Wednesday, September 30, 2015

What it means to WIN

The three phases of outreach that we concentrate on within FOCUS are Win, Build, and Send.  Since we arrived in Waco at Baylor University, we have been focusing on the "Win" stage.  This does not mean winning all of the Baylor football games, although this has happened thus far.  Winning refers to winning souls for Christ and to our apostolate.  In the "Win" stage, we meet students where they are at and form genuine friendships with them.  That means eating meals together, playing and watching sports together, going on hikes, doing crafts, having movie and game nights, praying together, and much more.  Basically, we must enter into student life here at Baylor to be influential later on in the "Build" and "Send" phases.  Just as Saint Paul says, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.  To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win the Jews..." (1 Corinthians 9: 19-20).  In our words, "To the Baylor students we became as Baylor students, in order to win the Baylor students."


Here are some ways we are building friendships and gaining trust with Baylor students:


Help freshmen move-in


Hike in Cameron Park


Dress like a Texan


Go to Baylor football games and cheer on our undefeated team


Go to the on campus Brad Paisley concert


Hammock together


Pray together






Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Howdy Y'all

I have safely arrived and settled in Waco, TX!  Can you believe it?


I have just begun my third year of missionary work with FOCUS and this is my first year at...


I am serving as the Team Director here.  My main role is to lead my team in evangelization and mission on campus at Baylor University.


Meet the new team!

From left to right: Erin Corbett (2nd year from Colorado Springs, CO), Eric Goetz (1st year from Grinnell, KS), Kaitlin Gilday (Team Director from Pelham, NH), Helcio Sumbe (1st year from Houston, TX), Fr. Daniel Liu (Chaplain), and Matt Christen (1st year from Mesa, AZ)


*Stay tuned for another blog post from me soon.  The new team and students are just getting settled, but when we do, I cannot wait to share more pictures of campus and students with you!