EDITOR'S Note: Listen to “Every Neighbor” here, and connect with Phoenix Rescue Mission on World Homeless Day at phoenixrescuemission.org/hopehasarrived.
Love thy neighbor.
Greg Forney feels that commandment deeply; it’s what we’re supposed to be doing.
He feels that charge even more since he started working for Phoenix Rescue Mission just seven months ago as its chief development officer.
“I just love what we do,” he said.
In the quiet, nurtured by his thoughts, he started to think about what that commandment really means and was inspired to write a song – something he enjoys doing when he’s not sitting behind a desk – called “Every Neighbor,” a composition he took to one of Phoenix Rescue Mission’s community partners, Grand Canyon University, to polish and record just in time for World Homeless Day today.
It was a project that happened unimaginably quickly.
“Phoenix Rescue Mission has a really close relationship with Grand Canyon University in general,” Forney said of his inspiration to approach GCU. “I had just heard about what the university does and see the fruit of it. We love our partnership with Grand Canyon and just appreciate that they came alongside us in a creative way … to get the word out on such an important issue.”
World Homeless Day, observed globally today, raises awareness of the challenges faced by those without stable housing and encourages communities to take meaningful action. According to Phoenix Rescue Mission, more than 9,000 individuals experience homelessness in Maricopa County each night.
Forney reached out to the university’s Center for Worship Arts at the beginning of September to record “Every Neighbor” in time for World Homeless Day.
“We were concerned October was way too soon,” said Eric Johnson, GCU Recording Studio manager, of completing the song in time.
But Johnson took on the challenge and connected Forney with some of the university’s worship arts students.
“Greg wrote the song, and he can tell you this, but he doesn’t think of himself so much as a singer or performer … and wanted to partner with our worship arts program to see if he could find talented musicians and singers. We ended up working with him to craft lyrical changes.”
Worship arts students Shailen Stewart and Silas Russel added some vision to the track and helped execute that vision. They became a “hand on the project,” Stewart said, along with recording studio senior engineers and in-house producers Joseph Vaught and Ryan Buckland.
To be able to bring the project to fruition, “I thought it was going to be really cool,” Stewart said, “and I was moved by the original song, too.”
Valley Christian School Choir, directed by Marianne Heim, just happened to be on campus for a session at the recording studio, where the university’s worship arts students record major projects, including the Canyon Worship albums and the Grand Collective EPs. It’s a space that has been opened, as well, to schools and community groups.
Heim agreed to record the chorus of the song.
“The Valley Christian School Choir was absolute serendipity,” Johnson said, as was GCU worship arts alumnus Jonathan Raingruber, who was available to add his vocals, as did Stewart – something they did just two days ago.
Stewart, a senior who has been featured on the Canyon Worship albums, is accustomed to collaborating with fellow students in crafting her songs, but “this was definitely a new experience for me,” she said of working with an organization like Phoenix Rescue Mission.
“It was a fun experience – and encouraging. I was honored to have been asked to help out,” she said.
Forney wrote “Every Neighbor” as a musical reflection of the mission’s work.
The lyrics convey how our work isn’t done:
“Til every neighbor is transformed by love/
And there’s hope for the hopeless/
Each and every one/
Til we help all the broken, forgotten and forsaken/
Til we love each and every neighbor”
“We want to continue and reach out and help the most vulnerable,” Forney said. “When are we done? When everyone is off the streets and everyone is taken care of.”
Forney said he wasn’t thinking about a specific campaign or event when he wrote the song. He was just thinking of the important work Phoenix Rescue Mission does every day, which is to provide comprehensive, Christ-centered solutions for men, women and children trapped in cycles of homelessness, addiction and poverty. The composition just happened to fit in with World Homeless Day.
Forney wrote a post on social media recently, where he said, “To be brutally honest, I don’t always remember national or international days like this. But then I started thinking … and I realized just how important they are or can be. Yes, in my role at Phoenix Rescue Mission, I think about homelessness every day. Even then, having a day that focuses on this issue prompts my heart to pray, to understand, and to be even more engaged.”
It's something he hopes that will prompt the same of those who hear the song, which will be shared with the mission’s donors and in other capacities for the nonprofit.
“We’re just trying to take this day and raise awareness on an important issue and the value of getting people thinking about it and how to be part of the solution,” he said.
Added Stewart, “I was moved by Greg’s passion, and the love for the community through that organization -- I thought that was really powerful. I think that song’s going to have a lot of impact.”
GCU Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected] or at 602-639-7901.
***
For those seeking help with homelessness, call 602-346-3361.
***
Related content:
GCU News: Alums, students bond for Canyon Worship X album
GCU News: New Center for Worship Arts director seeks balance in teaching, serving
