By Hannah Webb | Opinion Editor
From sunrise to well past midnight next week, the center of campus will be anything but quiet.
Beginning Sunday, Baylor students will gather on Fountain Mall for FM72, a 72-hour event marked by continuous prayer, worship and outreach. Running through Wednesday, the annual tradition invites students to step away from their routines and participate in what organizers describe as a sustained spiritual focus on revival and renewal.
Each evening at 8 p.m., the event will feature corporate worship, prayer and teaching from Scripture. A prayer tent will remain active throughout the day and night. Outreach opportunities will occur at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and baptisms will celebrate the conclusion of FM72 Wednesday night.
Anna Webb, director of operations for FM72, said the event is centered on creating space for students to engage their faith.
“Our kind of mission statement, purpose statement, is to seek the heart of God at the heart of campus,” Webb said. “Since 2019, the goal has just been to facilitate a space and create a space for students to encounter God.”
Drew Humphrey, a college pastor who has been involved with FM72 since its early years, said the event has grown significantly while maintaining its core purpose.
“When this first started in 2018, 2019, it was a group of about eight college ministers trying to convince students that this was a good idea,” Humphrey said. “Now … it’s dozens and dozens of students who are leading.”
FM72 traces its origins to a smaller gathering. In fall 2018, campus leaders organized a 24-hour prayer service. By spring 2019, that effort expanded as campus ministers partnered with local churches during a broader “revival week,” moving the event to Fountain Mall to increase visibility and accessibility.
Webb said planning for the event begins months in advance.
“We start planning in August,” she said. “We meet monthly and then kind of ramp up, especially in the spring semester.”
A key emphasis of FM72 remains its continuous prayer model, with campus groups signing up to cover each hour.
“We really want to make sure that there are times of concentrated prayer — not just internal reflection, but corporate intercession for our campus and city,” Webb said.
For Humphrey, the event is also about cultivating unity and deepening students’ understanding of prayer.
“We always want to see this be something that is reminding people to be united,” he said. “Everything is extremely divisive all the time … and when you come to an event like FM72, the tagline is, ‘I’d rather have Jesus.’”
He added that the event encourages students to rethink the role of prayer in their daily lives.
“We really want college students to understand the importance of prayer, the power of prayer,” Humphrey said. “Not just like saying a prayer before a meal … but the sense that prayer is central.”
Cedar Park sophomore Gray Galant said the central location is part of what makes the event meaningful.
“I think it’s so incredible how it’s so accessible to all these students, literally right on Fountain Mall,” Galant said.
That accessibility allows students to integrate the event into otherwise busy schedules.
“I think you get so busy here at Baylor, and so instead of doing XYZ, I’m going to sit in the prayer tent,” she said.
She characterized the event as both immersive and communal.
“I think it’s 72 hours of the Holy Spirit,” she said. “It’s a really close way of seeing what heaven looks like.”
The Woodlands junior Grant Bottorff, who will be on the worship team, said FM72 stands out as one of the most significant weeks of his year.
“FM72 is honestly probably one of my favorite weeks of the entire school year,” Bottorff said. “I’m excited to watch the prayer tent evolve over the week.”
Bottorff also said the event fosters unity while also prompting reflection about faith on campus.
“I think it’s so important,” he said. “It unifies Baylor in such a good way under the Lord.”
At the same time, he said FM72 challenges assumptions about a Christian university environment.
“I feel like we get super complacent with the fact that we think, since Baylor’s a Christian university, that it’s perfect and everyone’s saved, which that’s not the case,” he said.
For Bottorff, the event represents renewal.
“It’s a week of freedom, a week of revival over the campus,” he said.
Webb said the impact of FM72 varies from student to student.
“Our prayer is that every student would take a next step in their journey with faith,” she said. “There’s not one single response … but that God would meet them exactly where they’re at individually.”
Humphrey encouraged students to take advantage of the limited time the event offers.
“You only get 16 nights of FM72 in your entire college experience,” he said. “If I could go back and just get 16 nights like that, I’d do anything.”
As FM72 approaches, organizers anticipate a steady flow of students moving through Fountain Mall — some staying for hours through the early morning, others stopping briefly between classes. Whether through quiet prayer, corporate worship or outreach, the event is designed to create space for sustained spiritual engagement in the middle of campus life.
“I think ultimately it’s all for God’s name and his glory,” Webb said. “It’s not about the people who planned it … but it’s all about the person of Jesus.”
