GCU TODAY • 1 3
Until now, some Colter Commons residents
lived there for years and walked around its
expanding borders without ever stepping onto
campus. For others, it had been months since
they’d left their rooms for much of anything
other than meals, but now they venture
downstairs and eagerly wait for the college
crowd from next door to arrive for games and
prizes (including a crowd favorite, Windex).
The ministry is led by Aaron Koehne,
a 20-year-old accounting junior whose
grandfather died in September. “What drew
me is the wisdom I can gain from people
who have experienced life already,” Koehne
said. “They talk about their family and what
mistakes they’ve made. They remind us to stay
in school, to stay off drugs, to get a good job.”
Junior Veronica Montgomery, 20, was raised
by her grandmother as her parents worked
to support the family. Montgomery, whose
grandmother died in 2014, has always enjoyed
older people because of their stories and simple
pleasures. The Colter Commons residents,
including Lanaye Zummallen, with whom
she has established a special bond, exude a
positivity that the college students need.
“They think we are doing something for
them, but it’s definitely vice versa, and I think
that’s across the board with the ministries
GCU has,” said Montgomery, an elementary
education/special education major.
Omaida Puerto, a Cuba native, looks forward
to Wednesdays with GCU. Her comments
following salsa lessons she gave recently to 16
students were interpreted by freshman Stephanie
Applegate, a digital film student at GCU.
“Their youth is contagious. GCU is like an
injection of youth,” said Puerto, 67. “Everyone
here wants to go to a basketball game, but I am
the No. 1 fan of soccer, and I will come (to a
GCU game) whenever they ask.”
That same evening, Colter resident Barb
Cowan played a game of pool with three
students. They are “a blessing, a breath of fresh
air” from a neighbor she has grown to admire.
“GCU’s building around us is like a giant
hug,” Cowan said.
Inner-city hope kept alive
Isaiah Gomez is quick to get to the heart of his
involvement in Neighborhood Ministries, which
weekly brings GCU students to a warehouse of
energy and harsh reality near downtown Phoenix.
“Just to see how blessed we are in this
bubble of GCU, how can you not want to give
back when you see kids who
don’t have clean clothes to
wear or food to eat?” the
20-year-old leader said. “There
is so much room for grace and
love there. That’s where I see
the Gospel the most, with
people who are so open to you
and just need some stability in
their lives.”
On a recent Monday
evening, about 100 inner-city
youth in kindergarten through
seventh grade participated
in Kids Life, a Neighborhood
Ministries program that
offers a structured evening of
art, Bible stories and songs,
small group discussions,
outdoor play and dinner.
Kendra Carter, a 21-year-old GCU business
management student, tried to coax a bite of hot
dog, just one, into little Manny at a table where
they worked on a rainbow drawing.
“The kids have been through a lot and have
some walls up,” Carter said. “My favorite part
was playing with the kids outside. It’s not hard
to give them attention and love.”
Kids Life director Bryan Larson said GCU
students offer a steadying, consistent presence
to the little ones and are role models for the
older youth.
“The leaders have jumped right in, and the
biggest thing is being a positive influence and
being a loving person,” Larson said. “The GCU
team has been amazing.”
Gomez, an entrepreneurship junior and
the first person in his family to go to college,
shines during a Bible study with the older
boys. He leans in and looks them eye-to-eye
when the topic of God’s existence arises.
“I haven’t seen Him yet, but I see Him
sometimes in creation,” Gomez said, the boys
nodding in agreement.
A new lease on a community’s life
When GCU students walk over every day of the
week to First Southern Baptist Church on the
southeast corner of the main campus, they are
ready and able to handle a variety of tasks at
the New Life Pregnancy Center.
It may be as simple as
handing out diapers with a Bible
verse printed on the package,
sorting donated clothes or
being responsible for collecting
cards the mothers have posted
on a prayer wall. It may be as
challenging as babysitting a child
whose mother is learning English
or how to become a better parent.
No matter the job, the new
partnership is a blessing to the
25 GCU students who have
volunteered this semester, said
Jaci Curran, Local Outreach
coordinator.
“It helps them to step outside
their normal comfort zone, to
open their eyes to the rest of the
community and to begin a lifelong practice of
helping others,” Curran said.
Monday no longer a ‘hunger night’
It hasn’t been so long since Mary Khorany was a
tween, and she knows how impressionable and
vulnerable an age that is, how she could have
used a wiser but not so much older person in her
life. The 20-year-old didn’t think twice about
taking the lead in Youth Ministries this fall.
She and other GCU students handed out
fliers in October to parents at Canyon Kids,
a Saturday morning Local Outreach ministry
at which children are taught Bible stories
at Little Canyon Park on the University’s
northern border. They invited older children
to come to the park late Monday afternoon
to be picked up by GCU students and head
to campus for bowling and pizza in Thunder
Alley. Khorany planned for 15-20 pre-teens.
Forty showed up.
“I was blown away by how God worked,” the
business management junior said.
Each week, music, games and a Bible
message are shared before the students break
into small groups to talk about whatever is on
their hearts. And, of course, there is food.
“We want parents to know their children are
safe and sustained,” Khorany said. “Monday
night is no longer a hunger night.”
Getaglimpseofthenewfriendshipthat’sbloomingbetweenVeronicaMontgomery
ofGCUandLanayeZummallenofColterCommonsinavideoa
VIDEO
“Just to see how
blessed we are
in this bubble
of GCU, how
can you not
want to give
back when
you see kids
who don’t have
clean clothes
to wear or food
to eat?”
—GCU junior Isaiah Gomez
