Jesse's Journey

Hello beautiful friends! March has been quite the month. Every time I sit down to write one of these updates I think through everything that has happened and I just wish you all could be here. I can't begin to hope to express everything that is happening and all that God is doing. I often want to tell a big macro story and tell about how the ministry is booming and we are moving to a bigger building and everything is always on the up and up, world-shattering breakthroughs are happening, but there are two problems with that. First, God doesn't seem to work like that most of the time and that definitely doesn't seem to be how He's doing ministry here at Richland. Second, our God is personal and works in community and the development of hope and maturity on a person to person basis. In a lot of ways, this has been a hard month, we've had a corefa (small group leader) step down and had to work with the aftermath of that. Our Thursday nights have not been quite as bi...

Hello and good morning beautiful people! I just wanted to write a quick update on the ministry and what's been going on since last I wrote. Thursday Night Thunder has been going very well. People are still coming and we are starting to become more steady. There is less coming in and out and less inconsistency in who is there and who is not. The students have been getting excited to be a part of serving on Thursday nights, whether that's setting up the room, cleaning up, helping give announcements, or planning events for people for after the service. This is the room we meet in. Some nights it feels like we are already outgrowing the room, and others it fels like we still have a long way to go. Pray for consistency and for people to buy in all the way. Sometimes, especially at Richland, students get into the mindset that we are just another club and we are gathering for a club meeting. We have a vision for the students to be bought in all the way so that they...

Hello and welcome to 2019! It's cool to think about the fact that it's been over 2000 years since Jesus came and year after year He keeps being faithful and building up His kingdom. I am so blessed to get to have a front seat to what He is doing and it is a privilege to do my best to give you guys a window into what that looks like on college campuses, especially at Richland. The month began at home with my family. I was so excited to get to go back up to Alaska to get to see them again. My girlfriend and I flew up there for a little bit to get refreshed by the sea air and get to experience God's creativity in the snow-covered trees and the screeches of bald eagles. It means so much to me to get to go home, and it is meaning ever more as I am learning to make Richardson Texas a home.                     As soon as the wheels touched the ground, so did ministry. We spent a few days on a staff retreat, readi...

Hello friends and Merry Christmas! First, I want to apologize that this update is a bit late. We had a staff retreat right after getting back from the holidays, both of which I will tell you all about in the next update, but that pushed off writing another blog. Second, I want to encourage you all that this month was truly incredible! What you guys are doing and giving is making a real difference in the lives of people at Richland. The biggest event that happened this month was the Christmas party. For a lot of groups and clubs, a Christmas party is little more than a gathering of people who are already friends, not interested in the deeper things in life, and out to get drunk, party, and do anything but be intentional and use it as a growing experience. This year our Christmas party was so much more than this. This was the first year the ministry at Richland was big enough to have our own Christmas party separate from UTD, which we have been connected to for a long time. W...

     Good morning beautiful people! This month has been incredible. This was the last full month before the students go on their Christmas breaks, so there is a lot of thinking through what has gone well and what we want to work on for next semester. Focus is still trying to gain ground and grow at Richland, which definitely presents difficulties. We have limited funding, the students sometimes struggle to buy into the vision all the way, the culture is filled with a lot of worldly ideas and people struggling to find themselves. These are all ways to be praying for the ministry at Richland, but this month I want to focus on the wonder. So first off, Alex and I hosted a Friendsgiving over Thanksgiving break, which was a cool opportunity to invite people who might not have a place to go for Thanksgiving and get to speak life into people from all over the place. We made a ton of food, and surprisingly, people ate almost all of it. There were about 30 people that came ove...

The Adventure Continues! Hello wonderful people! This month has been crazy busy, but I feel like I'm also slowly getting a handle on the rhythm of college ministry. I think growth and continuation are two words that sum up this month very well. My tasks and schedule are getting more consistent and a little more defined. I've been in charge of planning and getting students involved in evangelism at Richland college. It has been really cool to see student leaders and the people they are discipling showing up to the common area to meet new people, ask spiritual questions, and invite them into community. Richland focus just bought our own set of board games to use for events to draw people in and it has been working so well! We met a guy a couple weeks ago that has started coming consistently and making meaningful friendships in our community. I've also been meeting with some of the student leaders and getting to see into what God is doing in their lives and in thei...