Abigail Bankes ’20 followed an unexpected path as a student at Geneva, but can now clearly see how God worked through each unplanned change in her education.
Bankes came to Geneva as an 教育专业, and after two and a half years switched her major to 任务. Throughout her time, she retained a 西班牙小, completing nine semesters in total. In 2020, the last thing Bankes needed to graduate was an internship, but the pandemic caused a change in plans again.
In the fall of 2019, Bankes met Nahun Martinez through an introduction at the Geneva Reading Series. He shared with her his vision to start a Hispanic church in Beaver County. 他的教堂植物， Comunidad Cristiana Hispana, along with Champion 生活 Church and Tiger Pause Ministries, created an internship for her for the summer of 2020. Much of the internship was focused on contacting people to help start the church. The church plant launched that summer and has now been running for four years.
Bankes still attends and leads worship at Comunidad Cristiana Hispana. 穿过教堂, Bankes tutors several of the congregation members in English and recently graduated from ministry school. In addition to this work, Bankes has a full-time job with Vector Security. 教育, 任务, and Spanish were the perfect combination of study to help her do the work she is called to now.
“I am using all of my gifts and talents in the Hispanic 社区. I was working with one woman — I started working on her English 10 months ago — and now she can speak it daily. It is moments like this where you see them start to get it and break through that is so cool. 这其实很重要.”
Beyond the classes at Geneva, Bankes says one of the most influential parts of her Geneva experience was the people.
While a student photography intern in Geneva’s Marketing & Public Relations Department, Bankes befriended staff member Mike Duncan through music and Spanish. They now lead worship together at Comunidad Cristiana Hispana. Her professors also had tremendous influence in her life, and still do.
“我爱博士。. 柯蒂斯. Because of him I developed a deep love for the Old Testament. Dr. Watt has also had a great impact on my life, he still prays for me and speaks into my life regularly.”
温迪Shidemantle, professor of Spanish, 杰米·斯万克, vice president and dean of student development, also had a significant part to play in Bankes’ experience.
“温迪Shidemantle was my saving grace. She is an amazing professor, gave me so much grace, but also challenged me so much. Jamie Swank was another person who really impacted me. She came in towards the end of my time at Geneva and was such a foundational person during my last year. She will still message me to meet up and get dinner, and Wendy and I talk all the time.”
As a culmination of her education, 的关系, 和技能, Bankes and her church are opening Beaver County’s first Hispanic Cultural Center. The center will be a place for the Hispanic 社区 to gather, offer resources and classes, and provide Spanish classes for English speakers.
Geneva’s mission of education is about equipping students to be faithful servants to God and neighbor wherever they are in their jobs, 社区, 和家庭. Geneva alumni are called to a lifelong mission of investing their abilities in growing and serving the Kingdom of God. Bankes and many others do so faithfully. Beaver County has its first Hispanic church and cultural center because of the volunteer work of Bankes and many others who have chosen to follow God’s call on their lives.
