February 27 was National Collegiate Day of Prayer, as historically, since 1823, the last Thursday in February has been set aside as a day for special prayer for our colleges and seminaries.
The Second Great Awakening (1790-1845) produced our most powerful student revivals and the prayer movement that sustained them. For literally half a century, America experienced genuine revival in one part of our nation or another. So powerful was the work of God in the schools of the day that ministers encouraged their people to send their children to college if they wanted to see them safe and soundly converted.
As a Church that believes in prayer and longs for the day of Revival to come to our nation, it is the Missionary Church’s intent to continue to encourage support for the Collegiate Day of Prayer in the years to come. We believe that colleges and universities desperately need the fervent prayers of God’s people, so a few of us from the Missionary Church visited Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana, to pray specifically for our school.
With only a few of us joining together at Bethel, we concentrated our prayers on the people in leadership (see picture). We were delighted and impressed with the genuine love for the students and sense of calling each leader expressed as they passionately spoke of their area of responsibility and areas for which they desired prayer.
As was true for the churches in the Great Awakening, we view student communities as the coming future of congregations, culture, and society. The early churches believed, and we agree, that the direction of churches and 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.
For this reason, we encourage you to pray with us for Bethel University throughout the year, and specifically for these leaders who are influencing the future leaders of our Churches and our nation.
- Gregg (& Tammy) Chenoweth — President
- Barb Bellefeuille — VP for Academic Services
- Shawn Holtgren — VP for Student Development
- Matt Lentsch — VP for Institutional Advancement
- Jerry White — VP for Finance and Administration
- Terry Elam — VP for Enrollment Management