A Month of Learning Curves and God's Grace.

 Hi to all my partners and more!

September has been a packed month indeed. 

While no major events have happened (such as SICM or Staff Retreat), it still has been a time full of learning curves, goof ups, and most importantly...grace. 

Collin Wylie

Starting off with Collin Wylie, this month has been a lot of figuring out how to even do ministry well based on the circumstances given. What I mean by this is that even though we may have a normal ministry model for what college ministry looks like, that doesn't necessarily mean it should be used for a campus just starting out.

So, while other campuses have multiple cores (small groups) that are gender specific and multiple corefas (student leaders who lead our cores), that is not the case here at Wylie. Basically, we are starting from square one, with only David and I leading a mixed gender small group. So, the question becomes: how do we build a lasting ministry here?

This year is very much about scattering seeds. So, it is unrealistic to put this pressure on ourselves and say that by the end of this year, there needs to be this well established, huge ministry at Wylie. However, this does mean finding ways to make FOCUS known on campus, and to meet the needs of the student body. 

Originally, we started with a small core at 12pm on Tuesdays. This way, we could get students on their lunch break and in between classes. This definitely did not last long though. 

Eventually, we started to notice that students were not really getting anything out of discussions, as everything felt really rushed within a small hour timeframe. So, this meant rethinking about what would be best for students who really wanted to know Jesus on this campus. 

Luckily, a family that has a daughter in FOCUS generously opened up their house to us, and now, we get to have a nighttime core that gets to go further in depth on topics and longer in time. So, this can allow for us to really mature (and even make some) disciples on this campus to lead other students in the future!

From an outreach event we also did on campus, David and I noticed that there was a deep desire for friendship on the Wylie campus. So, with our 12pm 'core' time, we decided to extend it out and make it a hangout time for students to come and play games in the Student Center and talk about life. So far, we have had about 6-7 consistent students from all walks of life come to this time, and you can tell it is genuinely something they look forward to. One girl even made us muffins one time! 

I genuinely love getting to be on this campus, and it really has pushed me to think pastorally about what these students need/want versus my own expectations. Where I usually default to what others think is best, I have had to learn to discern and trust the Spirit in where he might be leading this ministry and act on that confidently. 

Ultimately, the work David and I are getting to do on this campus is because of your partnership and belief in what we are doing. So, thank you so much for your prayers and financial partnership during this time of figuring out how to invest into this community well.

Here's the product of an outreach event David and I did. We asked students the question-"what do you value most?"

Here's a photo I took of the Wylie Collin campus! It's currently surrounded by a restored prairie, which makes me so happy as an Ecology graduate.

Here's a photo of our new evening core group! A few regulars are missing due to not being able to make the Tuesday night we took it. 

Students

This month has also been a time of trying to remember that God is using me in these girl's lives, and that though I may fail or stumble, he is still good and is perfected in my weaknesses. 

It definitely is a transition of going from a student leader seeking out spiritual advice and wisdom from a staff member to being that staff member giving that advice and wisdom. While I am still in a position where I am learning what exactly this means, that doesn't mean I have not been able to test the waters of what it looks like to be a campus pastor. 

One girl I meet with is agnostic and is in the process of learning what role she wants God to have in her life. She evidently has become so excited about Jesus, and seeing her wrestle with convictions and encouragements gets me excited about what potentially the Spirit is doing in her life. 

This past week, at our large group meeting, one of our campus pastors, Pedro, talked about how sin keeps up from living life to full. Ultimately, while exposing our sin and living in the life has its own growing pains, it frees us up from so much and brings us so much closer to God. Why wouldn't a good father want this for his kid? For this particular girl, this message stirred something up within her, and afterwards, came up to me in tears willing to confess to me about the things going on in her life. 

In that moment, we evidently could not talk about everything, but she desired to make time with me to expose things within her heart and life that she wanted to put to death. In other words, she wanted to put aside the things of this world she had been holding onto that were keeping her from living a full life. What good news is that??

