Jesus, not tasks

As always, these first weeks of school have been hectic, crazy, exhausting, and wonderful. If you’re new to my team, here’s what to expect: the start of the year is full of outreach—every single day, for hours on end. We meet hundreds of students, plan events to invite people to and connect with them at, and ultimately aim to get new students plugged into Christian community as soon as possible.

So, it’s hard to decide what to include in a short blog post. God has been doing so much, and there are so many stories worth sharing. But one thing the Lord keeps drawing our attention to is this: it’s all about Jesus, not about the tasks.

During these first few weeks, it’s easy to get bogged down by everything that needs to get done—events to plan, logistics to coordinate, details to communicate with leaders, lessons to prep, and more. It’s enough to fill your schedule twice over. Every year, we have to be intentional about remembering that it’s about Jesus—not just all the things we need to do. Yes, those things are necessary and helpful, but they aren’t the point. They’re just a means to the end. And in seasons like this, I feel so tempted to put the cart before the horse—to let the tasks drive me instead of listening for the slow, steady voice of Jesus.

This year, we’ve tried to help our students focus on Jesus too—not just on tasks. We equipped them with what they needed to go out and do hours of outreach each day, but much of that equipping was helping them center their hearts on loving God and loving people. We wanted them to avoid turning people into projects or burdens and instead see them as image-bearers of God—students whom God is already working in, powerfully.

When you focus on Jesus and what He’s doing, it slows you down. It helps you notice Him in the small, quiet moments with students—not just at the big events we throw. For example, I was on campus and sat down with a random student named John. We started talking and quickly dove into faith and his thoughts about God. He told me he’s an atheist but admitted he wishes he could believe in and follow God. He had the desire but was facing some barriers—some of which we were able to talk through right then.

As we continued our conversation, John mentioned a similar chat he’d had the day before with another stranger. It turned out that stranger was one of our other campus pastors! On a campus of 50,000 students, that’s no coincidence—God was clearly at work. John came to a multicultural worship night we hosted later that week and loved it. Then he came to TNF for worship and a sermon. He joined a small group and says he’s loving being part of FOCUS. That’s just one of so many stories from these past few weeks of meeting new students on campus.

I wish I had the space to share more—it would take hours to read, much less write them all. But the Lord has been moving in such sweet ways these first weeks of the semester. I see His hand on our students and staff, guiding us not to lose sight of Him in the hustle and bustle. He’s inviting us to sit beside Him, to participate in what He’s doing, and to lead others into that same place.

We’ve met so many new students this year—many of whom are considering following Jesus for the first time. Your prayers as we try to be faithful with what God has given us would be so appreciated.

God is so good. I’m excited to see all the seeds planted in these first couple of weeks begin to grow over the coming months. Thank you for being part of this and enabling us to be on campus, reaching out to these students!