June 2025

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 happy.


Movie night! We had some focus alumni come over and recent grads to watch the classic movie Hot Rod. We also went to play pickleball the next morning with this crew, once it hit 90 we were done. We were drenched from head to toe. 


Evening at the square! Samantha and I went to the square one night to walk around, get gelato, reflect on what God did this past year, and enjoy the sunset. 


Aaron: laying on an ottoman. Tate: to the right!
Two of Grant and I's sweetest friends, ministry partners, and FOCUS alumni, Aaron and Tate! They came to stay for a long weekend. It was so nourishing to spend time with them, hear about what the Lord is doing in San Antonio and what the Lord has been up to in Denton. I love these people with my whole heart. 

A better picture of Tate. Fun fact: Aaron painting that huge painting behind Tate. The theme was from Psalm 27:13, "I remain confident of this, surely I will see the Lord in the Land of the Living." Additional fun fact: most of the art in our home is from Aaron and Tate, two of the most talented interior designers and artists I know. Their love for the Lord is reflected in everything they do!


Praying at the square with some recent FOCUS grads and baby Joni. Keelee (left), and Kayla (to the right). They were both corefas and loved their girls so well!  After, we got coffee at West Oak and talked about long term spiritual friendships.

Joni just loved my coin purse! lol! For those wondering: Joni belongs to Ryan, our director. 

Thank you all for praying and giving! I'm so excited for this coming year. 

Shayla 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 2020 update

Image
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 ...
Read more

September 2024 update

Image
Baptisms and Book Recs Hey y'all! Some great news over here. Since August, we've had 8 baptisms in Denton FOCUS. Most recently were 5 girls. Grace (UNT), Diana (UNT), MJ (TWU), Chris (TWU), and Nia (TWU)!  Chris, MJ, and Nia's Baptism! A TWU baptism for the ages! Josh and Emiliee Robinson of Denton North Church let us use their pool. Josh was in FOCUS with Ryan and I when we were in college! Diana's baptism. I got to study foj with Diana 2 years ago and her corefas Mackenzie and Mikayla from that year got to baptize her. What a sweet moment. Mackenzie is now on staff at Collin, and Mikayla is back in Houston :'( Grace's baptism. I had the honor of getting to baptize her. We were co-fas last year and I loved leading core with her. A very special moment, her friends and family together to celebrate! Sean and Vianet (also friends of Ryan and I's from college), have let us baptize countless people over the years. What a blessing they are! These baptisms are good...
Read more

March 2025 update

Image
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...
Read more