January 2024 Ministry Update

 

January Ministry Update!

At FOCUS’s Winter Retreat all of our campuses get to be together! I got to see some of the girls from my first small group when I was a student and it was such a blessing!

All of our students at Winter Retreat! There were almost 600 people in attendance (even with the threat of icy roads).

Happy New Year! It has been the month of retreats for us at FOCUS. Winter break ended for me with our staff winter retreat. We spent a few days at a beautiful camp near Austin where we had worship and sessions led by some of our staff and got to spend time bonding with each other. It was a perfect way to kick off the semester! I’ve missed spending time with the rest of the Collin team and the apprentices- us apprentices had so much to catch up on, we spent nearly 3 hours talking about our breaks. We also had our Winter Retreat in January. Between all of our campuses, staff, and guests, we had nearly 600 people in attendance! Our guest speaker of the retreat was Dr. Daniel Lee from Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Lee taught on Disruptive Grace- what happens when we truly believe that God’s grace is what saves us and allows us to live a new life. I was particularly touched by Dr. Lee’s discussion on allowing God to touch every part of our identity- even the parts that we think (or have been told) are too weird/ challenging/ far gone. I’m excited to see how God will use this retreat to minister to our students.

If you’d like to listen to the Winter Retreat talks, click here!

Our apprentice class celebrates birthdays together! I know I include them often in my blogs, but it’s been really sweet to do life with these friends.

I’m excited to start the spring semester! We’re starting a New Testament class where I will finish reading the rest of the Bible. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support! Things like our Winter Retreat are possible because of your faithfulness! I’m so thankful for each and every one of you! With love, Arianna Prayer Requests: Pray that God would continue to grow us in trusting that his grace is enough for us. Pray for our students as they start classes again, that they would be lights on their campus and represent Jesus well!