So
after Christmas break, where I had an awesome experience at the Passion
Conference in Atlanta (see “The Potter at Work,” my blog from March 2012),
Chris and I once again discussed the idea of starting a House of Prayer on
campus. We wanted a place
where we could meet every day and where anyone would feel welcome, unlike a
dorm room, which can honestly be a little bit awkward if you aren't close
friends with the people living there. The
most difficult part, though, in starting a House of Prayer was finding a space
to meet. But, as one might expect, we found that the most effective
way to start a Prayer Room was with prayer. We told God that we would gladly hold the
prayer meetings if He would provide the space.
Yet we looked all over campus
and couldn’t find a room that would be available every night of the week. After mentioning the idea to one of
my Young Life friends, she suggested asking R.E. Lee Episcopal Church, which is
literally right on campus, if they would be willing to let us use a space. That week, Chris and I met with the pastor/priest/rector
(I’m still unfamiliar with Episcopalian terminology). Meeting with him was a bit intimidating, but
he was perfectly friendly and showed us some potential spaces for prayer
meetings. We ended up deciding that the
basement looked like the best option, and after talking to some other church
leaders, he gave us permission to use the space daily. I still recognize
was pretty much a miracle and am very grateful. This man
allowed us, two W&L students that he didn’t know, to use the basement of
his church EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for free.
Anyway…somewhere between October
and February, Chris and I lost the 26 people that had prayed with us that first
Tuesday morning in the library and even the others who’d prayed with us daily. By the time we actually started the Prayer
Room on February 7th, 2012, it was just the two of us. But we kept believing that, if we asked Him,
God would transform W&L. After all,
He promises that, “If my people called by my name will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chron 7:14).
So we met every night at 9:30pm for
the rest of that year in the church basement.
It was cold and kind of dirty with some creepy high-jumping crickets and
few spiders here and there, but it was awesome.
(For me at least. Chris might tell you otherwise. It’s hard to lead worship for a crowd of one.) People came in occasionally to pray with us,
but even when they didn’t, I loved to go and worship every night. It was an escape from school and homework and
hearing about the crazy social scene, and it was a place where, every day, I
could meet with God free from distractions (which is especially key when you
have a roommate!). I began to catch a
greater vision for revival at W&L and every night seemed like a thrilling
encounter with Jesus. Or at least that’s
how I remember it in retrospect. Perhaps
in the moment it was more mundane in the day to day.
Over spring break, Chris and I went
to a conference put on in WV by the International House of Prayer before going
our separate ways for break. We were both really challenged to pray even harder
upon returning to campus, but Chris was
especially touched. I still remember walking
into the Prayer Room that first night after break. The formerly plain, white walls were covered
in about 50 sheets of paper. Each page
was full of names, several columns of them, and I realized that every single W&L student’s name was handwritten on the pages. The staff too. On the whiteboard, Chris
had written his word from the Lord, “Write the names of the ones that I love on these walls.”
It was powerful. Hundreds of names. Probably over 2200 when you counted the
staff. These were the ones that God
loved. Passionately. More than I could imagine. So we stepped up our game. We prayed hard for salvation and changed
hearts. During those last four weeks of
school, more people came to the Prayer Room each day. Some even started coming regularly, and we
saw amazing answers to prayer.
For example, I still remember
praying for opportunities to share Christ with people in the dining hall. Every
time I went in for a meal, I’d ask God to show me someone to sit with. On this particularly occasion, I specifically
asked God for someone sitting alone so it’d be easier to have a deeper
conversation. When I didn’t see anyone
sitting alone, I was discouraged and gave up.
But when I walked over to sit with Brandon and Daniel, they said, “Hey,
we’re about to leave, but you should sit with our friend here. He just sat down and we don’t want to leave
him alone.” So I sat with their
friend. And he immediately asked me about
my experiences in mission work. What an
amazing opportunity. And things like
that happened every day.
But suddenly it was the end of
freshmen year. And I was off to Argentina,
which is a whole other story. You can read
all about it and mt second trip to Peru with my sister in my 2012 blogs. I spent that summer going on
crazy adventures and learning to pursue God on my own, without the support of
the Prayer Room. When I returned, I
expected our prayer meetings to be like Spring Term of my first year, exciting
and well attended. But unfortunately,
that was not the case.
To be continued…
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