By Raylee Foster | Staff Writer
FM72 is approaching its fifth annual worship week from March 19-22, and organizers say their intention this year is to ensure inclusion and accessibility to all Baylor students, believers and non-believers alike.
Many involved in organizing FM72 said they are praying for the Spirit’s presence similar to that found in the Asbury University movement.
The four day event will have a designated prayer schedule for each hour and the leaders of each prayer will use several different methods. Their inspiration for a prayer theme, however, is consistently rooted in the Lord’s Prayer. Ranging from unique denominations, languages and themes, the guided prayers planned for this year are inclusive to all.
Dr. Charles Ramsey, director for chapel and campus ministries, said he’s happy with how FM72 blossoms on campus every year.
“Every year we’ve tried to grow in a way that involved more people so [FM72] didn’t just represent one people, one culture, one flavor — and that’s not easily done, so we try to be very humble about it,” Ramsey said.
FM72 began with a 24-hour prayer service in the fall of 2018. The following spring in 2019, Ramsey and other campus ministers saw local churches were organizing a ‘revival week,’ and decided to bring it to the heart of Baylor’s campus — Fountain Mall.
Ramsey said their intentions weren’t to create a commotion, but rather to create an environment that welcomed drawing near to God.
“There was also something countercultural in this; we didn’t really want to be cool, we were tired of gimmicks,” Ramsey said. “We wanted something that was about stopping and praying for 72 hours and seeking God and seeing what happens in our own lives, in the lives of others and seeing what good comes out of it.”
After the first year, Ramsey said they received feedback from many participants noting God’s presence.
“There was just testimony after testimony of students going out of their way to say, ‘I don’t know how to explain it, but God met me at this time,’” Ramsey said.
Ramsey said praying for 72 hours as a university is the goal, but it does not mean every participant is expected to remain on Fountain Mall for the entire time. He said he prays people will find one hour of their day to spend with God.
He also said he encourages all students to be involved in the planning process if they feel called to it and should contact him if so. Though FM72 is not a student organization, they pair closely with Christian Campus Ministries and local churches.
In an effort to involve as many students — both Christian and otherwise — FM72 will take place entirely on Fountain Mall this year, something that has not been done in the past. In previous years, the event has taken place at McLane Stadium.
Chief of Operations of FM72 Sharita Holder said there is stirring and hunger in students this year with the national ‘revival’ movement appearing in Waco. She said the FM72 team is attempting to invite them into the gathering in every way possible.
“We’re bringing everything back to Fountain Mall this year. Usually the large gatherings are at McLane,” Holder said. “But we had a deep conviction that random people that aren’t of the faith or don’t know what FM72 is aren’t going to be randomly walking around McLane on a Tuesday night, but they are going to be walking out of the SUB, walking out of Moody and all of the area around.
“Our goal for FM72 is to create a space where everyone feels they can experience God and ask the big questions.”
McAllen senior Abby Jones, a student helper for FM72’s prayer tent, said the communities she is a part of are praying the nations are brought together this year at FM72.
She said her prayer is that people of all backgrounds are able to be united through prayer, and that she hopes to see these culturally different people “coming together to lift high the name of Jesus.”
Jones also said she sees God’s movement in places like Asbury to be more of a spiritual movement than a revival and said she believes God will continue to work through FM72.
“I think that God is definitely — in his perfect timing — going to use FM72 and all the planning and logistics that have gone into it already to kind of continue that spiritual movement and reach the campus for the glory of Jesus,” Jones said.
Though FM72 is an invitation to participate in worship, Jones said God’s presence is neither facilitated nor limited to Fountain Mall. She said he is always accessible, but Fountain Mall is just somewhere to meet him and ask questions.
“The presence of God isn’t limited to Fountain mall; they can meet with God in their room and they can pray to God in their room and have a conversation with him really anywhere,” Jones said. “Fountain Mall, especially FM72, is just a place where they can come with their questions and so, just come anticipating the ability to find answers and have conversations.”
Jones said students who want to get involved can also join organizers at their Wednesday morning prayer in the Barfield Drawing Room in the Bill Daniel Student Center.
