Nurturing in November
Another Month, Another Blog!
Thank you all very much for the support so far. It has been great and I really appreciate it. This month's blog will focus on FOJ and classes.
FOJ (Focus on Jesus) is our one on one Bible study. It’s a 10 session-long study that focuses on what Jesus teaches and does in the New Testament. The topics covered in FOJ include sin, grace, baptism, and more. I first studied and completed FOJ my junior year with one of my then-corefas, Luke. Luke pushed me to be more like Jesus and invest more deeply in community. I started taking my faith more seriously and becoming more active in the community. FOJ was one of the primary reasons I ended up becoming a corefa (small group leader) my senior year.
This year, I am leading three FOJ studies. I meet with two freshman, Joshua and Prajit, and one junior, Chris — all of whom are also a part of my core (small group). I go over the same content with each of them, but each study is unique and different to best serve the person I am studying with. Through our time together doing FOJ, I have seen how God has been working in their lives, slowly but steadily. Joshua is shy, gets anxious and stressed just thinking about big group gatherings like core. He went from barely showing up to core to being consistent every week of November. Chris' only interaction and knowledge of God was through his grandma. I have slowly seen his fire for God increase through the months and he is now reading the Bible daily and plans to finish the entire New Testament. After that he will tackle the Old Testament, with help and guidance from me as needed. Prajit is also experiencing a different type of God from what he was used to, in learning what a Christ-loving community means and looks like. Please pray for all of them, that God is able to work in their lives and lead them to a more fruitful life of loving and being faithful to God and their neighbors.
I am done with my Old Testament class! The longest and hardest class, now completed. It was a difficult journey, but I also learned SO much. I never thought I was going to be able to read the entire Old Testament but I did. We are actually having our last Old Testament class today, Nov 30th, where we're going to host a Q and A with Dr. Iain Provan, the OT scholar whose lectures that we listened to. Even though I am done with the Old Testament, I still have other classes to finish. I have pushed myself to new limits these past few months; for example, I hate reading but by the grace of God, I was able to push through and do all of my readings! Every week, I learned something new and even now, I still feel like there is so much more to learn. The more you know, the more you don’t know, that is what it feels like. Please pray that I can push through the last few weeks of the semester and really finish well!
Student Testimony Time!
Every month, we feature a student’s testimony of how their time in FOCUS has grown and shaped them. Here is this month’s:
Thank you all very much for the support so far. It has been great and I really appreciate it. This month's blog will focus on FOJ and classes.
FOJ (Focus on Jesus) is our one on one Bible study. It’s a 10 session-long study that focuses on what Jesus teaches and does in the New Testament. The topics covered in FOJ include sin, grace, baptism, and more. I first studied and completed FOJ my junior year with one of my then-corefas, Luke. Luke pushed me to be more like Jesus and invest more deeply in community. I started taking my faith more seriously and becoming more active in the community. FOJ was one of the primary reasons I ended up becoming a corefa (small group leader) my senior year.
This year, I am leading three FOJ studies. I meet with two freshman, Joshua and Prajit, and one junior, Chris — all of whom are also a part of my core (small group). I go over the same content with each of them, but each study is unique and different to best serve the person I am studying with. Through our time together doing FOJ, I have seen how God has been working in their lives, slowly but steadily. Joshua is shy, gets anxious and stressed just thinking about big group gatherings like core. He went from barely showing up to core to being consistent every week of November. Chris' only interaction and knowledge of God was through his grandma. I have slowly seen his fire for God increase through the months and he is now reading the Bible daily and plans to finish the entire New Testament. After that he will tackle the Old Testament, with help and guidance from me as needed. Prajit is also experiencing a different type of God from what he was used to, in learning what a Christ-loving community means and looks like. Please pray for all of them, that God is able to work in their lives and lead them to a more fruitful life of loving and being faithful to God and their neighbors.
I am done with my Old Testament class! The longest and hardest class, now completed. It was a difficult journey, but I also learned SO much. I never thought I was going to be able to read the entire Old Testament but I did. We are actually having our last Old Testament class today, Nov 30th, where we're going to host a Q and A with Dr. Iain Provan, the OT scholar whose lectures that we listened to. Even though I am done with the Old Testament, I still have other classes to finish. I have pushed myself to new limits these past few months; for example, I hate reading but by the grace of God, I was able to push through and do all of my readings! Every week, I learned something new and even now, I still feel like there is so much more to learn. The more you know, the more you don’t know, that is what it feels like. Please pray that I can push through the last few weeks of the semester and really finish well!
Student Testimony Time!
Every month, we feature a student’s testimony of how their time in FOCUS has grown and shaped them. Here is this month’s:
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