GCU TODAY • 1 3
A
t 9 a.m. on a Saturday, while many of their peers
at Grand Canyon University are slumbering
or shaking off the night’s cobwebs, about 50
enthusiastic volunteers are hopping and bopping to
Christian rap music.
“Church clap let me hear the church clap (church
clap). Church clap let me hear the church clap (church
clap),” they chant as Evan Fallon, filling in for absent
leader Joe Koetter, cavorts and croons in the lobby of
Cypress Hall.
They are getting ready to leave campus to gather,
shepherd-like, children ages 3-15 for a morning of Bible
verses, games, crafts and skits at nearby parks in a
weekly ministry program called Canyon Kids.
The rap is the energetic beginning of a ritual that for
many is the highlight of their week: bringing joy and
ministry to a rapidly growing population of children
who live in the neighborhoods surrounding GCU.
What started as a handful of Department of Spiritual
Life volunteers working with a small group of kids in
Little Canyon Park has blossomed today into a vital
ministry with dozens of GCU students and more than
100 children in two parks, said Jaci Curran, Spiritual
Life outreach coordinator.
The Canyon Kids program is so successful, this year
organizers began a new outreach in Cielito Park.
“The purpose in our mission statement is to create a
safe environment surrounded by volunteers who love the
ING
With GCU
volunteers
leading the way,
neighborhood
children have
the time of their
young lives
S T O R Y B Y L A U R I E M E R R I L L
P H O T O S B Y D A R R Y L W E B B
