Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Among a sea of students who spilled onto the Grand Canyon University Quad on Tuesday night after Ignite and the culmination of the first day of classes, sophomore Jack Kaplan held up a sign: “Do you have a heart for the elderly?”
Kaplan does.
He speaks excitedly about one resident who is an Elvis impersonator at Colter Commons, the senior living facility at the gateway to the east side of the GCU campus, just past the Colangelo College of Business.
He shared how he belted out a duet on karaoke night with another resident.
And he spoke about another Colter Commons senior who leads a Bible study.
“All the college kids come to his Bible study,” said Kaplan, barely audible over cheering, screaming Local Outreach and Global Outreach students, like him, who formed a reception line and handed out flyers to fellow GCU students emerging from the Ignite worship service in Global Credit Union Arena.
Not a lot of students know there’s a home for seniors, right in the middle of campus.
“They are so grateful for us caring to serve them,” said Kaplan, who donned a red wig like the rest of his spirited team on the senior citizen ministry. “ … And they LOVE karaoke.”
He wanted to let others know about the ministry for the elderly, and if it was in their hearts, to serve with the Local Outreach ministry, too.
The fair, a hyped-up atmosphere of excited, vibrant students representing such groups as Local and Global Outreach, with bubble machines in tow and students in matching outfits, was the culmination of the Spiritual Life department’s Ignite, an event that has become a first-day-of-class tradition at GCU.
The first big worship service on campus, preceding even the first Chapel on Monday, introduces students to what their spiritual life could look like, from setting the tone of the week at Monday Chapel, to heading to more informal services at Tuesday night’s the Gathering in Antelope Gymnasium.
But there’s also Monday’s Spiritual Formation workshops and Thursday’s Sanctuary.
Students at the spiritually vibrant Ignite, in an almost packed arena, except for the very top rafters, listened to about an hour of music from the Worship team in their campus debut this semester.
A latecomer to the worship service bopped onto the arena floor from the lobby, immediately joining the Worship team by belting out the lyrics to the song the band was performing: “Your name is the highest! Your name is the greatest! You’re lifted high … Holy forever!”
She was in a celebratory mood, and like many students in the arena, lifted her hands to the sky.
“I thought that it was really, really fun,” said Haley Colunga, a freshman nutrition science major as she emerged from the arena after Ignite, onto the bustling arena walkway filled with students meeting up with other students. It was her first Ignite, and she was blown away. “I loved the music. I was crying a lot."
University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin addressed students briefly during the event to share an important word that evening: continue.
He read from Colossians 2:6: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
“I’m going to encourage you to think about this word, continue,” Griffin said, saying how the enemy is going to be hard at work this year trying to distract students from living their lives in Jesus. “You need to put on the full armor tonight. You need to prepare yourself for a long year where you’re going to be challenged to follow Jesus.”
His message to students was to continue on the path that brought them to GCU and, after Ignite, to continue to bring the spark they have for living a godly life to other aspects of their lives.
“It does my heart so much good to see students come to campus every year, bringing a sense of courage and commitment to follow Jesus, no matter what the world says you should do, no matter what your peers or others might say.
“It is so encouraging to see you here this year and tonight, to follow Jesus in this way. I hope that, as a community of Jesus people, that every Monday and Tuesday and in life groups and churches that you attend, (that they) will be different because of you.
“That will happen if we decide tonight that we’re going to continue to live our life in Him," Griffin said.
Student body president Ashley Cote then led Ignite’s lighting ceremony, when students illuminate the arena with their phones.
She read from Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand, and it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
“I must ask you guys to challenge yourselves this year,” Cote said before Associated Students of GCU Vice President David Pritchard gave the event’s closing prayer. “That tonight won’t just be a tradition we have every year on the first day of school. But rather it be something that we continue at every gathering outside of this arena.”
That desire to be the light of the world continued outside of Ignite for Ekleshia Yilma, a senior who’s part of Global Outreach’s English as a Second Language ministry.
She and other ESL students work with refugees and immigrants to help them learn English to help them in their everyday lives, but also so they’re prepared to take their citizenship exam.
“We want to support them, be there as a family, get to know them and be friends with them,” said Yilma, who speaks not just English but Amharic, an Ethiopian language.
She sees the spark Cote spoke of in the arena expressed in the students who are part of Global Outreach, like she is.
“I really love how everyone is just so welcoming and willing to learn about different cultures and how they're just so loving and have a heart for compassion and service. They do it with such sincerity in a way that glorifies the Lord in all aspects. … We want to serve the Lord with passion and sincerity.”
Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected] or at 602-639-7901.
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