God’s Grand Story: The Ripple Effect of Discipleship at GCU

It takes just one faithful person to start a chain of Life-to-Life^® discipleship. In Arizona, one of these chains has been steadily and powerfully growing over a number of years, multiplying across two college campuses.

Long before Navigator Cameron Kessner joined staff, he first came to know Christ and The Navigators as a freshman at the University of Arizona (U of A) in 2016. Attending college that year wasn’t the plan Cameron had expected — until then, he had been preparing for the Olympic trials. But when he broke his foot and suddenly found himself on campus instead, he began considering fraternity life. However, when a friend’s older brother and Navigator, Dana, spoke into his life, Cameron decided not to pursue Greek life and ended up joining a Navigator Bible study.

Though he wasn’t a believer at the time, by the end of the semester Cameron was being discipled by Dana and had committed his life to Christ. After graduating a couple years later, he joined Navigator staff at U of A to reach the next generation of students.

“Why wouldn’t I give my life to do what Dana did for me, to see the Kingdom advance through disciplemaking?” Cameron recalls. “Looking back, God sovereignly worked out these details. I would have never sought out The Navigators, but He sought after me.”

Now Cameron has been on Navigator staff for six years — and he has seen the Lord move through students’ lives in incredible ways.

Karla and Leo

In 2021, a freshman named Karla was invited to a Bible study by a couple of Navigator staff women. While Karla believed in God, she didn’t understand her need for Jesus or what He had to do with her life. Eventually, she attended the Bible study and was overwhelmed by how deeply the other girls cared for her. She fell in love with Jesus and began hiding God’s Word in her heart.

The next year, Karla joined the student leadership team at U of A. Around that same time, staff encouraged students to pray over their campus, families, and friends. Karla began praying fervently for her younger brother, Leo, who was a freshman at Grand Canyon University (GCU).

One day, Karla invited Leo to a monthly NavNight. Leo came, bringing along his girlfriend, Alexia, and several friends from GCU.

“In talking with them, I discovered that a few of Leo’s friends were genuine believers,” Cameron remembers. “Two of them had even started a Bible study on campus and invited several guys, including Leo. Leo was the only one that showed up — and he kept showing up because he felt bad that no one else came. But that was just the beginning of Leo reading the Word.”

That year, Cameron and his wife, Emma, had already begun discussing what it might look like to pioneer a ministry on a new campus. They started praying specifically about GCU. Though GCU is a private Christian university, there are still many students there who are not yet disciples of Jesus. GCU is also a closed campus: With a security guard at every entrance, the only way inside is with a student.

So in the fall of 2024, Cameron texted Leo and asked for a tour. Leo was eager to show him around campus. During their time together, Leo told Cameron that he had recently connected with a cult, and its members were challenging him in his beliefs.

“When I encouraged him to distance himself from the cult, he was really receptive,” Cameron says. “He also shared that the cult’s questions had revealed something: He wasn’t sure what he believed.”

A few months later, Leo, Alexia, and their friends came to another NavNight at U of A, and Cameron noticed Leo genuinely praising Jesus. When Cameron asked him about it, Leo said, “Oh yeah, I’m a believer now.”

Not only had Leo come to faith, but his girlfriend Alexia had also started following Jesus. That night, she had brought her younger brother, Matthew, with her. When Cameron asked whether Matthew was a believer, Alexia answered, “No, but we’re praying for him — it’s a matter of time.”

Cameron was in awe. Though he knew the Lord often works through relational networks, seeing the chain of faith from Karla to Leo to Alexia to Matthew left him speechless.

A Foundational Generation at GCU

After months of seeking the Lord, Cameron and Emma clearly sensed God calling them to pioneer at GCU, so they packed up and moved to Phoenix with their newborn baby. The very next day, Cameron met with the head of Spiritual Life at GCU — a man who had the authority to remove them from campus.

Five minutes into their conversation, the man stopped Cameron and said, “Wait, I read a newsletter about you 10 years ago and how you came to know Christ. I’ve been praying for you.” (The man turned out to be one of Dana’s ministry partners — and Dana had shared about Cameron back when he was first discipling him in 2016.) While he couldn’t give Cameron special access to campus, he did say, “I love The Navigators, and I think you can do good work here.”

Starting from the ground up at GCU, Cameron reached out again to the people he knew: Leo and Matthew, who had finally given his life to Christ as well. Cameron began discipling both guys, and they were eager to grow.

“Anything you do, I’m in,” Leo said.

Almost immediately, Leo started a Bible study in his dorm. This past spring, Matthew also began leading a group of students in his dorm, walking them through a study on what it means to be a man of God.

“There’s zero credit we can take,” Cameron says. “In all of these stories I’ve been reminded again and again how God sovereignly works through relational networks to bring the gospel to people. Two girls invited Karla to Bible study and she came to faith. Karla started praying for Leo. He saw her transformation, and was invited by two of his friends to do a Bible study. Now, Leo is discipling other guys.”

Karla has become a key influencer at U of A, helping other students know Jesus as well. Leo has continued pouring into others around him at GCU, even leading a Bible study over the summer with guys from his hometown. Four of them came to know the Lord, and they were all baptized together. 

“I feel like I’m living in this grand story that God is unfolding, and I have no clue what’s next,” Cameron says. “And yet, everywhere we go, God’s doing something incredible, and I just get to witness. God is so sovereign.”

Join us in praying over Cameron’s ministry at GCU this upcoming year, that the foundational group of student leaders at GCU will continue to multiply and raise up disciplemakers, one generation at a time.

Discipleship Tip:

Cameron’s story shows how it only takes one faithful disciplemaker to start a line of spiritual generations. Do you sense God calling you to reach out to someone in your own relational network who doesn’t yet know Jesus? Consider inviting that person to read the Bible with you, and commit to praying for the Holy Spirit to move in her or his heart.