The Office of Spiritual Development (OSD) hosts 24 Hours of Prayer events in the Worley Prayer Chapel on the last Thursday of every month from midnight to midnight as an opportunity for students to experience guided times of prayer and worship, based on a different focus for each month.
Junior Marlee Lawhon, an OSD prayer student worker, said she finds more students seeking the prayer chapel after each event.
“I think 24 Hours of Prayer awakens in people that this is a spiritual discipline I need to be doing more, because when we gather together and do it, it’s really powerful,” Lawhon said.
Liberty University offers students many opportunities for spiritual engagement through Convocation, Campus Community and Community Groups on residential halls, but the prayer chapel stands out as a place for students to set aside time to talk to God.
Alumnus Elijah Goble, who has worked in the prayer chapel for three years by serving during the prayer rhythms and 24-hour prayer, spoke on how the 24-hour prayer events have impacted the lives of his friends.
“People would sit in the presence of God and things about their lives would change, and they would have revelation of who God is, and they would respond with their life,” Goble said. “It was a beautiful thing to watch and something I only saw from the 24-hour events on campus.”
More than 1,000 students attend 24 Hours of Prayer events, which Associate Director of Prayer Kenzie Lawson said is evidence that prayer is growing as a priority in students.
“It’s given us a really good idea of what the spiritual temperature here at Liberty is, and how to meet students who are desiring that and how to give them a space to exercise that and to meet with the Lord,” Lawson said.
Outside of events held in the prayer chapel, OSD has followed a model of 24-hour prayer for several years. Lawson explained that Resident Shepherds and Community Group Leaders are responsible for covering certain times of prayer and leading times of worship on their halls.
Additionally, within the prayer chapel itself, there are 90 students who currently serve in a worship or prayer leadership position with OSD whose goal is to help students participate in continuous prayer rhythms. Lawhon said the 6 a.m.–noon timeslots on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays are quieter and more peaceful.
“Even if we have a rough outline of what is going to happen in that shift, we really get to operate out of letting the Spirit lead, and that can be really sweet in an atmosphere that is normally down-to-the-point planned production,” Lawhon said. “… I think God blesses our preparation, but also those moments that we just get to operate out of what the Spirit is telling us and be really sensitive to what’s going on in the room (that) can be really sweet.”
Lawson said as attendance grows for these prayer rhythms, more students are being led to leadership positions. This expands OSD’s personnel to cover more hours of guided prayer time, which is essential especially in preparation for the opening of the Global Prayer Room.
The Global Prayer Room will be held inside the Champion Center, which is currently under construction and expected to open next year, according to the Board of Trustees Fall Report. The Global Prayer Room will operate as a 24/7 open prayer space with guided times of prayer and worship that will be livestreamed.
According to Lawson, OSD aims to provide opportunities for students to establish a lifestyle of 24/7 prayer within their own lives, which will then extend to Liberty’s culture on campus and ultimately to the world.
Quam is a feature writer for the Liberty Champion.