December & January Ministry Update

The Richland Team!!!

Hello! Happy New Year!! Can you believe we are in 2023 now? I pray that all of you have had a good start to the year. I want to share this scripture in hopes of encouragement and comfort.

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

Ephesians 3:16-19

If you haven't read through the book of Ephesians before, I highly encourage it! It is a book of encouragement and sweet reminders of the truth. I have been reading through it with a student this semester so I wanted to share with you what has been laid on my heart. 

Christmas Party and Winter Break

Richland Christmas Party: Sirak is sharing with the students how to have a good, restful break. 

    He shared with them the three R's on how to have a great break.
1. Reset: Start anew, set new goals
2. Recalibrate: Who is God leading me to become? What new habits do I want to implement?
3. Remember: During the holiday season, we remember Jesus and God decided to "show up" for us. How can we "show up" for those around us?

Below is a picture with Trang, whom I have known for a year and a half now! She has grown so much in her understanding of God wanting a relationship with her not just for her to be "good". I am so excited to see her continue to grow!

Below are some pictures of having some students over during the break! It was so fun to be able to host them.

Kris really loves Toast (one of my roommate's dog).

From left to right: Trang, Kris, Devereaux, Lizeth, and me!

This is Stormy! I adopted him from Devereaux (the girl with the blue hair in the picture above) at the start of the winter break. She and her mom could no longer take care of him, so she asked around to see who would take him. He has been a sweet addition to my life!

Spring Staff Retreat!

    Retreat was a great start to the year! Over the break we read through a book as a whole staff, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity by Eugene H. Peterson. It focused on three parts of being a pastor: prayer, scripture, and spiritual direction. During the retreat, different senior staff shared personal stories and insights from the book. During free time we played a lot of games and laughed together! I also got to see friends from other campuses that I don't always get to see.

During worship

Hanging out with my good friend Orion! She is a pastor at Collin FOCUS.

Me watching the boys play a complicated game that made no sense to me no matter how much they explained or I watched. But it was still fun to be with them.

Winter Retreat!!!

    This year was all about 1 John! If you would like to listen to any of the talks you can find it here on Spotify: Winter Retreat 2023

The Richland Crew!!!!

All of the people at Winter Retreat this year! About 500 came this year.

During worship!

During a session!

From left to right: Devereaux, Kris, and me.

A Sweet Story

    I just had to share this sweet moment with you. Devereaux (she has been changing her hair color often) is new to her faith and has been reading through the Bible on her own. When she finishes a book she shares her thoughts with me and it is just so fun to discuss scripture with her! She learned about who King David was through one conversation and ever since has been fascinated with him. 

    Devereaux and I walked up to meet Joey seeing him reading a book. Devereaux being curious looked over his shoulder and noticed it was talking about King David! She continued to read over his shoulder until Joey offered for her to sit. Then for the next 10 minutes or so, they read together and would wait to turn the page until each of them where done. It is a mundane moment but just one of the sweet things we get to enjoy with students. 

    Thank you for your continued support! If you ever want to talk more or just catch up, feel free to shoot me a text or give me a call. May the rest of the year be filled with rejoicing because God is so good.

In Christ,
Claire Umstead

This is one of our own student leaders!