Liberty Will Send Over 2,000 Students to Prayer March in Washington D.C.

Acting President Jerry Prevo announced at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that Liberty plans to bring 2,200 students to Washington, D.C. Sept. 26 for the 2020 Prayer March hosted by Franklin Graham.

Prevo and Vice President of the Office of Spiritual Development David Nasser, both attending the march, said they are excited to represent Liberty at the Prayer March, as thousands will gather and travel from the Lincoln Memorial to the nation’s Capitol Building, stopping to pray along the way.

“We have hit max capacity for the number of students we can bring, but I think we could get 3,000 students to come just based on the students understanding of the power of prayer,” Nasser said.

Prevo said all students attending will wear a Liberty shirt and rain jacket, weather permitting, as they march along the mall. Due to the large number of students going, Dr. Keith Anderson, executive director of the Student Health and Wellness Center, announced at the press conference that students must fill out a daily wellness check prior to attending the march, along with other health safety protocols implemented to keep students and faculty safe throughout their trip Saturday.

“We are going to identify by seat every person on the bus so we can do contact tracing if that need arise, filing students on to the bus in their assigned seat,” Anderson said. “There will be health kits provided to each participant that will include a mask, hand sanitizer and water for their walk.”

Before getting on the bus, each student must verify their completion of the wellness check, which tracks if students are at risk of spreading COVID-19, according to Anderson. Cleanliness teams from the school will come through each bus while the students march, sanitizing each seat before participants drive back to campus.

Liberty plans to provide each student free transportation and food throughout the day. Nasser said the school will also be providing their own catering services for meals and security team to supplement the police officers that will already be at the march. They hope that having each student uniformly dressed will help keep the large group of students together and represent Liberty at the march.

“We will be praying for our country and we will be praying for Liberty University as we march,” Prevo said. “It’s strictly a prayer march, and it’s not a protest or a demonstration.”

Many students signed up for the event after Franklin Graham visited the school Sept. 26, where he charged Liberty students to rise up and pray for the U.S. According to Nasser, he sees the students’ desire to participate as a result of their understanding that prayer is a necessity.

“Our campus has always been full of students who believe in the power of prayer,” Nasser said. “So when President Prevo brought the idea of bringing students to Washington, D.C. to pray at all the different monuments (7 in total) asking God for renewal for our nation, I knew our students would be interested.”

Hattie Troutman is the Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter at @hattrout.