“At the end of the day, what matters most to the Baylor Family is not academic accolades, but our success in preparing students to lead and serve communities in need, sharing the gospel and glorifying God,” wrote President Linda Livingstone in a Waco Tribune-Herald piece. “I am overjoyed to see our students boldly stepping out to encourage this generation of men and women to know the transformative power of the gospel.”
FM72 gathers Baylor students for 72 hours of prayer & worship on campus
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.
This week, hundreds of Baylor students again gathered in Jesus’ name for FM72, a 72-hour on-campus prayer and worship event coordinated by Baylor’s Office of Spiritual Life.
A prayer tent on Fountain Mall featured round-the-clock worship and prayer, and students gathered at McLane Stadium four straight nights (Sunday through Wednesday) for special worship services led by local pastors. [Get a taste of the worship in this short video.]
“The goal of FM72 is to stir a passion for Jesus Christ in the Baylor community,” explains Dr. Charles Ramsey (BA ’97, MA ’00), director of Baptist Student Ministries at Baylor. “It is a time to take inventory of one’s own journey, to linger in prayer, and to recalibrate towards what is most important: our shared faith in Jesus Christ.”
Perhaps the capstone of the multi-day event came Tuesday night, when dozens of Baylor students were baptized on Fountain Mall. (Worth noting: These weren’t spur-of-the-moment decisions, either; each Bear had first met with his/her pastor to talk through what baptism means, and trained response team members from a variety of local churches and ministries are following up with them to discuss next steps.)
Sic ’em, Bears!