In the last month our ministry tackled everyone's favorite topic...DATING! In all seriousness, dating and relationships is an important issue though not always popular. This year Brandon and I led a three part series that gave the students lots of biblical principles to think about when trying to look at the modern world of dating as a disciple along with the idea of arranging your own marriage. There were several student discussions throughout the series one compared modern dating with the old arranged marriage tradition. I was impressed with the student responses. For example, one student shared that dating can give you the opportunity to serve others if you are thinking about what is best for the other person. Another student shared that she thought a real positive of the arranged marriage situation was that you would go into the relationship looking for the best in the other person and how to make things even better. It was so refreshing to hear college students discuss dating and relationships in terms of what they could see God wanting for them instead of just what they wanted to do. Here are the links to some articles we shared with the students to get them thinking!
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001371.cfm
http://www.crosswalk.com/11621158/
We had our last official Friday night fellowship this week. We put together a Christmas devotional...yes it was Christmas in November! Our worship team picked some great songs (Oh Holy Night, Oh Come Emmanuel, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, Silent Night) and encouraged us to really think about the message we were singing and make it worship and praise not just a Christmas carol. In between each song we had people sharing thoughts on Christmas. We heard moving stories of how God has used this special time of year to heal families, spread His word, move people to generosity and bring hope.
Our ministry has recently experienced a sad loss. One of our members, freshman Ryan Schutze, passed away in a car accident on his way home from Thanksgiving break. Matt Clark, our campus pastor, reminded us that although this is a sad time there is also so much hope because of our great God. Ryan loved the Lord and impacted many organizations on UNT's campus. Please be in prayer for Ryan's family and the many students that have been touched by his life.
On a lighter note the annual FOCUS Christmas party was tonight. We invaded the student union with Christmas cheer using the theme "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Students enjoyed cocoa, cookies, fellowship and laughs! Students were organized into "family" groups and given several Christmas traditions to act out including a white elephant gift exchange and singing Christmas carols to other families to name a few. The evening concluded with a core group competition. Groups brought their creativity and performance skills to the table to bring traditional Christmas songs to life!
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| One tradition had family members singing Christmas songs a la chubby bunny :) |
On a personal note my husband and I found out that we are having a boy and a girl! Keep those prayers coming!
