2 Timothy 2:2

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Even before I was a student at the University of Nebraska I knew I wanted to be involved in FOCUS. My junior year of high school my sister Ashley was already at UNL and was involved in a Bible study and my parents had the FOCUS missionaries over for dinner at our house. Having already met the missionaries and knowing what FOCUS was about, when my freshman year came I made the Newman center my home-base and signed up for a Bible study the first chance I got.

I experienced first hand what it means to be invested in by a beautiful red-haired woman named Erin. She invited me to her Bible study of other freshman girls in a room in the honors dorm, Neihardt. I will never forget our first study. She brought coloring books and we ate Eileen's cookies while colorings pictures of Disney princesses!

I was asked into discipleship by Erin the end of my freshman year. We met weekly for discipleship where we prayed together, talked together (one time I cried while explaining I was afraid I was called to be a nun) and Erin modeled for me tools of how to share my faith with others while growing in virtue and our relationship with Jesus.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Teach teachers to teach. That is the purpose of FOCUS. To invite college students into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church; to inspire and equip them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleships and friendships; in which they lead others to do the same.

Seven years later I am so thankful that Tyler and I are able to do this work at Belmont Abbey College. We are investing in young men and women that will be leaders of our country in the future! And what a pivotal time college is, where lasting friendships are made, either for good or bad, and many students start down a path that they will follow for the rest of their life. Again, either good or bad.

As we invest in these students, we are not only here to love and serve them, but we are here to find those that want to run with us! Those that want to give their lives to Jesus and serve him as a student but also who realize the deeper call, the call that each one of us has! To share the gospel of Jesus and to invite others into a relationship with Him.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

We do this by modeling and teaching six tools: intercessory prayer, lectio divina (slow, prayerful reading of scripture) meeting new people, leading a Bible study, sharing a gospel invitation, and mentoring another person. The desire is for the students to learn these skills and then be able to teach them to others. Teach teachers to teach.

Check out what my dad's spin on this topic is here!