Claire Umstead Ministry Updates

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I went to Taos, New Mexico with my family and we stayed in a cabin in the mountains. It was a beautiful and refreshing break! This month was full of joy and thanksgiving being in community with these students. Thank you so much for your investment in these students. Above is a picture of a Thursday Night FOCUS sermon! Hangout at Sandra's!!!     Sandra, my fellow woman's pastor,  lives about 7 minutes from campus. She has graciously been welcoming students into her home once a month for a home-cooked meal and fellowship. We have a good amount of Vietnamese students in our ministry, so we made Bahn Mi which is a sandwich with usually pulled pork and pickled veggies. It was delicious!  Below is a picture of two of our Vietnamese students. Jimmy on the right actually made most of the food for this hangout. He is an amazing chef and has such a big heart for others. He has grown up Buddhist but has recently been studying the ...

     Hello! Happy November! really has flown this year. The picture above is from our Fall Camp this year! I talk about it more below.      Thank you for your continued support. As always, send me any prayer requests or updates on your lives. Let's jump in! Keep Focus Growing What is this about? Our missionaries raise support, but it takes a lot more than that for us to do ministry! Outreach activities/materials, administrative support, planting new campuses, health/retirement benefits, etc. This is about being around for the long haul and expanding our reach. What does our theme, “Faithfully Local,” mean? One of our core convictions is that we go TO the students and do ministry where they live, eat, study, and play. We move into the neighborhood, so to speak. We contribute to the good of the campus, seeking to improve the culture and experience of each place, and we do so for the long-haul–something especially unique at community colleges that have few lon...

  Hello! I hope all has been well with you. Above is a picture of one of our first Thursday Night FOCUS meetings. Already we have such a sweet group of students joining our community. I am so excited about what this school year holds for us! Thank you for investing in these college students!!  As always, feel free to send me any prayer requests so I can be praying for you and your life.  Staff Retreat     At the beginning of August, all of FOCUS staff went to Riverbend Retreat Center in Glen Rose for our annual Fall staff retreat! I was looking forward to it this year because I know most of the staff and what to expect during our retreats.      We had a lot of fun together as well as some good teaching to reflect on and ready our hearts for the school year. Some of the topics we talked about were Self-Denial, and Loving from the Heart. They were helpful reflect on going into school year. Leadership Training     When we got back from Staf...

Happy Summer!       Tuesday, May 31st was the last official day of the apprenticeship! I am now on full-time staff for the next 3 years! These past 10 months flew by. Thank you for partnering with me these past 10 months. Without your generosity, I would not have been able to have this opportunity to learn and grow the ways I did and am continuing to.     As always, feel free to send any prayer requests you might have or ask any questions. Fundraising Update      I can't even begin to explain how thankful I am for your partnership in campus ministry. Now in my second year of fundraising, I often think it is only a necessary part of doing ministry and am entirely too focused on how I feel uncomfortable instead of seeing it as an extension of my ministry and blessing others. The Lord is changing my heart towards fundraising and I'm so thankful He is doing so. In the words of Nouwen "It is a way of announcing our vision and inviting other p...

  Happy April!     Time just seems to be flying! I have less than 2 months left in the apprenticeship and I still can't seem to wrap my head around that. I want to thank you for being on my support team these past 8 months. All of this would not be possible without you and your support. In this month's update, I will share about some of my classes, what I have been learning, and how ministry at Richland has been going overall.     As always, feel free to send me prayer requests and any questions you might have. Classes and Takeaways     During the month of March, two more classes were added to my schedule of three consistent classes (New Testament Foundations, Questions with Ronnie, and Maturing with Mandy/Spiritual Leadership with Brandon). Feel free to ask questions about any of the classes I mention, if you would like to know more! I would love to talk more about what I have been learning throughout the apprenticeship.     One of the new c...

  Happy Spring!!     The weather has been crazy here in Texas! From freezing weather to windy days to beautiful sunny days. I think spring is my favorite season. Well besides the allergies. I hope all has been well with you and your loved ones. I have some exciting news to share at the end but I'll first give you an update of this past month! As always, feel free to share your prayer requests or ask any questions you might have. Thank you for partnering with me in campus ministry! It has been such a blessing to have you on my team. SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry)     I have talked about SICM a few times in my past blogs, but this trip is such an important part of our ministry! It's where we send our potential student leaders for the next school year.  At SICM students will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and learn campus ministry from some of the most experienced campus pastors in the country.  In just one week, they will g...

  Hello!      I want to thank you for your continuous support these past 7 months. I am tremendously blessed with your prayers and giving. I can't express enough how thankful I am! This month I will be sharing about Winter Camp, the start of the Spring semester, and the New Testament Foundations Class. As always, feel free to send me your prayer requests or any questions you might have. Let's jump in! Winter Camp     Winter Camp happens at the start of every Spring semester. It is held at Sky Ranch Camp in Van, Texas from Friday night to Monday morning on a 3-day weekend due to MLK Day. If you remember me talking about Fall Camp back in the fall, which consisted of only Richland students, Winter Camp consists of all the FOCUS campuses across DFW!  I have always loved Winter Camp when I was a student because I got to make friends from other campuses and see the incredible impact FOCUS has across DFW!     This year we had students from about 15...