January 2024 - Winter Retreat Highlights!

 

Hey everyone!

 Every January, FOCUS holds a 4-day Winter Retreat - a weekend of very little sleep, lots of board games and sports, lively worship, and meaningful sermons. All of the FOCUS campuses in the metroplex join together for this event. This year, there were over 600 people present!

There is nothing like long car rides, a change of scenary, and a little snow to bond people together! This frigid weekend was full of fun, deep conversations and life-changing moments. The guest speaker, Dr. Daniel Lee from Fuller Semenary spent the weekend talking about the grace of God, centering in on the the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. He talked a lot about how we, like the older son in the parable, often live as spiritual orphans, not realizing that we have a heavenly Father who says all that He has is ours. Through his messages, there was a deep realization on the shocking extent of the goodness of God and His tremendous love toward us. 

Some of the highlights from Winter Retreat:

• All of our Richland students were so excited to worship together! They got to the sanctuary 30 minutes early for every session so that they could save front row seats. Whether jumping up and down to the energetic gospel choir or comforting one another through the lament songs, it was beautiful seeing their love for one another and passion for worshipping God. One of our students who is a new to following God put his hands up in worship for the first time! He was so excited to share that milestone with us.
• I saw so many students come out of their shell and their true personality shine through, especially during the dance party on the last night of the retreat! I love their willingness to be goofy.
• One of our students who has been struggling with processing through grief shared how she was able to experience surprising joy even within her current sorrow.
• During one of the services, they invited any students who speaks another language to go on stage and read the communion scripture (Mark 14:22-24) in that language. Dozens of different languages - from Igbo to Malayalam, to French and Swahili, to Spanish and Thai, and countless others were spoken. It was absolutely incredible to see how the good news of Christ has touched so many cultures across the globe. What a privilege to get to worship in such a culturally and linguistically diverse body! I love how the college campuses are an international hub where people from all over the world gather, exchange ideas, and grow together.

As always, thank you guys for supporting me as I minister to these students! I could not do this without you! If there are any prayer requests you have, feel free to reach out to me!

Love you guys!

Veronica

Winter Retreat Memories!

Here is all the girls from our campus that came to Winter Retreat!

And here are all the guys who came!

And a special appearance from this sweet guy! He stayed all 4 days and was such a blessing to all the students!