We encounter God in an intimate relationship through daily prayer, the sacraments and the Scriptures.
“Have you not for some time loved the Lord? Do you not love him now? Do you not long to love him forever? Therefore, do not fear! Even conceded that you had committed all the sins of this world, Jesus repeats to you, ‘Many sins are forgiven thee because thou hast loved much!’” – St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Still awaiting my assignment as of writing this!
For much of my life, my faith was simply something that had been handed down to me. I did all of the things I was supposed to for God, but He was always just a part of my life. Going into college, my ambitions for success in engineering threatened to push that part completely to the side. Instead, I found a loving community who gave me friendship, formation, and ultimately led me to completely fall in love with the God of my heart—Jesus wasn’t just a part of my life, I was made to be totally His! Those ambitions and dreams that had once cluttered my heart made way for an immensely greater joy, the joy only Christ can give*.
I couldn’t keep this newfound joy to myself. I began to walk with friends with the same love that others had shown me. I started accompanying them in their struggles, sharing with them more deeply in their joys, growing in understanding of the faith together, and living friendship more intentionally. To my surprise and joy, I watched as the Lord greatly multiplied my little and flawed efforts and saw my close friends growing as men of virtue, prayer, and sacrifice, who are now going on to lead others themselves.
Seeing this lit a fire in my heart and made me realize that mission didn’t have to mean going overseas or standing on street corners with signs. The Kingdom of God can be spread on the personal level, building one another up through deep and intentional friendships.
*Also, Christ in His generosity still fulfilled all those dreams I had! I got to work with robots, build a video game, and design all sorts of interesting gadgets in my time in undergrad, and I continue to work on fun projects in my spare time!
When I said “yes” to the call to join FOCUS, I made the choice to rely on the spiritual and financial support of others to invite more people into the mission of bringing souls back to the Lord.
If you would be interested in partnering with me, please reach out! I would love to schedule an appointment with you to get to know you better and share more about what this mission is all about.
Feel free to call me at (309)-502-0040 or email me at [email protected].
If you have any questions or need help setting up your gift, please contact us at [email protected].

We encounter God in an intimate relationship through daily prayer, the sacraments and the Scriptures.

By building genuine friendships, we meet students on a deeper level.

We teach students how to share the gospel, who in turn teach other students how to pass it on.