Sometimes we fail to think of the gravity of what it is we are a part of, to what we have committed ourselves.
It’s something that we can take for granted, especially those of us who have been involved in the movement of Power to Change.
Our Mission: To change the world by helping students discover Jesus.
TO CHANGE THE WORLD, that is not a small feat. This Is HUGE.
Our Vision: We long for the day when no student graduates without engaging in the life-changing message of Jesus.
This is bigger than us, bigger than our amazing events, dynamic speakers, great resources, best strategies. This is impossible without prayer.
My campus was hit with this realization on September 12, 2012. One of our students was asked to speak about prayer along with the launch of our “20 Minute Prayer Challenge.” The message that was shared left us convicted, some of us in tears. We realized what our campus movement needed most, prayer.
Could 7:30 a.m. prayer spark more prayer?
Prayer is an act of worship. It is our ultimate recognition that we can’t, but God can. We wanted to grow in our understanding of what Biblical prayer looked like. We needed to grow in praying sacrificially by setting aside intentional time for prayer.
Our campus was challenged to participate in morning prayer meetings at 7:30am.
Let me tell you, I am not a morning person, but I was persuaded me to participate. I considered the faithful Christians around the world that risk their lives to gather for prayer. At the same time, I thought about the countless Muslims who pray five times daily.
I realized I make far too many excuses not to pray. That year I made a commitment to be at prayer for 7:30am.
3 immediately results to gathering to pray
We grew
Our prayer meetings that started in our campus office were far too crowded most days. They would overflow out into the hallway, so we soon relocated.
We went public
We sought to have a public presence on our campus.
There were a couple weeks where we would pray outside the Cannon, our famous monument that is central to our campus.
We prayed for each other around campus before we went out to talk with our peers about our faith.
We would host prayer meetings where we would pray for specific friends and family, outside main buildings on the grass.
We saw change
Change began as a slow trickle but quickly became a waterfall. Each day we saw more and more students making decisions to follow Jesus! In fact, we started having to keep a tally because we were losing track!
We would ask God for three new brothers or sisters in Christ and by the end of the week we would see three!
The club’s office became a hub for exchanging stories of God’s work on campus. Walking in I would often hear, “Guess what?” Then I would hear the story of a student who had just began a relationship with Christ!
In my final semester, we had seen 30 students begin a relationship with Jesus and have their lives changed by the gospel!
Action without prayer, Prayer without action
It was later that year we launched our ‘Jesus Who?’ outreach week. We joined together with other Christian groups to host daily events throughout the week.
We turned our club’s office into a 24/7 prayer room. We had a place where any time during the day you could join with someone else to pray for God to move on our campus.
And God moved! We saw eight students start a relationship with Jesus that week through personal evangelism.
On our final night we hosted our biggest event of the week. We booked a lecture hall where a student shared the gospel and invited those attending to make a decision to follow Jesus. We saw over twenty students respond!
One of our prayer requests we had repeatedly raised up was our desire to connect with Christian faculty. This prayer was answered when we hosted the ”Search for Truth” lecture series.
Twice a week, Christian professors would share about their walk with God openly. This was an amazing opportunity to see professors speaking truth into the lives of students. One of my friends began her relationship with Jesus when her science professor invited her to hear his lecture.
Prayer was the catalyst to what we saw God do on our campus.
Nothing special about us, but witnesses to God’s power
Many of us who were present through these events have graduated. Some of us are across the world, and others are leaving for the mission field in closed nations. Many are serving here in Canada whether we are working, studying or starting homes of our own.
Regardless of where we are, we will all hold on to the stories of how we saw God move on our campus. We are encouraged to know there was nothing special about us.
It was God at work, through us, as we dedicated ourselves to seeking him in prayer. Our God is the same yesterday today and forever, and he is able to move in mighty ways again through our campuses as we seek to be a people of prayer.
“Prayer does not equip us for greater works–prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some common sense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work…
Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray… Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray.
When you labour at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your order from Jesus Christ”
Oswald Chambers, “The Key of Greater Work,” My Utmost for His Highest
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