God is evidently doing big work in her life, and the same can be said for the other girls I meet with. This story is only a small snippet into what the power of God's grace and mercy can do, and man, it has only been a month. Reflecting on these things makes me so excited for seeing what he is going to do in their lives within even the next three months, needless to say, even a year. This genuinely is a testament and reminder for even when I think there is not any growth in me or those around me, he truly is working in the little moments.

Along with getting to meet with these amazing students, I now get the opportunity to meet with a group of international students every week through a program at the Collin campus. Collin's ESL program offers a conversational partners program for students to practice their English with those fluent in it, and luckily enough, I was able to sign up to help out! I currently get to meet with 5 students who come from different background and international regions, and it seriously has been such a sweet time. Though none of them are Christian, just getting to talk about life with them and spend time with them is such a joy and treat. I really am excited to get to know them better. 

Here's our peer team (small group for student leaders) being a bunch of goobers. They really are such a great group of gals.

This is my sweet friend Jessica. She's in my peer team, and currently leads core with my roommate Aless. Lately, God has been teaching her so much about grace, which is so amazing to see.

Here's a photo from one after event we held at Taco Bell. The students really had a fun time hanging out and goofing off. 

Classes

Classes...dear goodness...where to begin. 

Within this past month, we started our other classes led by some of the other staff members Brandon, Mandy, and Rhett. 

What classes you might ask?

Well...us apprentices are taking a class called Maturing with Mandy, which is a good ole' crash course in how to mature as an adult and disciple through spiritual disciplines and exploration of professionalism. 

With Brandon, we are taking a class called Spiritual Leadership, to where we learn about pastoral leadership at the 1:1 level and church wide level. 

Finally, with Rhett, we are taking two classes with him currently. First, he is leading our Preaching Workshops with the lovely Amy Knoles, to where we learn how to do public speaking well from a pastoral standpoint. Second, he is also teaching us Financial Stewardship, which is a three week course over how to think about our finances like disciples versus how culture teaches us to think about them. 

These classes, coupled with Old Testament, have really caused me to think deeply about my faith and how I live my life as a disciple and example to those around me. Some takeaways so far include: how to budget my time that actually reflects how I realistically function versus how I hope to function, that God does not determine my success as an adult in how I handle my finances (this is a misconception I have had for the longest time that has led to me spiraling in shame more than once), and that being an effective leader and pastor means asking for help and being organized. 

Ultimately, through these I am learning that there is grace where I am, and that it is a blessing and joy that God gets to walk through the learning curves with me just as much as it is when he is at the finish line with me. I do not have to have it all together, and this year is meant to be a year of learning-not being impressive. I get to also see this through the story of the Israelites and God's relationship with them. It was not by their righteousness that God used them, and equally, it is not out of my righteousness that God uses me. I am a broken, needy child who gets to depend on him, and what a joy it is to ask for help from others in the process! 

Again, getting the opportunity to learn these things and discover deeper who God is would not be the case without your support and prayers. So, thank you so much for your support, care, and belief in who God is recreating me and others to be throughout this year. I can't wait to share more with you!

Love,

Orion Childers

Prayer Requests

• Fall Camp! Every year, we have an overnight retreat for students filled with worship, community building, and of course, everyone's favorite, a dance party. Due to COVID, we did not get to have Fall Camp last year. So, this year is going to be really special for a lot of students who joined the ministry last year, but did not get to experience that. Please be praying that God sends us the students he wants to come, and that, with that, they come with open hearts and minds, and leave feeling deeply connected to God and community. 
• My grandma. Due to her having COVID in February, she developed major blot clots in her kidney and is also now battling cancer. She is having surgery to get it removed in October. So, prayers that it goes smoothly and according to God's will over our own. 
• The students at Collin (specifically at Wylie, but, ya know, all the campuses too), and that they just accept the invitation to the fullness of life in Jesus
• The international students I'm now meeting with, and that I get to befriend them in a way Jesus would.