Meet the University Ministries Staff
Every Wednesday morning during the school year, you’ll find North Park’s University Ministries (UMin) staff leading worship for students in chapel. But that is hardly the only way they live out North Park’s Christian distinctive, the cornerstone of the university’s identity.
“Everything about North Park flows from our understanding as Christians,” said Tony Zamble, director of UMin, who believes North Park’s two other distinctives‚—being city-centered and intercultural—depend on the first. “We care about the city because we are Christians. We care about what is going on around us, about racial reconciliation, because it flows from our understanding of the Gospel.”
Campus Chaplain Dr. Terence Gadsden said the UMin staff works to model Christ for the entire North Park community.
“I say it all the time, Jesus did not take an Uber from heaven to earth every day,” he said of living as a Christian. “It needs to happen all the time. Great ideas start at the grassroots level.”
That means meeting students where they are, from attending athletic devotionals and keeping in touch with coaches, to making the UMin office a safe space where a lively get-together might break out at any moment.
“We wanted to create a space where people can be their authentic selves,” said Anna Coleman, UMin’s operations and program manager, whose creative thinking recently resulted in a “Barber Shop” event where students chatted while getting haircuts.
For Worship and Arts Coordinator Stephen Kelly, the outreach happens through music. “Students love to participate in CollegeLife by singing and sharing music,” Kelly said, referring to North Park’s long-standing Sunday evening services.
Most importantly, Zamble said, UMin is a place “where faith, service, and learning meet on a consistent basis.” That’s why projects such as Global Partnerships, where students serve in Zambia, Peru, and Finland, among others, are so valuable. As are opportunities to serve locally, he added.
To Gadsden, living out his Christian faith is even more important because North Park does not require its students to go to chapel, or to express Christian faith in any official way.
“They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” Gadsden said, paraphrasing scripture. “If believers come here and simply gain a better understanding of the Christian faith, I’ve done my job.”