...And We're Off! (Sirak's August Missions Update)

The year has begun! 

My friends & team! I hope that your August wasn't too hot and that you are ready for a beautiful fall season. The year is off to a great start and I'm excited to get to share with you what God has been doing at Dallas College Richland Campus. 

Welcome week was a great experience as we got to connect with a new incoming class of students at Richland College. We've typically set up a volleyball net outside of the main cafeteria, but we have noticed that over the last few years fewer and fewer students were interested in coming outside in the heat to play volleyball (I guess most people want to stay indoors and be on their phones, hah). 

The campus let us set up two different tables on campus to maximize the number of people we would connect with. It was a great experience! Joey (one of our senior staff) coordinated with Starbucks to help us get free coffee every day and we were able to connect with a new students throughout the week! 

Our first week of core was also a great success! The students are excited and motivated to get to know one another and pursue what following Jesus could look like while students. We have momentum and synergy among our students that I have not seen since pre-COVID. Please pray that we would be faithful in loving & serving the students among us! 

Thank you for your support & for believing in our mission to love college students! I hope that the pictures below encourage you and fill you with love. Your support means something! There are students who are being impacted and are being introduced to the Jesus-way of living! So good! 

Pictures Below: 

For one of our welcome week events, we did a Braums night off campus to meet some of the students that have been coming around! It was fun! 

A group photo after our first Thursday Night Thunder meeting! It was awesome to get to be with everyone on Thursday Night - we have a lot of fun personalities in our group this year! 

We did an Arcade-night and afterwards we got pizza together! 

I had the privilege to speak at our first Thursday Night FOCUS of the year. Our theme this year is "Come & See". In our sermon series, we are inviting the students to Come & See the many aspects of who God is; I can tell that our sermon series is really resonating with the students! 

My core this year! I get to lead w/ Yoni (student in the black/white striped shirt) and he has been an absolute blessing to my life. I love getting to work with him and serving alongside him. Please be praying for him, he got in a car accident about a week ago and is currently working with his insurance company to handle all of the details. 

Here is me - as a young lad w/ my sister, Meron. We are walking along a riverwalk in Windsor, Ontario. 

We did an Super-Smash-Brothers event on campus during welcome week - it was awesome! We had a bunch of new students come and hang out with us! 

The campus has been more open in letting us advertise around campus with fewer restrictions. Hopefully we are able to connect with more & more students that way! 

Claire w/ our FOCUS table at Welcome Week! 

Thank You! So much for believing in me and walking with me along this campus missionary journey :) 

I'm looking forward to an awesome year! Let's do this!

Sirak 

The Calm Before the (Beautiful) Storm!

 My friends :) 

Summer is almost over and I am 100% pumped for the school year! Thank you for all of your continued support and partnership through these last 10 years of campus missions work. God has been faithful to grow & develop me in this very unique mission field. 

Summer was a great time of rest & remembering God's faithfulness through countless relationships throughout the years. Campus ministry has provided me with a wealth of friendships that have truly blessed and encouraged me in ways that I have no words for. 

Our Dallas staff team is hard at work preparing for welcome week events, room reservations, and kicking off the year strong with an open heart; ready to meet a new generation of students we can love & serve. 

I hope you all are encouraged by the photos below - thank you so much for believing in me and our mission to love college students!

We had an awesome staff retreat last week and Becca (one of our Collin FOCUS staff) got baptized! It was awesome to see!

It was tough saying goodbye to our 2021-22 FOCUS staff - they are off to do great things for the kingdom in their respective vocational fields. 

Our Thursday Night Summer FOCUS meetings were such an encouragement this summer. We have a great group of students across our campuses and I'm excited to see what the fall semester has in store for us!  

Also, I turned 34 years old this summer! Feeling old! :)

Me, my wife, my beautiful mother and brother!

We had an awesome SMU/Dallas College student leader training over the weekend. We have a fun group of students that are excited about this fall. Please pray for each and every one of them that they would be bold in connecting with new students as new friendships are built!

Another shot of our leader training from this past weekend!

Grateful for this group of students! I'm excited for what this year has in store for us.

Thank you so much for believing in me all of these years :) I'm blown away that you all would partner with us as we get to love college students! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need prayer for anything in your life.

Please pray for us as we jump into Welcome Week next week. It'll be jam packed with meeting new students, connecting with their hearts and hearing about how FOCUS can serve them this year! 

