By Maddie Gee | Reporter
Baylor’s Baptist Student Ministries held a 24-hour prayer tent to exemplify the power of prayer from 8 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Monday.
“Prayer affects me in a great way because it gives me a great opportunity to just talk to God and tell Him what has being going on in my life. Also, it gives me time to ask God for guidance in anything that I have been struggling in,” said Killeen junior Brashon Ford.
Baptist Student Ministries is working to help spread the power of prayer on campus.
Aledo senior Brett Peterson became a member of the organization last year, as the organization finally making their way back on campus last spring.
“[The formation of the event] was very team led — a lot of people were involved. I got involved with the planning and ‘what did we want this to look like?’ It is something that BSM does at a lot of other campuses. We asked the question ‘How do we see this on Baylor’s campus? What are the areas of need?’ Peterson said.
According to Peterson, the event was made to unify everyone on campus, no matter their background.
“We really wanted this to be something at the center of the campus to really be a unifying point to say no matter what organization you are in, no matter what background you are, this is for all of us to just come together and see what God is doing on this campus and what is God doing around the world.” Peterson said.
The 24-hour aspect of the event was one of the most interesting points for students.
“We say a day of prayer and we usually mean throughout the day, but it truly was 24 hours of prayer. We started last night at eight and hearing stories from last night was really cool of people who did 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. shifts and just praying and being there and just being like ‘Man I really wish I could have stayed but I had a test!’ Peterson said.
Peterson said that for many students, it is easy sometimes to overlook the power of prayer.
“For me personally, it is really easy to undermine prayer. I often overlook the fact that I get to talk to God. I think there is something special about us saying that this is worth giving over a special amount of time, a little sleep to come together and really soak the campus in prayer even if it means changing up the schedule or sacrificing a little sleep.” Peterson said.
The prayer tent event has had a personal effect on Peterson by reminding him of God’s impact not just at Baylor but worldwide.
“I think that it is just a big reminder that what God is doing in our community and what He is doing around the world is a lot bigger than just me. It was so cool to see the community formed, the group of people that came together to pull this off, it could have happened by any one person. Also, just to see the people out there just gathering from all different communities. It is so much bigger than BSM. Seeing people from different churches and different faith communities coming together and praying I think is really powerful,” Peterson said.
