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 Zane’s big brown eyes beam with admiration. At eight years of age, his college mentor, Nate Keller, is by far the coolest thing on his planet.
With chin turned upward and a look of earnestness that erupts in a statement of piercing poignancy, Zane says, “Nate, I really love having you as my big brother.” He pauses and looks to see Nate’s smile; then shyly shares his own.
Nate’s hooked. Who wouldn’t be? Spending time with an Angel Tree child is one of the most rewarding things he’s done since enrolling at Grove City College in the fall of 2003.
Now going on two years of involvement in Zane’s life, Nate can’t imagine doing anything else, but picking up right where they left off when he returns to Grove City in the fall. After all, brothers don’t abandon brothers…and that’s what his relationship with Zane feels like now that they’ve shared weekly visits of foosball and ping pong, concerts with the campus band and loads of other activities.
Nate is just one of more than 20 Grove City College students mentoring prisoners’ children they first met through Angel Tree’s Christmas program of delivering gifts and the Gospel. About the same number of students regularly go into one of the nearby prisons to join in Bible studies and worship services with the inmates. And over 100 students have participated in Christian worldview forums that solidify their faith and prepare them to counter false teachings.
Prison Fellowship’s Campus Ministry—mustering and equipping an emerging generation of ministry leaders—began at Colorado Christian University in 2003 and quickly spread to Grove City near Pittsburgh after then-student Katie Wray did a summer internship at PF’s national office. She went back to her campus, recruited fellow students to join her in ministering to inmates at a local prison and jail, and organized an Angel Tree party for prisoners’ children in the surrounding communities. Now Katie is a full-time PF Campus Ministry coordinator.
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