Shayla's Ministry Blog

Hey, everyone!  It's been a bit! Rest assured, campus ministry is alive and active, the girls that I disciple are learning and listening to Jesus in new and different ways, and they're growing because they are pursuing Jesus. Though it's difficult! They're investing into students who fall everywhere in between on the spectrum of unbelief and belief, and they're doing their best to do that safely as we enter the coming breaks for the holidays. Thank you for your prayer and support! I wish you could meet all of them!  Student Testimony: The Gospel:  Working with college students is a bunch of things: fun, exciting, stressful, confusing, etc. College students themselves tend to passionate about all kinds of things! It's also an age group that's impressionable. Over the years, as we'e noticed trends in our campus ministry, we often have addressed those trends of thinking in topical sermons. While I think those were valuable, I think God has been preparing us

 Hey, y'all!  I know it's been a while since you've heard from me, but rest assured ministry has surprisingly kicked off without a hitch! Albeit, socially distanced, mainly outdoors, and with masks in small groups. All summer, our Denton FOCUS staff brainstormed how we could still be faithful and missional despite the Pandemic, but also in tandem with the CDC guidelines. We may have more mosquito bites than usual, but the response to Christian community has been more encouraging than usual. If you'd like to know more specifics, I'm happy to talk to you! And I'll certainly mention a couple down below, but there's so much good news to mention I can't fit it all here. Praise God.  Some more good news, here are our student testimonies from last month and this month! Please check out Dayo's story from Richland College, and Deanne's story from Collin College! Richland and Collin are our two main community college campuses, and over the years God has gr

Hello, all!  As always, I am excited to update y'all on ministry, even if we are living in a Covid-19 world right now. First, I want you guys to take a minute to read Keanna's story below. I've gotten to know Keanna more this year and I think she is such a blessing to the people around her. Check it out!  What has summer been like? Obviously, Covid-19 has presented some unique limitations for all of us! Whether with work, family, friends, church, extra curricula's, etc. That's certainly true for us as well. However, Jesus is alive an active, and by his grace so is our ministry. Unique problems require some unique solutions! During a normal summer, I'd be spending time on a Thursday night with 300+ college students for a fellowship night, I'd be in a 40 person staff meeting on Mondays, I'd be meeting with groups of students throughout the week, meeting up with people who partner with me in ministry, meeting in groups to help other staff people fundraise,

Happy summer! Man did it get HOT all of sudden. I honestly don't mind the scorching heat, I would pick that over the cold dead of winter any time. I'm excited to update y'all, it's been a while. I want to start off with our May and June student testimonies. The May student testimony is actually really sweet to me for a couple of reasons. Markia is the younger sister of my friend Cierra. I met Cierra in FOCUS in 2013 when we were both students at UNT. When I found out Markia was going to TWU, I knew I wanted to study the bible with her and befriend her. She has been a consistent blessing to me and the people around her at TWU! When Markia and I were studying the bible together, I remembered the summer of 2015 I volunteered with our church family's Teen Camp. I remembered that Markia and I actually did a walk and talk and prayed for each other at that time about friendships and the future. When we both remembered, we were both like "Whoah!". How cool is

Happy Spring! Happy Resurrection!  Hey guys, as you know, everything we know has been changing at a rapid pace with the way Covid-19 has affected everything. Just know that campus ministry is alive and well, albeit from the comfort of our homes and from the screens of our phones and laptops (what up Zoom, facetime, tried and true phone calls, etc.). Thank you guys for praying during this time and allowing us to pray for you as well. Jesus is alive and on the move, and despite the difficulties, I have seem him alive and at work!  First up is the our alumni testimony. This one is actually really cool because James is one of my husband's best friends! And in turn, he has become a good friend of mine. I also got to do the apprenticeship with James back in 2016-2017. He's a sweet and humble guy, who really loves God and God's people. It would mean a lot to me if you would take a minute to read his story!  Ministry is alive and well: As campus ministers of FOCU

Hey, everyone!  I would be remiss if I didn't update you guys on how we are addressing Coronavirus as a ministry. That's what this blog will be about. Some of you are aware that many of our campuses have extended spring break by a week and are moving all instruction to online-learning for the rest of the semester in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Obviously, the situation is still ever-evolving, and we will adjust carefully as needed, but I know many of our ministry partners already have questions about what this means for FOCUS. Here's a letter we sent to our students detailing where we are right now.  Please be praying for us and that we can take full advantage of this very different season of campus ministry. Note: ministry will still happen, be it by phone, facetime, livestreaming, etc. We are committed to serve the campus to the best of our abilities, coronavirus or not.  March 13, 2020 To the FOCUS Community: I want to update you on how

Hello! Happy February, everyone! I am so pumped to update you this month. I have a UTA student testimony, and then a very special testimony from someone that reached out to me. This person will remain anonymous, but I thought it was touching and a huge insight as to why we do campus ministry, even if for a moment it means something to someone. First up: our UTA student testimony! Please take a moment to read this story about what God is upto in Arlington. Okay this story is super special to me. 3.5 years ago, during my first year on staff at Collin College FOCUS, I noticed a girl being bothered by some guys afterwards. She came out to eat with my, my coworker Hannah, and some students. We didn't hear from her really after that, but she sent me this message last semester. It's edited for length, and it's anonymous to protect her. It was inspiring and meaningful and it made me and Hannah cry like babies because of God's kindness. "Hey... So this January of 2