By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
With Waco’s 40 Days of Prayer Challenge officially underway, local churches are adopting Baylor students to pray over and reminding them that they are supported in the community.
Dr. Charles Ramsey, director for campus ministries and church connections, said while the church puts a lot of energy into caring for middle school and high school students, it seems as though young adults do not have access to the same resources when they go to college.
“The idea behind this season of prayer is that we pray for our college students, who are our next generation of leaders,” Ramsey said. “If they are the leaders of the future church, surely we have the time in our day to invest in them and support them.”
Ramsey said the 40 Days of Prayer Challenge began 200 years ago with what was known as “Last Thursday” — a time in which ministers would gather locally to pray over the lives of college students. However, he said the church lost track of the tradition.
Two years ago, after learning about the Practicing the Way ministry in North Carolina, in which local churches commit to doing intentional discipleship at a specific community prayer space, Ramsey said 30 local churches in Waco determined that a prayer space was the solution to their problem.
“A real estate agent showed us a former gardening store, … and we knew from the moment we walked in that it had good bones and would be the perfect space to bring together people from different parts of the city,” Ramsey said. “What spoke to me specifically in this space was an image on the far side wall of two hands — which I thought of as one being Baylor and the other hand being the city of Waco — which are interlocked.”
Similarly, Sharita Holder, ministry associate of campus ministries and church connections, said her first impression of the prayer space was that it felt raw and pure.
“There was no production or glimmer in the space at all,” Holder said. “That said, it does help put in perspective how it is not about what the place looks like, as long as the presence of God is there, in which we can then ask Him our own heart’s questions.”
Ramsey said students interested in experiencing the prayer space firsthand can go to Spiritual Life and fill out the Calendly link. The prayer space will be open 24/7 in the week leading up to Baylor hosting the Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast on Feb. 29, which will unite college students globally.
“It is important to remember that Baylor’s motto is ‘Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana,’ which only further emphasizes how important our partnership with local churches is,” Ramsey said. “I encourage students to use this as an invitation to explore different churches in our area, whether that be Maranatha, Harris Creek, Highland, Antioch, Brazos Meadows or Greater Mount Zion, because that is what Collegiate Day of Prayer is all about: uniting people of different cultures and ethnicities together in faith.”
Holder said this idea of unity is what she encourages students to pray for on a local scale.
“I know this 40 Days of Prayer Challenge leads up to the Collegiate Day of Prayer, but my heart’s wishes would be that people widen their gaze to pray for Waco as a whole,” Holder said. “This includes those on the other side of Interstate 35 who might not know the Lord.”
