An annual day of prayer for college students is coming at a pivotal time in the spiritual lives of students throughout the nation and across Alabama.
The Collegiate Day of Prayer, which falls this year on Feb. 23, has garnered renewed attention as news reports chronicle the revival happening at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.
This year’s 200th anniversary CDOP service will be livestreamed from Asbury on Feb. 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. Central time.
On Feb. 24–25, hundreds of college students from across Alabama will gather at First Baptist Church Montgomery for Pursue, an annual missions and discipleship conference.
Ben Edfeldt, director of collegiate and student ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said he is excited to see how God will use the convergence of the CDOP, Pursue and the Asbury revival.
“I hope that our Alabama Baptist churches will join the office of collegiate and student ministries on Feb. 23 in asking God to move in an unmistakable way — calling students to repentance, inviting students to center their lives on Jesus and challenging students to leverage their lives so that all may know the glorious grace and love of God.”
One element of the CDOP is the opportunity to adopt a campus for prayer. Alabama has more than 80 campuses, with thousands more nationwide, so there are numerous opportunities for prayer partners to sign up and support the CDOP prayer effort.
Edfeldt encourages Alabama Baptists also to pray for students as they travel to Montgomery and attend Pursue.
The weekend offers fun, fellowship and challenging teaching, he said, but most importantly, “it’s an opportunity for students to get away from the stress and struggle of collegiate life and focus on the glory of God.”
This year, Pursue is challenging students to see missions as a natural result of proper discipleship, he added.
“If we’re going to love what God loves, we will love the nations and want to see all know Him,” Edfeldt said. “Our prayer, as we hope to see revival move across our nation’s universities, is that Alabama university students will see their campus as a place to share about God’s salvation through Jesus and demonstrate Jesus’ sacrificial love.
“We believe as students understand what it means to follow Jesus, it will naturally impact their campus and ultimately result in more students being mobilized to the nations.”
Like so many others, Edfeldt is prayerful that the revival happening at Asbury will spread.
“Across centuries, we have seen God use the university campus as a catalyst for revival,” he said. “I believe God strategically uses university students because they are often the most teachable and sendable generation.
“I join the students at Asbury in praying for a distinct movement of God across our universities and eventually across the nations, and I eagerly wait to see how this impacts our 300,000+ Alabama students.”
For more information on the Collegiate Day of Prayer and the livestream from Asbury, go to https://collegiatedayofprayer.org.
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