By Rachel Dunnam, Staff Writer
February 16, 2022
In the busyness of a new semester, Christian Focus Week (CFW) serves as a reminder and encouragement to students. Last week, Feb. 7-11, Campus Ministries hosted a week full of life-changing stories, powerful worship and much more.
The theme of this year’s CFW, “With me,” centered around the passage of Psalm 23. Bailey Buettner, Terry Carter and Hayden Walker are just a few of the stories that were heard during worship and at breakout sessions.
Student Leaders Ashlyn Ham, Georgia Richards and Tom Tran saw God’s hand in each event of the week.
“I think it’s been good for people to really dwell on the fact that God is present and the implications that has for us,” Ham said. “So like we saw at a breakout session on Tuesday how God is present with us in our suffering and that God uses some of the worst moments in our life for His ultimate good.”
For many students this week was a time to rest and refocus on who God is and to remember that He is always near. Hayden Walker’s breakout session on God’s Presence through Suffering as well as the Art and Worship night were just two of the many impactful events that took place this week.
“Just for everybody to kind of let go, and do something creative that wasn’t homework or a project and just listen to worship music in the background I think was a really great way to refocus and focus more on God,” Richards said.
Sessions like Art and Worship were a great way to slow down and reflect on the speakers’ messages and how God was speaking to them through each session.
“Art and Worship is a time when anyone, artistic or not, can sit down and connect with the Lord through making simple art and worshiping Him through music,” Tran said. “Nothing beats spending time with the Lord like Art and Worship.”
Hayden Walker’s message was an especially important reminder that God is near to the brokenhearted.
“I know that there’s been a very large amount of students on this campus that have gone through trials of suffering or maybe are in some right now and they might not have that community to lean into,” Ham said. “but just the fact that we have the Creator of the universe who can be our Comforter and help us endure through those moments.”
To wrap up the week, a time of worship took place on Friday morning. The final service allowed time to reflect on what God had placed on each individual student’s heart by the week’s end.
“Since the beginning, Ashlyn, the CFW team and I have continuously prayed that God will use this week for His glory and draw each other closer to Him,” said Tran. “Personally, after the last service, I believed that He did just that and even more.”
For more information on Christian Focus Week and upcoming events, visit obu.edu/campusministries or follow Campus Ministries on Instagram @obucm.
Cover photo by Coleman Callan
