FOCUS- Vision for Life

As I said, my best friend from college is a FOCUS missionary at Seton Hall. What is FOCUS you may ask? Let me tell you! I will start with the mission statement, "To know Christ, Jesus, and to fulfill His great commission by first living and then communicating the fullness of life within the family of God, the Church." Sounds great already, right? It gets better...

FOCUS was founded by Curtis Martin in 1998 at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Curtis got a chance to meet JPII and tell him his vision for FOCUS. His response..."be soldiers". Well, FOCUS is on fire and fighting the good fight! There are now over 260 missionaries serving on 60 campuses in 28 states.  Dang! All that in just 14 years. FOCUS leads mission trips all over the world, has conferences of different sizes every year, and this past summer had it's first international conference in Spain before World Youth Day!

FOCUS was at Temple University for 4 years. They worked with the Temple Newman Center where Katie and I became best buds. Katie and I were both asked into discipleship(one on one mentorship and leadership building with a missionary). We attended a Bible study led by a missionary, met with a missionary weekly for mentorship, and were trained to lead our own Bible studies for underclassmen. Each missionary has 2-3 disciples, and they train their disciples to lead and have their own disciples. It was a great experience and we both learned how to be leaders and introduce people to Christ and a relationship with him.

After much prayer, Katie decided to apply to be a FOCUS missionary. She was accepted and is in her second year serving at Seton Hall University in South Orange. She has a weekly Bible study of about 8 girls and has 4 disciples. Also, 2 of her disciples each have a disciple. Katie likes to call them her "grand babies". Her team has weekly events for students including adoration holy hours and grilled cheese parties. They are on campus having meals and spending quality time with students. They attend campus events, sporting events, and Catholic events like Catholic Underground NYC. Please pray for Katie and her team as they work hard on Seton Hall's campus. Also keep Katie in your prayers as she discerns whether or not to serve a third year as a missionary. FOCUS is changing lives through the New Evangelization! Praise the Lord! For more info, go to www.focus.org

Katie and I with our Pillow Pets over Christmas Break

Team Seton Hall

Anthony, Eric, AJ, Mary, Melissa, and Katie

Shalom and God bless! 

In Him,

Theresa