An Overdue Update

December, 2025

First things first — thank you. For praying, for giving, for being in this with us over the past 18 months. I don’t say that as a formality. Your partnership has placed me in one of the most joyful seasons of my entire life, and I mean that.

It was a privilege to give my time to Emmanuel Labor this past year. God was faithful in so many small moments — the kind you don’t always notice until you’re looking back. I already look back with real fondness on working alongside Paul Ballesteros, and I look forward to continuing to partner with him in his mission to love the one in front of you. That one’s staying with me.

It’s been about six months since I wrapped up there, and a lot hasn’t gone the way I expected. But God has blessed me greatly in the unexpected, as He so often does. The biggest news: our son FJ was born this summer. Foster is by far the happiest guy I know, and watching him grow into a small glimmer of the man he’ll become has been an overwhelming joy. Brenna and I are grateful beyond what I know how to say.

After leaving Emmanuel Labor, God slowly began to make two things clear. The first was that I had an opportunity — while Brenna continued faithfully in her career — to pour my time and attention into the most important pieces of who I am: being a disciple of Jesus, being a husband, and now, being a father. That season proved fruitful. I’m walking out of it more affirmed and more eager to keep growing in who the Lord has called me to be than I’ve felt in a long time.

The second thing He made clear: my calling to participate in His plan for the homeless here in McKinney continues. Brenna and I have spent many hours in prayer and seeking wisdom, and we’re excited to share that we’re in the early stages of founding a nonprofit. The focus will be to disciple, encourage, and equip those the Lord has called who are experiencing homelessness — while also partnering with other organizations to love and care for those in our community who are suffering in poverty. We can’t wait to share more about what that looks like practically in the near future. For now, please join us in prayer, asking that the Lord move powerfully to shape this community and show us our place in it.

On a different note — I want to be honest about my silence.

I’ve struggled with a pretty severe lack of communication, and I want you to understand why. There are incredible stories of how God has worked in the lives of the people I’ve gotten to know through this work. But I’ve found myself hesitating to share them. People experiencing homelessness already live in a kind of fishbowl — watched, judged, rarely afforded privacy or dignity. Affording my new friends some of that, even in conversations and updates they’ll never see, has felt like an act of love. But it’s also left me genuinely unsure of what I can and should share with you. That tension is real.

Brenna and I have been working through some creative solutions we hope will let us stay faithful to our friends’ privacy and dignity while also bringing you deeper into the loop — into the work, and into the many reasons for praise we keep finding. You’ve decided to partner with us. That’s not a small thing to me. I want to share the joys of this work with you, because they exist because of your faithfulness too.

So — more regular updates are coming. We hope you’ll consider continuing to partner with us when the time comes to raise support again, but either way, we can’t wait to celebrate together and pray through whatever comes next.

There is so much love and gratitude for you from this Simpson family. Below are some prayer requests from Brenna so you can pray along with us in this current season. We look forward to reaching out again with more in the new year.

God bless, and happy holidays.

Cal Simpson

Brenna’s prayer requests:

Pray for discernment in all the small choices that come with setting up a nonprofit — we’ve never done this before. Pray for peace and clarity around when it might be time for Brenna to vocationally join the work. And pray for the cold weather kits we’re putting together and the discipleship conversations we’re having with a small number of guys — that those small bags of supplies lead to kingdom-growing conversations. Our praxis group helped us build some of those kits to hand out on cold nights, and we’re grateful for them.