College of Theology

All of Chapel live-streamed, including the music … more Ministry Forums for students … a newly designed One Foundation for faculty. There will be plenty of spiritual life opportunities on campus this fall, including an in-depth look at the Reformation on its 500th anniversary.

Welcome Week 2017 promises to be another busy and festive time for students as they return to campus. But it’s extremely important, too. “The week says to all, ‘You belong here,’” said Charity Norman, manager of GCU’s Student and Family Program.

Online instructors in the College of Theology at Grand Canyon University get spirituality-related questions from students daily. That was the inspiration for “Dear Theophilus,” a new blog in which COT faculty provides answers to those questions. The goal is to help students from a variety of theological backgrounds, including non-Christians.

Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe visited GCU on Friday to share her purpose with GCU employees: to heal, mend and love the ‘lost girls’ of Northern Uganda. “I am a dreamer. I dream of making lives a little better. I dream of healing their pain. I dream of mending their brokenness,” she said, bringing her warmth, humor and inspiration to a university where finding one’s purpose is what it’s all about.

Photos by Slaven Gujic GCU News Bureau Online students in the Colangelo College of Business, College of Education, College of Fine Arts and Production, and College of Theology received their diplomas Saturday in two separate ceremonies at Grand Canyon University Arena.   

GCU’s first Master of Divinity (M.Div.) graduates were front and center in the spring commencement ceremony Saturday morning. “This is a new day for GCU and a new day for Grand Canyon Theological Seminary,” said Dr. Jason Hiles, dean of the College of Theology. It also represents a new day for several grads who took interesting paths into the program.

When he was writing his dissertation earlier this decade, Dr. John Frederick thought about how he might adapt it into a book for public consumption. That was the inspiration for “Worship in the Way of the Cross,” published recently on Amazon. Frederick’s book urges churches to create services that encourage participation.

More than 5,000 graduates and their 30,000 guests will be on the Grand Canyon University campus this week for spring commencement. There will be six ceremonies — two each, at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., on Thursday through Saturday.

College of Theology instructor Gary Osmundsen is a serious athlete. How serious? He has qualified to compete in the Boston Marathon next year. But Osmundsen’s path to distance running was a little different than the norm.

This year’s Canyon Challenge, scheduled for Thursday afternoon at GCU Arena, features five mission-driven finalists competing for the $15,000 in prize money. Storage Together, which won an international competition in Barcelona last fall, is among the competitors.