Unless you a.) live or work in a college town or b.) are sending a student off to college this fall, you might not think about the 300,000 students enrolled in colleges and universities throughout Alabama. This year, state Baptist leaders hoped to change that with a prayer emphasis.
Praying Across Alabama Campuses is a continuation of Praying Across Alabama, a statewide emphasis that began in February. On-campus events held during the week of Aug. 5–10 sought to engage Alabama ministry leaders in praying for revival on campuses around the state, according to Mike Nuss, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). Though the on-campus effort has wrapped up, Nuss encourages Alabama Baptists to continue praying for students as they return to campus this fall.
“The overall goal of Praying Across Alabama Campuses is simply to support and cover with prayer Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) and church ministry efforts to reach students for Christ,” Nuss said.
College campuses in Alabama represent a vast missions field of young people, said Jerrod Brown, senior Baptist campus minister at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. College students are making decisions that will affect their entire lives — professionally, personally and most importantly, spiritually — so it is critical that they hear about Jesus, Brown said.
“They are exposed to a variety of worldviews and truth claims that will ultimately fail them or leave them unfulfilled,” Brown said. “It is incredibly important to make sure collegians are exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ — the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
It is also important to reach students soon after their arrival on campus, Nuss said.
“College students set patterns for their college career during the first three weeks of school — friends and social connections, study habits, church attendance and ministry involvement. That is why BCM and church collegiate ministries on campuses across Alabama work hard to connect with students and impact those habits during the first three weeks they are on campus,” he said.
Praying for students and ministry leaders is an essential part of reaching those students during those initial weeks and during their college years, Nuss said. Praying Across Alabama Campuses was a way to engage all Alabama Baptists in the effort.
At least 19 organized events were scheduled on 15 campuses across the state. Though each event was focused around prayer, organizers took different approaches on each campus. At the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Woman’s Missionary Union members hosted a prayer tea at the Baptist Student Center to pray specifically for collegiate women in Tuscaloosa. Both Auburn University and Troy University planned times to pray specifically for the approximately 8,000 international students from more than 100 countries who attend college in Alabama. At the University of Alabama-Huntsville, local ministers planned a mid-day prayer walk Aug. 6, and students gathered for prayer later that evening on the campus’ new greenway.
Prayer walks around each campus and prayer rallies at designated locations were part of most events. At Troy University, local ministers prayer walked around student housing, according to campus minister Brad Bensinger. Through the Troy BCM Facebook page, Bensinger also encouraged students to pray about how they can be involved in discipleship during the upcoming academic year.
Nuss said Alabama Baptists should continue to pray for the state’s college students, specifically for the following concerns:
- For students to be receptive to the gospel message.
- For campus ministers and church collegiate ministry leaders.
- For students as they encounter challenges to their faith and witness.
- For churches as they reach out to students.
- For campuses to be open to ministry efforts.
Nuss also suggests praying for collegiate believers to grow and mature in their faith during these formative years.
“Pray that believers on each campus will be strengthened to speak, serve and love more boldly and more often,” he said.
Finally Nuss encourages Alabama Baptists to pray for student missionaries who have served around the world this summer through One Mission Students.
“We encourage people to pray for God to help the student missionaries see their role in making disciples back on their campuses,” Nuss said.
Ultimately the goal is to involve all Alabama Baptists in regularly praying for college students, Brown said.
“Prayer is our dependence on God to move in our world. If we desire to see a mighty movement of God on the college campus, dependence on God through prayer is a prerequisite,” Brown said.
As a college minister, Brown is uplifted by the prayers for the students he works with and others like them across the state.
“It is incredibly encouraging to see Alabama Baptists join together in a mighty movement of prayer to seek God’s movement among collegians,” he said.
More information about Praying Across Alabama Campuses and college/BCM ministries is available at the SBOM website, www.alsbom.org.
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