You see advertisements for them everywhere: Snap Chat, Instagram, posters around campus, billboards even, all telling you to go buy your HAVOCS pass or to make sure you secure your ticket for every single basketball game or for those in the surrounding community to get their season tickets. With countless of t-shirt, GCU swag, Purple Pre-Game Parties, Grand Canyon University spends a lot of time, energy, and money making sure their arena is filled for every single basketball game, but not Chapel.
For a missionary school, GCU lacks in reaching out in ministry to their students. The only time a student hears about Chapel that is not a student leader is the first day of classes and at Chapel itself. For how mundane a basketball game is compared to eternal salvation, GCU is missing what is really important at a Christian University.
Why is there no advertising for Chapel, t-shirts giveaways, or any hype for the event that happens every single Monday? Is not praising the one who delivered us from eternal damnation, who gives us peace in the midst of the chaos, who gives us our identity, who created us, who gives us purpose, not worth the same amount, or even more hype than a basketball season that will always come and go? Is not sharing the good news of the Gospel more important than basketball?
If GCU wants to truly be private, Christian, and affordable, they need to step it up in their spiritual life and give equal attention, if not more, to the amount of attention they give to Basketball. GCU needs to approach Chapel attendance in the same urgency they approach basketball attendance. Make the Instagram stories, make the posters, make the facebook events, make the Snap Chat stories, make more of an effort.
Do not get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with attending a basketball and there is nothing wrong with GCU creating a strong sports-fan community. There is something wrong when a sporting event is placed on a higher priority than a ministry opportunity to reach out to students who may not know the Gospel.
To be fair, this past semester, GCU has attempted to make Chapel more intriguing by having outstanding speakers come and talk to the students like Jodi and Friends, Scott MacIntyre, and so on. However, these guest speakers included more plugs for their mission organizations rather than plugs for how the miraculous power of Christ helped them in their journeys.
For a time that is supposed to be set aside to biblical teaching, plug-ins for organizations are not appropriate for the Chapel hour. Save it for another time GCU. Getting students in the door and teaching the true gospel message is more important than having extravagant guest speakers who are going to put more emphasis on their organization than sharing the good news of Christ in that allotted time.
Do not get me wrong, the organizations that have been mentioned at Chapel are fabulous organizations, that do wonderful work for the continuation of the kingdom. However, Chapel is for biblical teaching, not what organizations do.
GCU needs to rethink in what areas may be overlooking the One above and focusing more on worldly things. Basketball comes and goes, guest speakers and organizations comes and goes, but more importantly, students at GCU come and go and it would be a shame that all they got was the hype of a basketball game instead of the hype of the Trinity.
