Thank You

Hello! 

Well, the end has come and gone - the apprenticeship is officially over! I am a bundle of thoughts and feelings regarding the apprenticeship, but thank goodness we gave a sermon at the end of May to reflect on it all. With May came finishing out our last small group, studying the Old Testament all over again, finishing up our classes, end-of-year celebrations, and an appropriate amount of tears. God has blessed me immensely with the group of people I’ve gotten to call friends, family, and ultimately, home.

We celebrated the end of Bible Bootcamp with a taco lunch!

Banquet

We ended our year at Collin with a bang by throwing a banquet at Northeast church! It was complete with dancing, Rosa’s tacos, a superhero themed slideshow, and an awkward photo booth (courtesy of me). Here are some funky fresh photos that captured the night in all of its glory:

Dance party!

The main Preston Ridge crew looking snazzy

Everyone gettin' down at the dance party

Preston Ridge women's Core

Sermons

Like I said before, a lot happened in these past ten months, so thankfully, our last task as apprentices was to give a sermon about our biggest takeaways from the apprenticeship. It was a much needed opportunity to pray, reflect, and invite the Lord into re-examining the year we put behind us.

After listening to all the apprentice sermons, it was clear that even though we all underwent different experiences at our campuses, everyone underwent reshaping of their views of self, God, and the great mission at hand. It is a wild grace that we all got to do this together.

With that mentioned, I thought it would be fair to give you insight into my biggest takeaways from the apprenticeship. My overall theme, and takeaway, was really that God knows what I need and when I need it, even if I don’t want it. Funny enough, I did not want to do the apprenticeship - I was actually greatly opposed for a while, but God opened a door and gave me the chance to walk through it. I didn't want to go to Collin, but God made a way and it turned out to be a gift. And as it turned out, I needed these past 10 months at Collin College to grow, discover my desperate need for transformation, and be loved so well that I was pushed towards healing.

In light of that, these were my three sermon points (though they're not catchy, they're awfully true):

1. The Lord knew I needed grace.

2. The Lord knew I needed to learn self-discipline

3. The Lord knew I needed to get over myself.

Gratitude

Thank you so much for taking this journey with me! I couldn’t have done this without your willingness to contribute to God’s work through FOCUS and Collin College. God brought about some radical change through FOCUS this year and I included some of that here so you can praise Him with me:

• God began to restore students’ (and my) broken ideas of romance, dating, and marriage

• God gave students chances to heal from past hurts by opening the floor for confession

• God built deep, unifying relationships among students and staff members that would have otherwise never been friends

• God gave students a new start who felt like they were at the end of their rope and tempted towards suicide, or even attempted it

• God gave people with broken, messed up homes, a new group of people to call family

• God convicted our congregation to dig into scripture to deepen their relationship with Him

• God rescued students from being debilitated by their mental health through counseling, guidance, and healthy relationships

And the list seriously goes on. Praise God, because the things that happened this year were not minor. Among this crazy group of students, God wreaked beautiful havoc and made good on His promise by beginning to restore them to right relationship with Him.

My girl Morgan and I finished studying FOJ together and I got to baptize her last month! We literally look like sisters. 

Our last Thursday Night Fellowship of the semester

Our Corefa party to end the semester

So What's Next?

That is the question of the hour these days. So if you’re curious, read ahead!

For starters, I’m going to continue serving and attending Wylie Northeast and becoming a more active member of the young adult ministry there. Adult ministry is pretty intimidating, but I can’t postpone it forever, so I’m diving in. (If you have any pointers, please send them my way!!) But of course, I’m still going to meet with the women I got to know this year and strive to be there biggest fan as they transition to new schools or phases of life. I love those ladies!

As for jobs, I’m currently on the hunt to work as a copyeditor, copywriter, or content writer in the DFW area. I’m not sure if God wants me to stay here for the long-term, but I’m planting some roots until He says go. This community has loved on me so much and so well, that I really think it is worth sticking around and investing in. But I’m definitely keeping my options open.

Devan and I have spend a ton of time preparing for the real world together. And then other days, we play Connect Four and eat snow cones. 

An Altar

For the longest time, and still today, one of my biggest questions in my faith echoes a line from Psalm 8: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, / human beings that you care for them?” 

Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

  in the heavens.

Through the praise of children and infants

   you have established a stronghold against your enemies,

   to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

     the moon and the stars,

   which you have set in place,

  what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

   human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8)

But this year hasn't gotten to serve as an altar, a mental landmark against the disbelief that God cares about me. Through the deep love of his people, the transformation of the girls in my small group, the healing that's taken place, and the hope that rekindled within me this year, I have come a little bit closer to trusting in Jesus. Thank God for things like FOCUS because I don't know where I'd be without God's divine plan to put me among this group of people. He knew what I needed even when I didn't want it. And thank God for that.

Love you all and thank you so much for believing in me this year. Keep in touch!

With love,

Sam

Check out June's student testimony below!