• Seeking the heart of God in the heart of Baylor’s campus

    Students pray together on Fountain Mall in front of a sign that reads "I'd rather have Jesus"

    In the spring of 1945, a group of Baylor students prayed for spiritual renewal for 90 straight days. Their prayers led to a movement that helped inspire ministries on campus and around the world, from the Journeyman mission program to the Passion Conferences.

    Earlier this month, hundreds of Baylor students gathered again in Jesus’ name for FM72, a 72-hour prayer and worship event at the heart of campus on Fountain Mall.

    [VIDEOS: Prayer tents on Fountain Mall || Worship on Fountain Mall: “The Lion and the Lamb” and “Spirit Break Out”]

    Students from dozens of college ministries and organizations — coordinated by Baptist Student Ministries (BSM) at Baylor — prayed for 72 hours, one hour at a time, in prayer tents right in the heart of campus. One tent focused on prayer for our campus, another on prayer for our nation and world, and the third on personal prayer.

    At 8 p.m. each night, Sunday through Wednesday, they gathered for a worship and prayer service on Fountain Mall. Each evening featured special guest teachers (such as Jonathan “JP” Pokluda and Jennie Allen) and worship leaders (like Jaye Thomas and Jaleesa McCreary).

    “We have become inspired and challenged by the faithful lives and dedicated service of men and women who came before us,” says Dr. Charley Ramsey, BA ’97, MA ’00, director of BSM at Baylor. “They discovered treasures of God in prayer, and this changed their destinies. We want our priorities to change, our vision to expand; we want to dream again. We want to see a move of God in this generation like that which came before. The prayer of the students for this past year has been, ‘Lord, do it again.’”

    A week later, the Baylor Parents Network hosted a day-long prayer event in which they used social media to encourage parents and others to pray for Baylor students and the wider Baylor Family. At the center of the day was a prayer service in which such familiar campus faces as President Linda Livingstone, chaplain Burt Burleson, student life AVP Martha Lou Scott, and men’s basketball coach Scott Drew led prayers online live from Baylor’s Elliston Chapel.

    Baylor’s motto has long been “Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana” — for the church, for the state — and the university’s Christian commitment remains as strong as ever.

    Sic ’em, Bears!