Shayla's Ministry Blog

Hey everyone! Here's some snapshots from September. As always, our student testimony is first. Please read Ana from Collin College's story.  Cathryn and I nearly getting blow away in the Target parking lot by a crazy storm! Cathryn is one of my coworkers and a dear friend! She's a good teacher, intentional friend, and faithful mentor to our students.  This is Sophia. She's one of the student leaders I meet with weekly. This is a picture of her acting up during her core (small group). I believe we were discussing spiritual friendships. My dad and my nephew Paxton! My dad is Paxton's most favorite person in the world. He's always asking for "Pop Pop". It's very sweet. This was after Paxton's birthday party. Samantha baptizing Layla! Samantha is a recent graduate and someone who I led core with last year. Samantha studied the bible with Layla and now Layla is a student leader. This was so neat and special to get to see the fruit of faithfulness a ...

Hey! I'm excited to tell you y'all about the busy month of August. Please continue to pray for wisdom for our staff and openness to the gospel. The harvest is plentiful! We had around 300 our first fellowship night. We're so grateful for your prayers and financial partnership.  First up, our student testimony from Kathryn at UTD. Fun fact: I actually got to drive her around at SICM last year and hear about her spiritual journey and I got to drive her little brother around and hear about his spiritual journey! God has been so faithful through students and staff at UTD FOCUS. I love that I get to hear about God's goodness across the metroplex.   Here are some photos I took from a very busy August. I'm sorry I'm not usually in them, I like being behind the camera more than in front of it :)  A picture I took at an event we planned called Clark Park Campout :) We had Ryan and Cathryn sing covers of songs at a field near one of the dorms and the students loved it. We...

 Howdy all!  As summer winds down (ish), we're gearing up for a metaphorical marathon with the start of the school year in August. First, our student testimony. Please take a moment to read Christina's story!  Some Summer photos: Cathryn and I were having a work day. When she was done with her work, I would occasionally hear "Mmm yesss, so good!". Very wholesome and silly of her. The book she is reading is one I highly recommend: Room for Good Things to Run Wild by Josh Nadeau. It's about embracing sanctification, especially in the ordinary.  Our Denton staff for the upcoming year! Gotta love the luchador painting in the back. Casey Hopper (bottom left), Hannah Edwards (middle left), and Hannah Winkler (middle right), are our new apprentices in Denton. I'm very excited to be working with them this year!  My friends and I at the beach! We went looking for crabs at night and boy did we find some.  Grant holding his baby nephew, Merrick! This was such a sweet ...

Happy summer!  I'm excited to share with y'all what's been going on here. Spoiler alert: a lot of prayer, planning, and people!  First up is our student testimony. Please take time to read Jordan's testimony. Fun fact: I got to drive him (along with others) to Canada during SICM. A group of students went to meet, get to know, and pray for people. He's a cool dude!   Photos from the month: Our first Thursday Night Fellowship for the Summer! So many people came, I had to sit upstairs. The energy of this group is incredible. It's neat to see so many young disciples of Jesus in pursuit of one another, and the mission.  A picture of most of our staff team! We spent two full work days in Dallas strategically planning ahead. So many details, so little time. We planned the first two weeks of events to welcome the students to school, material for our student leaders, themes, sermon series, portfolio changes, schedules, and more! Our brains were tired but our hearts were ...

Howdy!  I'm excited to share about the last month of ministry through photos! I recently returned from our annual trip to Washington state. We took 145 students from DFW to SICM where they learned together how to be intentional disciples of Jesus.  First up is a really touching student testimony. One of the reasons I love campus ministry is that we get to meet people from all over the world! Please read Freddie's story. She is from the Netherlands and God ministered to her through FOCUS at Collin College (go cougs).  Snapshot from our end of year party for Denton FOCUS. People were reading lyrics to worship songs off their phones. You can see Bryan Pham holding his phone up with the lyrics for others to read. He's one of our transfers from Richland and has such a sweet presence.  This is Samantha and I's core (small group) that we led this past year. Kenzie (to my right), Joleigh (in the middle), and Layla (purple shirt) all came with me to SICM this year. Please be ...

Howdy! I can't wait to share this month's update with you. First, our student testimony. Please take a moment to read how God has been working in Juan's life. Campus Renewal / Revival?  Something unique happened somewhat recently on UNT's campus. One of our student leaders sensed a call to plan an inter-denominational campus worship night. He invited other campus ministries to take part. There was worship, public confession, prayer, moments of repentance, and it culminated into 12 people getting baptized in the fountain at UNT. There were hundreds of students gathered to gather on a beautiful night all in the name of Jesus. This is something that I myself has been praying for and many of you have been praying for, for years! I am in awe and so grateful for God loving these students in Denton. Please continue to pray for us, especially that all the christians in denton would steward this moment and the people well!  Students gathered to worship, pray, confess, and repent...

Howdy! It's been an interesting month. I'll update more below but first is our student testimony from Caitlynn at TWU right here in Denton! Reagann actually got to baptize her a while back. Take a moment to read her story.  March:  As I mentioned, this has been an interesting month. We had Spring Break, and then spent much of the month planning and preparing to host 17 students and 4 staff from a campus ministry in Washington state. Finally, we hosted, aided, and assisted them for a week! Our ministry has a wonderful partnership with CCF, or Campus Christian Fellowship, in Bellingham, WA. We attend SICM up there every year! And every year, they send a group to one of our FOCUS communities to do outreach for a week during their Spring Break! It was an intense labor of love and planning. As you can imagine, there are a lot of moving parts, requiring significant coordination and communication on our part. Our students even joined in, helping with everything from finding host fami...