New Year!

 Hey there!

    I hope you all had an excellent Christmas and New Year, and that your 2022 is off to a great start. Last week we had a little ice and snow in Texas and I was just really thankful to have a roof over my head, food, and power. I was reminded of how blessed I am, and how much of a giver and provider that God is. God is good! 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."-Matthew 6:25-34

    Let me fill you in on what's been going on!

Winter Camp

We got the opportunity to take a few of our teens to FOCUS Winter Camp in January this year. FOCUS is a college ministry in DFW that we're closely connected to and partner with in various ways. Winter Camp was amazing! Over 500 students gathered from campuses all over North Texas to worship God and learn more about him. We believe that giving our students a vision of a college experience that is centered around pursuing Jesus and belonging to a community is a really big deal. The world tells kids all kinds of lies about what college should be like. We believe that college should be a time where students deepen their faith, grow their friendships, and learn how to follow Jesus well for the rest of their life. We're so blessed to be connected with FOCUS and for our students to get to be impacted by them. 

Focus Winter Camp

Wednesday Nights

We kicked off our CTF Nights this year with a little series on vision and ownership. We've really been trying to encourage our students to have a vision for what this ministry can be. We believe that teens are not the church of tomorrow, they're the church of today! We want them to take ownership of this ministry, lead their friends and peers, and feel like they're part of something bigger. Every week we would split up into small groups and ask the students to reflect on what brought them to CTF, what made them want to keep coming to CTF, and what they think we could or should do differently. It was really encouraging to see our teens thinking critically and pastorally throughout this series. Another encouraging aspect of this series has been how our students have responded to it. Each week we've seen our students bringing more visitors to CTF, and showing up ready to engage in worship and discussion. It's been awesome! 

Plans for the Semester

    We have some pretty exciting things in the works this semester! For our next sermon series on Wednesday nights we're going to have some of our leaders share testimonials about how Jesus has changed their lives. We think it'll be a great opportunity for our students to get to hear from some of our adults, and for our adults to get to share their stories. We try and do something like this pretty regularly so that our students can get to know our adult volunteers a little better. I'm really excited for this series. 

    Another exciting plan that we have is what we're calling Wednesday Night Live! The first Wednesday night of each month we're going to have outreach events in place of a typical CTF night. The purpose is to have an exciting event for our students to invite their friends, classmates, and teammates to who may otherwise not be interested in coming to a youth group night. I'm excited to see how God uses our students and these events to bring young people to Him.

    On the guys side of the ministry, we've started what we call "Friday Nights are For the Boys". Essentially we're offering an opportunity every Friday night for the guys of the ministry to come together and spend some time having fun and getting to know each other better. It's also another great way for guys to bring their friends to get to know some of the guys from CTF better. Plus, it's a lot of fun! We have some exciting and fun Friday nights planned for the boys this semester, and I'm really looking forward to them. 

Prayer Requests

-Pray for all the young men that I get to minister to and study the Bible with: Aiden, Cole, Kole, Hudson, Logan, Tucker, Connor C, Connor W, Jacob G, Jacob H, Kyle, and Zach. Pray that God would develop them to be young men who seek above all else to live for Jesus.

-Pray that our students would continue to grow in their love for Jesus, and their devotion to Him. Pray that God would protect them from the temptations and dangers of the world.

-Our Wednesday Nights. Continue to pray that our worship times and sermons would encourage and build up our ministry. Pray for our Wednesday Night Live events. Ask God to use these events to bring us students who need to know Jesus.

-Pray for our adult youth leader volunteers. They are a crucial part of this ministry, and they have such a huge impact on our teens. Pray that God would bless them, strengthen them, and encourage them to continue serving these teens. Pray that our small group would be a time of spiritual growth and community building for our team. 

-Continue to pray for the Bible studies that I get to lead with the Wylie East football and baseball teams! Pray that God would use those groups to introduce people to Jesus, and to grow and mature the ones who already know Him. 

    Thank you all for your continued love, support, and encouragement. I'm beyond grateful for each and every one of you! I'd love to be praying for you and serving you in any way I can. Please reach out to me if I can be doing that for you!

William Royal

william@ctfwylie.org

972-979-6722