Thank you for your support!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

Summer Is Off To A Great Start :)

My friends & team :) 

Summer is off to a wonderful start! Thank you all for letting me reconnect with you and share about the vision to love college students this year! 

This summer my goal is to re-connect with graduates, Richland FOCUS alum, and friends/family that have been instrumental in my ministry journey. I couldn't do any of this without you! 

Summer FOCUS is off to a get start (see photos below). There are many new students that I am meeting week to week who are excited about learning what it means to follow Jesus. Awesome stuff! I feel honored to get to be a part of their journeys this summer before we hit the ground running in August. 

Please be praying for our FOCUS staff as we support-raise in preparation for a great school year this fall :) 

There is so much to be grateful for :) THANK YOU for your support and for believing in me and the mission to love college students. I hope that the pictures below are encouraging and uplifting to you! 

I love getting to meet up with Yoni every week to study the Bible together. He will be a sophomore at Richland College this fall - he has been a true gift to our ministry! 

We spent some time honoring our FOCUS staff who are transitioning off of staff and into the workplace. (From left to right: Ashlyn, Amber, Taylor, Garrett, Alex, Austin N. Austin B. Cole, and Connor) We are going to miss them! 

Our first summer FOCUS meeting! :) It was a blast! 

My wife (Sloan) had an ankle surgery about 5 weeks ago. She is recovering great and it off to a great start! We're expecting a full recovery.

Our Richland FOCUS men!

Our Richland FOCUS women! 

God has been so good this past school year and I'm excited for what the summer holds! Please do not hesitate to email me if you need prayer for anything going on in your life!

Your brother & campus minister,

Sirak 

The End of a Beautiful Year!

My friends! My Team!

Thank you for your support and walking alongside me this year. I am blown away at how fast this year has flown by and at how faithful God was in creating a community on campus at Dallas College Richland Campus that loves & welcomes any student that shows up! 

Thank you for believing in our mission to love college students & help them receive & respond to the love that God offers :) I couldn't be doing this without any of you. I hope that these pictures remind you of what your support is going toward - lives that are being changed for God's kingdom! 

I know that lockdown/campus shut-down was 1.5-2 years ago, but, I can sense that things are starting to get to normal. Students are ready to re-engage, come out of their shells, and be a part of the community campus life that we are hoping to build on campus. Please be in prayer for us as we reflect on the past year, prepare through the summer, and hit the ground running come the fall! 

Enjoy the pictures below!

 

One of our students brought their nephew to our end-of-the-year party and he was hanging out & having a blast (see the little boy behind me...). He was so fun to have around!

I have been doing a 1-on-1 bible study w/ a student named Yoni. He has been a huge blessing to spend time with and get to know. I am grateful that God crossed our paths with one another. 

Tom Miller, a good ministry prayer & good friend of mine, has been coming to our Thursday Night FOCUS events and our students 100% love having him there. We spent a few minutes honoring & celebrating him! 

For our students that are transferring to a four-year university, we laid hands on them to pray for God's guidance and blessing over them! 

Connor Clements has served this year at Brookhaven Campus and has been such a faithful & reliable part of our ministry. We are going to miss him! 

For our end-of-the-year party, we did a meaningful sharing time where our students got to share & talk about how they've seen God move in their lives & the lives around them! It was great :) 

For our final core of the year, we decided to go out and get lunch together at a local Vietnamese restaurant. Bryan, Chris, Yoni and I had a great time sharing stories and talking about our summer plans! 

For some reason we all got interested in watching YouTube videos about the Universe. It would take 10-15 minutes to marvel at the Universe before we would begin our core discussion! 

I'm thankful for each and every one of these students! 

Sandra & Claire have done an amazing job this year loving & serving our students :) 

Thank you all so much for believing in me this year! I'm blown away that I get to serve these college students alongside you all. 

This summer, I'd love to connect or re-connect with you! Do not hesitate to reach out if you need anything from me. I'll be in touch!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak 

Spring Is Here and It's Lovely :)

My friends & my team :)

February & March have been amazing months full of spiritual friendships being formed, connecting with new students and being reminded of God's faithfulness. 

Today in core, we had a great conversation on how anger can impact the way we see others & ourselves. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (verses 4 - 7)

We reflected on how our culture encourages us to be easily-angered and triggered by all of the pain we see in the world. Our culture encourages us to have our opinions read & on hand to throw at someone we disagree with. Our "opinions" are the truth we win with. 

