day basis.

Also, I released some music yesterday, my single, "Making The Best"! A song about - making the best with what we've got! 

Check it out if you've got some time: spotify:track:5wOzNpUs7Dswl7Ov8XIKL7

Enjoy the photos and THANK YOU for your support and friendship :) 

Our Tuesday afternoon co-ed core! They have done a great job building community and loving/serving one another :) 

I got to have dinner a few weeks ago with Dayo & Matthew - I enjoyed our time together. I also tried Horchata for the first time. It was delicious!

I'm thankful that I get to lead worship each week with our volunteer student worship team! They do an awesome job serving our Richland FOCUS community :)

Our Richland Men's Wednesday 2pm core! Half of us meeting in person w/ masks and the rest are via zoom. It has been encouraging and fun! 

Our ministry got together a few weeks ago for pizza theology and it was a great experience :) We watched the live-stream and discussed how to think like a Christian in society.

There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes of a pizza theology event! Thankful for Cort and Rhett for putting in all the work behind-the-scenes to love & serve the students!

Our 2020 apprentices did a great job at our 1st preaching lab! We have another one coming up soon and I'm looking forward to the experience of it as well :)

We did a Richland FOCUS Halloween Party last week and it was awesome! The costumes were very creative and we had a great time! 

We had an 'open-sharing' portion of the evening where the students got up to share what they felt "God was wanting to share through them with our community" and it was an awesome experience! We also did pumpkin paining together! 

The Best Is Yet To Come!

 My friends! My team! My squad!

Hi there, how are you? What is your name? What is your major? Have you found a group of people to connect with yet on campus? Have you had an opportunity to connect with any of the student organizations on campus? 

These are all of the questions I miss asking to the hundreds of new students I meet every year. Even though this year has been so so so different and the number of new students we've been able to meet has been little to non-existent, we are still making the best with what we've got :)

We have a SOLID group of students coming every week to our core(s) and Thursday Night Thunder meetings, we have a student worship team that serve every week and our student leader team feels closer than over. Thank you so much for believing in us and supporting our mission to make & mature disciples at Richland College (even though the campus is temporarily closed!). 

We got an email last week that informed us that this spring semester will also be online, and, to be honest, it was a little disheartening to hear but God has already been so faithful with us this fall that I'm excited to see how the Spring semester goes!

Our 2020 FOCUS apprentice did their first preaching lab and it was great! They were each given a ministry scenario to prepare a response to. I enjoyed it and they ministered to me!

FOCUS held its pizza theology, "In In Not Of It: Thinking Like A Christian In Society" and it went great! It's hard to think through difficult social-political issues but we want our students to be equipped and engaged with the world around them - I enjoyed it!

Cort (left) does an amazing job with the Audio/Visual aspects of our live stream. There are so many moving parts and we are grateful to have someone like him handling the technical aspects of what we try to pull of!

Our Richland students did an outdoor, socially-distanced watch party for pizza theology. I was encouraged and uplifted to see them all meeting together, eating pizza, and talking through issues such as race, culture, and black lives matter. 

I lead core w/ Dayo (middle) and we have our core on Wednesdays at 2:00pm. We offer an in-person socially distanced option as well as a zoom link. The students that have been attending have added so much energy and positivity to our men's side of the ministry! Love them!

From Left to Right: Jacob, Me (Sirak), Brian, and Erika - our worship team this year! Josh Soto (our apprentice from last year) has been helping some with worship as well!

Here is an updated picture of what I look like. 

Thursday Night Thunder! 

A throwback photo of me & my brother!

Peter sharing during pizza theology!

Our Tuesday afternoon co-ed core! I've enjoyed seeing this group connect & thrive with one another :)

Thank you so much for your support and for believing in our mission over the years. I could never have predicted that I would be an online campus pastor, but, here we are! Just like I wrote in my title, The Best Is Yet To Come!

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, comments, or things in your life that you need prayer for!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak