Prayer signs were posted in the windows of campus buildings to remind everyone about the Collegiate Day of Prayer.

Yesterday, just a week after the marathon chapel service that brought talk of revival to campus, Bethel joined 700 prayer groups from all 50 states in participating in the National Collegiate Day of Prayer. This day has its roots in the 1700’s and 1800’s:

By 1823 almost every major denomination and university in America had embraced the practice of a concerted day of prayer for colleges. All the universities in America at this time had been founded through the Church and therefore were expected to supply the next generation of evangelical leaders. The American churches viewed these student communities as the coming future of their congregations, culture, and society. They believed that the direction of their churches and that of the whole nation would soon follow the spiritual bent and character of America’s college students – As the students go, so goes the nation. It was this kind of farseeing perspective about students that made the American Church quick to answer the call to a national day of prayer for colleges. (Read more about the history of the Collegiate Day of Prayer.)

From 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. a time of prayer was held on campus and students, faculty, staff and the community were encouraged to participate. This was a great follow-up to the events of last week and our prayer is that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on college campuses all over the country just like we are experiencing here at Bethel!

We are still hearing stories from students about how they were affected last week and the continuing work that God is doing in their life. I had the privilege of sitting in on about ten student interviews where they shared their thoughts and experiences. I filmed the interviews on our office camcorder and have edited one of them to share here with you. (See below.)

Here are a few other updates to share with you:

  • Dennis Engbrecht, Ph.D., senior vice president, and two students were guests on The Harvest Show yesterday and shared with their audience about the outpouring on our campus. You can watch the interview here.
  • 32 faculty and staff volunteered to lead student discipleship groups, and almost 200 students signed up to participate.
  • Earlier this week we published a blog post that contains a video of Dr. Engbrecht giving a summary of what happened in the February 16 chapel. The post has many other related links, including the message from that day’s chapel speaker and links to several blogs posts where people have shared their reflections and testimonies.

Please keep our students in prayer as they are on spring break next week. We pray that the fire of revival will go with them and spread to other colleges and communities!

Here is the video testimony from Rebecca Brandt (’13):