Paul argues that the only thing to make ANY difference in the world is: Love. Loving one another. Patiently loving one another. Kindly loving one another. There is a freedom we have when we confidently decide to love & embrace our brother & sister as our own - especially in a world that is bent on dividing and judging. 

I know that I can be the chief when it comes to anger. I can be too quick to assume and lash out against those around me - especially the ones who are trying to love me! Oh, the irony. 

We have around 6-7 core meetings left. Please pray that as we engage with the scripture that the students hearts would be open to what God wants to share & press onto them. God's word is truly living and active! 

Thank you so much for believing in our mission, I'm honored to get to be alongside you all as we love & lead this next generation of college student. 

Enjoy the pictures below :) Your support is going a long way to connect students to the message of our living God! 

This June my wife and I will be celebrating our 4-year wedding anniversary. Wow! Time truly move so quick :) 

We had to cancel our staff retreat in January due to a small COVID outbreak. We ended up rescheduling our staff retreat to February and we had a great time!

Thankful for all of these wild crazy students :)

A few weeks ago it was just Bryan, Oliver and me in core. Even though the numbers were low, we had an amazing discussion! 

Haley, one of our Richland students, did an amazing job leading us through Investing In The Vision! 

Thursday Night Thunder has been such a blessing & a great time this year. It's hard to think that the school year is almost over. Please be praying that we finish the year well and that we have a great summer :) 

Our directors team making a decision about something important :) 

Spring Showcase was a blast! We got to raise a lot of money to help send students to SICM! It was a great experience and I got to remember how much I love playing guitar!

Thank you again for believing in me and our mission! I couldn't do this without you!

Do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have anything in your life that you'd like prayer for!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak

It's Been A While! (Much to share!)

 My friends & team! 

It's been a while and I have much to share but before I begin I want to say: Thank you! Thank you for believing in our mission to love college students and show them what a new life in Christ can look like. God has put so many brilliant, talented, and powerful students in our path and I am excited to be a part of their stories during their time at Richland. 

FOCUS Winter Camp was amazing (see pictures below)! We met so many wonderful students across our campuses who are living mission-filled lives during their time as students. I am touched by their openness and warmth towards one another. I'm grateful to get to be a part of the change happening in their lives. 

It is powerful to know that all it takes is one conversation to change the direction of someones story. We have been emphasizing and praying for outreach to be a core value in Richland FOCUS. Many of our students are afraid to meet new people and engage with them on a personal level. It is much easier to be glued to our phones and believe that all of our interpersonal connection should happen through technology. 

2020 taught many of us the limits of human connection via technology. We are relational beings who long for personal connection with one another. It is work to emphasize these things, but it is worth it! Pray for us as we lean into these topics and try to understand what God is calling us specifically to do as we love our students. 

I hope that you are all encouraged by these pictures. Your support has paved the way for so many students to be befriended and loved. Thank you so much for your support!

Our end-of-the-year Christmas service was great! It was so powerful to be a part of. 

I enjoy our Wednesday, 2pm core small group. The students are always willing to share & engage with one another. Bryan (2nd from the left) and I have been leading it together. I enjoy working with him so much! 

Our FOCUS Worship Class was powerful! I appreciated all of the students coming to engage and share with one another as we discover and discuss the history and tradition(s) of Christian worship.

Thursday Night Thunder is a gift because it creates a space for us to love and know one another. I am thankful for the students God has placed in our lives and I am thankful to be a part of this part of their Christian journey. It's a small part, but, college is such a unique and special time in our lives!

Our Richland FOCUS students at Winter Camp! It was a blast!

Winter Camp 2022 was such a beautiful experience. I am honored to have gotten to be a part of It! We have very special students in our ministry! 

A view from the back of one of our Winter Camp sessions! 

We brought in Rikk Watts, a retired New Testament professor who has taught at Regent College in Vancouver, BC. I appreciated the way he engaged and shared about the New Testament in an open & relational way. I picked him up from the airport and dropped him off so we got some time with each other to talk. I am grateful for him coming and speaking with our students! 

Our Richland FOCUS ministry; grateful for them and their hearts this year! They are a sweet & special group of students.

One of our Richland FOCUS alums, Josue Mulumba, recently graduated from UTD! I'm so proud of him. He was involved in Richland FOCUS in 2018-19. 

Thank you so much for your support and for believing in what we do! I am honored to get to serve alongside such brilliant other staff and students. Please pray for our Richland FOCUS ministry - that we would be attentive to the needs around us and LOVE our students in the way Jesus would!

Your brother & campus missionary,

Sirak