GCU TODAY • 1 5
with the brokenhearted in the same way that mentors had led him to Jesus
around the time that prosecutors, to his surprise, dismissed his drug
charge and allowed him to avoid prison.
“It was just like God’s grace in such a tangible way,”
said White, who now lives with his wife, Macarena,
and their 7-month-old daughter, Gabriella, at an
apartment complex one block from campus.
“It changed my heart,” White said. “It changed my
way of thinking, it changed my world view, it changed
my motives and how I wanted to live life.”
White and his wife, both Christian studies
majors at GCU, married in Washington and packed
their belongings in a Ford Ranger to drive to
Phoenix three days after the wedding. Now White
said he’s studying Christian servant leadership, both
in his classes and through his job organizing many
of nearly 30 student leaders who work for GCU’s
Office of Spiritual Life.
Aside from coordinating regular outreach programs for the neediest
and most marginalized of Phoenix residents, White was instrumental in
bringing a national faith-based justice conference to campus in February.
Relating to at-risk youth or homeless adults has always come naturally
to him. White couch-surfed and slept in his car at times. He was
unemployed and considered unfit to work, based on his criminal record.
He was a recovering addict. But while he knew how to connect with
people on the streets, he said GCU has taught him how to manage larger
outreach efforts.
“My heart is really to be hands-on, but to be a mobilizer,” White said.
“The aspect I was lacking was teaching others how to be servant leaders in
their communities.”
People who knewWhite from the streets and churches in the Tacoma
area said his transformation was stunning. Local minister Steve Martin said
White’s path to enlightenment was marked by an impromptu baptism in
a bathtub in the basement of a church youth center.
“He was on fire from the very beginning,” Martin
said. “He knew that God spared him… he didn’t stray
from his faith at all. He went right at it.”
Erik Bauer, the attorney who represented White
in his drug case, said he has seen plenty of suspected
criminals make empty claims to judges and juries
about being saved by God. With White, the lawyer
saw a young man who genuinely wanted justice in the
community where he witnessed drugs and violence
ruin friends’ lives.
The odds were not in White’s favor. Struggles
with male role models, his lack of education,
unemployment and addiction issues put him in a
desperate spot where many young American men end
up dead or behind bars.
“A lot of people faced with the pressure (White) was faced with would
have rolled over and given up,” Bauer said. “But he did what he needed
to do to go forward with his life.”
GCU alumna Liz Martin said White’s testimony about transcending life
on the streets resonates with young people of all walks of life.
While GCU has its share of students who have spent their entire lives
with strong mentors and youth pastors who have helped them understand
their faith, White figured it out on his own.
“As he was working in (Washington), he was still in this area of
rebuilding his life and learning,” said Liz Martin, who oversees outreach
ministry for the Office of Spiritual Life.
“He was honest and humble,” she said. “That’s what we try to implement
here, especially in our local outreach program.”
White directs students during a GCU Serve the City outreach event last
year. He narrowly avoided prison time for dealing drugs inWashington
state before he made his peace with God.
photo by
jak keyser
A 2009 traffic stop led toWhite being
charged with possession with the
intent to distribute marijuana. The
charge was later dropped.
photo courtesy of
pierce county
sheriff
’
s department
Watch a video on GCU students helping
at-risk people in inner-city Phoenix at
.
He knew
that God
spared him …
he didn’t stray
from his faith
at all.
—Minister Steve Martin
