I got quite a response to my February article on the National Collegiate Day of Prayer that took place on February 26, 2010. There was a great surge of prayer on that day that I believe will accelerate in the coming years.

One coalition that is promoting collegiate prayer is Campus America,  a bold network of young people who believe that a great awakening is coming to the college and university campuses of America that could lead this nation into a much needed reformation. Their focus on 24/7 Prayer Rooms is a global strategy that we're instituting this year at our new YWAM headquarters in Port Orchard. Campus Americais really on to something, because as Jonathan Goforth said over one hundred years ago: "What is the secret of revival? There is no secret. Revival always comes in answer to prayer."

Here's their story and vision to encourage you--and accelerate your own prayers.

Campus America is a simple call for a connected, unbroken Year of Prayer in 2010 on every college and university campus in the U.S., to give every student the opportunity to experience the presence of Jesus. 

It’s an invitation to a generation that really could change the course of many thousands of lives, impacting the poor, and spreading the good news about Jesus.

Five years ago, God spoke clearly to Pete Greig and David Blackwell about calling the campuses of America to pray. From that time, the number of 24-7 prayer rooms on campuses in the States began to multiply (at last count, 24-7 Prayer had already impacted 20% of campuses). The stories emerging from these prayer rooms were often extraordinary. Lives were changed, students encountered the presence of God, there was great creativity and people who weren’t Christians met Christ in these prayer rooms too. “The idea of seeing these prayer rooms multiply on every campus in the U.S. seems thrilling and terrifying,” says Pete Greig. “Exciting because we have reason to believe it could impact the nation. Terrifying because this thing is utterly impossible unless God makes it happen.”

The challenges of America ’s campuses are severe and urgent. The most recent research by Gallup indicates that there are 74% fewer confessing Christians on America ’s campuses than in the population at large. Unless something happens quickly, the Church in America will be almost decimated within this generation. And it’s not just about filling pews. It’s about the Gospel of Jesus impacting the poorest people in the world and it’s about tomorrow’s leaders being shaped by a Biblical world view, and it’s about universities themselves remembering their own Christian roots.
 
2010: A Year of Prayer

Campus America is not a new ministry or organization. It is a simple call to a connected Year of Prayer that begins on the 1st of January 2010 and ends on New Year’s Eve. The invitation is for students on every campus in the U.S. to participate with at least 72 hours of united, non-stop prayer. What happens as a result of such an unprecedented wave of prayer is really up to God.

“There has never been a spiritual awakening…
that did not begin in united prayer.”
- A.T. Pierson
 
2010 marks the one-hundred-year anniversary of an extraordinary gathering in Edinburgh, Scotland called the World Missionary Conference. The reason this event is considered remarkable is because it became the culmination-point for multiple individuals and campus movements (like the 1806 Haystack Prayer Movement, C.T. Studd and the Cambridge Seven, and John R. Mott and the Student Volunteer Movement) to agree with one another to reach everyone they could with the gospel of Jesus “in this generation.”

Quite by chance, this Campus America Year of Prayer is on the precise centenary of the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference. It’s the sort of ‘divine symmetry’ we’ve often discovered with delight in the rearview mirror over the last ten years of the 24-7 Prayer movement, as we’ve sped down God’s Freeway having the time of our lives!

Campus America is part of that old story of prayer and humility and action that has guided each and every spiritual awakening in the history of Christianity. That story did not begin with us - nor did it start in 1910 or in 1806 - or during any of the other significant moments in our collective history as Christians. This is an old, old story. In fact, this Story started with Jesus… and now we have the opportunity to follow him into the next riveting chapter of our history. Are you up for it? We’re convinced that many students will encounter ‘the decisive moment’ of their lives in the calendar year 2010.

Campus America is partnering with students and professors, long-established collegiate ministries and brand new communities of faith. There are numerous campus ministries with more experience and better strategies than we have, and we’re inviting every one of them to pray in extraordinary ways during 2010. Unified and humble prayer around the person of Jesus is a powerful prescription for the ills of our time. Campus America is about helping create sacred space for students to simply encounter and engage with Jesus. And as this happens, the campuses of America are beginning to awaken.

AWAKENINGS

At Ohio State University, this awakening looked like a young woman named Allison who gave her life to Jesus, became captivated by the wonder of engaging with God in the sacred and simple place of prayer, and decided to invite her friends to experience the same. She helped start a growing and diverse movement of praying students and professors that continues at OSU to this day.

Last year in North Dakota, this awakening looked like every four-year college and university in the state banding together in non-stop prayer for an entire month. Multiple campuses hosted periodic prayer rooms throughout that time, passing the prayer baton from campus to campus, involving over 1,700 students in prayer and resulting in many students making decisions to surrender their lives to Jesus.

In Indiana, this awakening looked like a young collegiate inviting a friend to join her in a prayer room for an hour. Confronted with the presence of Jesus, he gave his life to Him. Burdened for his fraternity brothers, he locked hearts with God in prayer for their souls, bringing each one to God by name. In one semester, everyone in his fraternity surrendered themselves to Jesus.

This is the sort of stuff that is happening on campuses stretching from Georgia to Arizona, from Massachusetts to Hawaii, as students are taking up the charge to pray.

What will this awakening look like on your campus? Let’s find out. Get Involved. Catch the virus. Spread it. Pray. Then tell us what happens! C’mon!

24-7 prayer

Campus America is an initiative of 24-7 Prayer International, headquartered in Guildford, England. 24-7 Prayer USA has a Resource Center and a team in Kansas City, who are a best described as a community of friends called the Kansas City Boiler Room. You can find more information about our vision and values by visiting the 24-7 Prayer website.  24-7 Prayer is currently mobilizing prayer in 100 countries and expanding. You can check out the history of 24-7 Prayer International through reading Red Moon Rising, written by Pete Greig. Purchase a copy of Red Moon Rising if you like!