GCU TODAY • 1 3
leaders and life leaders, the groups help
students from all walks of life feel connected
the minute they step onto campus.
Courtney Roth, an elementary education
senior, is a second-year head life leader. She
meets weekly with 10 to 12 female students
in the North Rim Apartments to study the
Bible, do crafts, pray and talk. Every other
week, Roth, 22, meets with four life leaders to
mentor their spiritual growth.
“We’ve created a really good small
community where we respect and listen
to each other,” she said. “For any growing
university, that’s important.”
Chris Jennings’ view of GCU’s student body is
on a larger scale. A worship leader in the Chapel
bands, the 21-year-old lead vocalist performs on
the Arena stage every other week. Thousands
in the audience sway, lift their hands and sing
along in praise as spotlights illuminate Jennings
and the other musicians. Jennings’ aim is to
reflect all glory back to the Lord.
“We want to create a place where all people
can encounter God and see whatever God wants
them to see,” said the Christian studies junior.
Jennings is blown away by the increase in
attendance at Chapel, which is voluntary.
“The more GCU grows, the more
opportunities there are to share the Gospel,” he
said. “It’s easy for students to be bitter because of
the long lines for food and the crowds, but in all
reality, the more people here, the more people
can hear the message.”
Through its guest pastors who speak at
Chapel, the University is encouraging students
to seek and join local churches. Pastor Dustin
Tappan, of Christ’s Church of the Valley in
Phoenix, was emphatic about the importance
of the church connection during his October
Chapel talk. You can’t follow Jesus on your
own, Tappan said.
Griffin has received solicitations from
churches wanting to host Sunday services on
GCU’s campus, but he turns them all down.
“It would be too easy for students to roll
out of bed, walk across campus and call it
church,” he said. “Our hope is that, by bringing
in compelling pastors from down the street to
speak at Chapel, students will be persuaded to
go out and join their churches.”
Creating those bonds now is important for
students because, all too soon, they will be
graduating and leaving GCU.
“If our students go into the other real
world and have opportunities to interact
with Christians, our kids can serve and be
connected with these people,” he said. “That
broadens the scope of what life can be about
outside a college campus.”
Jennings, a leader in his church, is partial
to theGathering, a more intimate worship
experience where students sit on the floor and
the band is on their level, not on a big stage. It’s
what sold Marra Pearson on GCU.
Prayer ministry expanding
During her first visit to campus in November 2011,
Pearson initially felt no special connection. Then
she attended theGathering and saw dozens of
students who couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving
worshipping with their GCU family.
“God rocked my world then and told me,
‘This is where you are going, and you are going
to be a light in the darkness. This is where
I want you to be,’” said the sociology and
communications senior.
She became involved in Spiritual Life’s prayer
ministry, and this fall, with fellow students
Stephanie Hall and Jess Dotson, she helped
launch a prayer warriors program to cover the
influx of students and their prayer needs. Each
Monday, Pearson solicits prayer requests and
divvies them up among the 50 warriors who
then pray with and for individual students.
“It’s just easy to get lost in the shuffle with
the growth, so it’s been cool to reach out this
way — hearing their hearts, praying for them,
connecting them with other people,” said
Pearson, 21.
Other new programs included prayer
partners, which matches students one-on-one,
and “Surrender,” in which groups of students
pray for direction in helping others on campus,
in large and small ways. “It’s cool for people who
might not be Christian to see others going out of
their way to bless them somehow,” Pearson said.
“It’s living out what we are taught to do.”
Prayers also are being said for huge world
problems — disease, war and poverty.
Outreach on the rise
Jesus’ ministry wasn’t contained to the place
where He lived, and neither is that of GCU
students. Cassie Septin and other students
spend Saturday mornings in Little Canyon
Park, just off campus, teaching and playing with
neighborhood children as part of the Canyon
Kids program.
“Canyon Kids is something you’re excited
about. You pray for the family all week, you are
invested in these kids’ lives, they talk to you and
you become a mentor for them,” said Septin, 23, a
Christian studies senior.
In September, Septin, with GCU students
Amy Applegate and Kathleen Bollnow, started
Canyon Moms, a coffee-hour type event with the
children’s mothers.
“We don’t want them to feel like a project,
and we’re not trying to change them,” Septin
said. “We just want them to know they’re cared
about and loved. What’s really neat is we can see
they’re starting to build community with each
other. It’s really amazing beyond anything I
would have expected.”
It’s what GCU does best.
2009
2014
Life groups
12
143
Life group attendance (weekly)
85
1,073
Local outreach participants (monthly)
50
1,050
Mission trips applicants (yearly)
15
341
Chapel attendance (weekly)
225
5,000
theGathering attendance (weekly)
150
1,300
By the numbers
How does GCU’s Spiritual Life manage the spiritual growth
of its burgeoning student population? The staff keeps it
simple, uses student leaders and prays — a lot. Here’s a look
at the growth in programs.
SOURCE:GCUSPIRITUALLIFE
With hearts lifted and arms open,
the GCU community (left) enjoys
Chapel during fall semester.
photo by darryl webb
