Power of 24/7 Prayer: Students, leaders prioritize prayer on Liberty’s campus

“Nothing of eternal significance happens apart from prayer” is one of the most well-known quotes from Liberty University founder Dr. Jerry Falwell. Today, Liberty’s Office of Spiritual Development continues to follow Dr. Falwell’s vision of prayer on the mountain by facilitating prayer across campus 24/7.

Every day at 6 a.m., the Worley Prayer Chapel opens for members of the Liberty family to come and pray in solitude or with others. The chapel is open for prayer until 10 p.m.

Liberty’s LU Shepherd office coordinates the 24/7 prayer and other special prayer events throughout the academic year. Students and hall leadership are encouraged to help each other learn and grow in their faith as they cover the university in the power of prayer.

From 8 a.m-10 p.m. on weekdays, students, primarily the Community Group Leaders (CGLs), take turns praying. At night, it shifts to the residence halls; LU Shepherd schedules the residence halls a particular time for overnight prayer during each semester, with Resident Shepherds responsible for recruiting those on the halls to pray during the overnight hours.

“We want to teach them how to pray on their hall and watch them grow throughout the four years that they’re here,” said Prayer Ministry Assistant Kara Wheeler. “It’s amazing to see their transformation from day one to when they walk across the graduation stage.”

LU Shepherd Director Brandon Milks said that creating a culture of prayer goes beyond just providing a location and time for it to take place.

“We’re trying to teach and instruct our students,” Milks said. “We can create a lot of places for people to come and experience prayer, but we’re more interested in moving beyond just providing an experience.”

Last semester, LU Shepherd launched a 9-5 prayer initiative on select days, where prayer and worship leaders gathered to initiate collective worship in the prayer chapel every half hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This semester, they organized an event to coincide with the national Collegiate Day of Prayer on Thursday. Starting on Wednesday night after Campus Community, Liberty students gathered at the prayer chapel to kick off a full 24 hours of prayer and worship. At a certain time every hour, students were led in a time of worship with music and Scripture. During the night, the crowd spilled out into the lawn in front of the prayer chapel.

“We are doing these events now to establish a culture of prayer,” Milks said. “We want to create an understanding that prayer is not just at certain times of the day or the events that we put on, but it’s truly a cornerstone of life.”

In conjunction with the 24-hour prayer event on campus, Liberty welcomed Pete Greig as Friday’s Convocation speaker. Greig is the senior pastor at Emmaus Rd Church in England and co-founder of 24-7 Prayer, an international, interdenominational prayer movement “with a vision to revive the church and rewire the culture through non-stop night and day prayer.”

Greig spoke on the importance prayer around the world and on colleges campuses.

“I am so impressed at what the spirit of the living God is doing here at Liberty University right now,” said Greig, who joined students at the prayer chapel when he arrived on campus late Thursday night. “We don’t just pray to see people saved, we get people saved so they can pray.”