Through a project called the Gym, four Oklahoma Christian University alumni are taking their passion for ministry to serve a community inside the heart of Oklahoma City.
Payton Minzenmayer, Steven Langley, Theodore Becker and Mark Kuneman developed the idea for the Gym to reach people in a community often overlooked, primarily 12 to 24-year-olds, through health initiatives. The ministry is in its beginning phases and is working towards opening its doors in the coming months.
“The Gym is a non-profit effort in the Oklahoma City area, mainly downtown, that is seeking to re-envision health,” Minzenmayer said. “We’re looking at physical, mental and spiritual health.”
Junior Erin Harvill, a friend of Minzenmayer, has been supportive of the Gym.
“I think they’ve got a really good goal, and they’ve figure out a good community that could use their help,” Harvill said. “And they’ve figured out how to best use their skills and abilities to best help that community.”
As a supporter of the growing ministry, Harvill said she appreciates how the team is taking the mission to an area with a great need.
“I think that they’re doing a lot of good by trying to incorporate health into an area that isn’t necessarily well educated on how to live healthily,” Harvill said.
Minzenmayer said the Gym will appeal to the public by offering free fitness opportunities, including free exercise in their gym, but will also include lifestyle education focused on nutrition.
“Health isn’t just about physical fitness, resistance training, aerobic,” Minzenmayer said. “It’s more than that, it goes to nutrition. We want to teach people, you know, ‘This is how you grow food’ – we want to start a garden.”
Minzenmayer said he hopes to involve members of the Oklahoma Christian student body on work days at the building and in the future when the Gym is in full operations.
“OC has built a great community up here, but what are we doing other than just edifying ourselves?” Minzenmayer said. “What would it look like to build a community up here and to move it down there to help other communities thrive?”
Harvill said Minzenmayer has received a great deal of help from the Oklahoma Christian community, and appreciates knowing that students have support in any of their spiritual endeavors.
“The missions department in general is like that, where … if missions is something you want to do, they make sure that they give you every tool you need to do it,” Harvill said.
Junior Colten Sikes designed the logo for the Gym and has helped during a workday. Sikes said the project is special to him because of his connections to its members through Oklahoma Christian and also through his cousin, Langley.
“It’s a very fruitful thing and the fact that it’s coming from someone who is close to me and the OC community means a lot,” Sikes said. “It’s very organic and they’re doing a lot more than just working out … it’s very much in the midst of the community and working with what they have rather than just giving possessions.”
According to Minzenmayer, the Gym hopes to eventually offer Ethos credit for Oklahoma Christian students who volunteer. Sikes said he looks forward to being involved with the Gym and thinks more students will be eager to be involved through the Ethos program.
“Sometimes, kudos can kind of get in the way of things, but with this, especially if you have to drive down there, it’s going to be intentional,” Sikes said.
Minzenmayer said he hopes students and members of the Oklahoma Christian Missions Department will continue to invest in the Gym and the student body will be involved in tutoring and training with gym members.
“That is where we want to reach the student body of OC and say, ‘Hey can we get a couple of people down there this afternoon to help tutor some kids? Help them, tutor them, that way they can get through their homework, and then you can come workout in the Gym,’” Minzenmayer said.
Harvill said she appreciates the way the Gym is helping alumni stay linked to the student body.
“I think it’s a good way of incorporating people who have already graduated from OC with people who are still going to OC and keeping those connections,” Harvill said. “So, it’s not like you just leave and you’re done with OC, and then while you’re at OC, you’re forming connections outside of OC as well.”
Sikes said the work at the Gym is empowering to him as a current student to pursue his dreams after graduation.
“It’s inspiring to me because, usually I hear about other people that do this, and it can become big stories… It’s meaningful to me to see them trying to live out what they’ve wanted to do,” Sikes said. “Things can actually happen if you put your mind to it.”
0
0
Be First to Comment