Some campus Christian groups are reaching out to the community and the world through what they see as their most powerful tool.
Prayer.
Groups such as Campus Crusade for Christ and the Collegiate Christian Fellowship are working with international missionary organization Operation Mobilization to put on 48 hours of prayer from Tuesday until tonight.
Prayer will take place in EMU Century Room C. The organizers have the room reserved from 8 p.m. Tuesday until 11 p.m. tonight.
The entrance to the room is covered with a dark crimson sheet, with a message on a table next to the door asking for silence within. The room itself is split in half by another sheet hung from the ceiling.
To the right is a bowl of broken ceramic pieces, representing the broken hearts of humanity, said Andrea Sandau, CCC staff and one of the main organizers of the event.
First, participants take a piece of ceramic. Next they kneel in front of a mural of Jesus on the cross. They drop the broken ceramic pieces in a bowl of water, representing the healing of the brokenhearted by Jesus.
Participants then walk around the sheet to the left side of the room, where a map of the world sits over a table with pens and note cards. Sandau said people are encouraged to write down a prayer for the world and stick it on the board so that it will be filled with prayers by the end of the event.
Though the prayer room has these areas set up, people are free to pray anyway they see fit, Sandau said. This is also a place for people of any faith to pray for the world as well, as long as they don’t praise other gods.
Organizers see the prayer journeys as a way for people to pray for others and to find direction for themselves.
“This a way of getting in touch with the Lord and where the Lord is calling them,” Sandau said.
Danny Farmer, CCC student leader, said he hopes that with the trouble in the world, such as the war in Iraq, people will pray on a broader scale than for just themselves. Still, the most important part is just to pray, he said.
“I just hope that people pray as they feel led to,” Farmer said. “Hopefully God will speak to someone.”
The idea for the event started with Operation Mobilization member Heidi Alajoki, a former University exchange student from Finland. When she heard her group would be heading through the Northwest, she called CCC Ministry Director Mike Alverts to set up the event.
“I really want to see students loving God and living lives that make a difference,” Alajoki said. “I hope other students find hope for their lives through Christ.”
The event began with a kick-off meeting Tuesday night in the EMU Fir Room. The audience of more than 30 people sang along to songs and heard a speech by Justin Speerstra, a missionary living in North Africa who grew up in Portland.
Speerstra gave an impassioned speech, thrusting his hands into the air and banging his Bible on a table. But he also kept it light, by including humor and offering a disclaimer at the beginning.
“It’s easy to come up here and throw you into a guilt trip,” Speerstra said. “That’s not what this is about.”
Speerstra gave questions for audience members to think about during prayer to evaluate the choices in their lives.
“There’s no better way to evaluate what you’re doing than prayer,” Speerstra said.
After the meeting, attendees could sign up for a one-hour slot to pray in the room.
Those interested can contact CCC staff member Brett Butcher at [email protected]. Butcher said the slots are just a way to make sure there is always someone in the room; they don’t keep others from joining in.
“Just because a slot is filled doesn’t mean someone else can’t pray, too,” Butcher said. Butcher has high hopes for the event.
“We believe prayer is powerful,” Butcher said, “and God works when people choose to pray.”