Austin Bailey's Ministry Blog

  Collin FOCUS Fall Camp 2021 Welcome back to my ministry update at Collin FOCUS! God is continuously growing at our campus this year from COVID and I am blown away! Just look at our group photo at fall camp. I didn't think our ministry would have a huge turnout of students wanting to take their weekend to spend time with God and fellowship, but boy I was wrong. God continues to be faithful to the students who I met at the Preston Ridge campus that are seeking what a full purpose of life looks like through Jesus. I ask you to keep praying with me for our students and student leaders to grow more to find their fulfillment in Jesus. Here's what's been happening this past October. Fall Camp 2021! Here's a video of our staff team going against 10 strong male and female students in a game of tug-of-war. See who wins ;) These two great guys are Carlos (left) and Diego (right). You guys remember Diego from my previous blog ( click here ), and he is growing so much and seeks op...

  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 This is my Wednesday CORE group from the Preston Ridge Campus. We're about to start a series together called God's image-bearers. Each of these guys is uniquely made in the image of God, and my prayer is they see their true purpose what it means to be human the way God created us to be. Life to the Full If you were to ask a couple college students the question, "what do you think it means to have life to the full?", What do you think their answer would be? Most of them will respond "working my dream job", "Do whatever you're passionate about, and go chase it", and "Find my future spouse and start a family". Don't get me wrong, God created good things for us, but they are not meant to be gods to us to chase after the good life (Rom. 1:25). I was at Preston Ridge campus doing a coffee and conversation outrea...

First Thursday Night Fellowship (TNF)! Let The School Year Begin! Okay! A lot has happened over this past month, and to me, it felt like riding a fast roller coaster. Our staff met together for an all-staff retreat to rejuvenate, grow and rest with God, and fellowship with cross-campus staff. SICM happened just two days after staff retreat, and let me tell you; this campsite was beautiful ( see the picture below )!!  At SICM, we went to Camp Eagle down in Rocksprings, TX, where we spent a reasonable amount of time learning from our campus directors about evangelism, leading a Bible study, and building Jesus center friendships. We had activities to choose from during our free time, like swimming or jumping on the blob (water trampoline) in the river, kayaking, hiking around the camp, and zip lining across the campsite. Our students left SICM feeling challenged, encouraged, and excited to be back on their campuses to do ministry. Tom Grant, a student at Collin this year, shared his t...

 Coming Back to PRC!! I have exciting news to share with you this coming school year. This year as our staff team is growing and more new Collin College campuses are opening this fall, our staff will be splitting up into pairs to oversee their campus for outreach and forming small groups. This year I will be at Preston Ridge Campus (PRC) in Frisco and the Wylie Campus! I'm very excited to be back at PRC because this campus is where I first started my ministry as a student at Collin FOCUS. Going back to this campus brings back memories of the courtyard where all the students hang out and walk to classes. I will be leading a small group at PRC with a student name Tom Grant. My first year leading core at PRC circa 2015-2016. It's so crazy 6 years has gone by!! I was walking around PRC and praying with God for the campus, and I noticed this garden patch dried up. I took a picture and reflected on this image. This dry patch of soil shows me how are students on campus are in a dry se...

Hey everybody, so Summer FOCUS is going smoothly, it's so nice to see people in-person again! Ministry is trucking along, and fundraising has been going. Here's some life updates that I want to share about! Summer FOCUS is finally back! We meet at CARE Church in Richardson to have a building to worship and hear our staff give a sermon to our students. This photo is super encouraging to see everyone back together and worshipping God. Our sermon series we've been going through is "seeking a deeper intimacy with Jesus". Our staff who have been selected to give a sermon share their vulnerable stories how amazing Jesus is, and continues to grow them in their journey of struggles. Pray our students will be impacted by their stories to seek a deeper intimacy with God through Jesus. My friend Austin got married to one of our staff members Taylor this past month. This was a sweet moment to see one of my close friends taking a next step in life. Austin and I met back in Col...

Collin FOCUS staff 2020-2021 (+ little Jack Davis) Let's Reflect:  The pandemic school year has come to a closed, and things are starting to go back to normal. It was crazy to think back that COVID began and changed the way we interacted with people just a year ago. Time has flown by when you are adapting to change, whether you like it or not. This school year has been different and weird because we all had been doing ministry at Collin. We were meeting outdoors, wearing masks every day, and staying six feet apart. The cool thing I've seen come out from this year that was encouraging to me was seeing our ministry face opposition and trusting in God's provision to protect us through this pandemic year. That is good news! Back in December, I wrote a blog post about my reflections as a minister on how campus ministry has been through a COVID year. In this post, I asked some people to share their thoughts and reflect on how campus ministry has taught them about God. You will he...