American students turn party school into prayer school

Christians are out to change a Florida college's reputation from a party school to a prayer school. The 32,000-student Florida State University in Tallahassee has earned dubious fame as one of the nation's wildest colleges, but Christian groups are working to change that, says a campus minister. Christians are starting prayer groups in dormitories and fraternity houses with the goal of completely covering the campus, Brent Kanyok of Campus Renewal Ministries told Religion Today.

About 10 campus ministry leaders meet weekly to pray for each other and the school, Kanyok said, and to "open our ears and hear what God has to say."  There has been a strong sense among leaders that they need to be even more dedicated to God and to seek Him more, he said. Students have established about 25 prayer groups, part of the nationwide Lighthouse of Prayer movement advocated by Mission America he said. Students who live in the same dorm or are majoring in the same field gather to pray for non-Christian students in their spheres of influence.

Twenty Christians at Degraff Hall, a multiethnic dorm for men and women, are praying for each of its 131 residents by name. The group, affiliated with various campus ministries, meets weekly. Floor leaders for every hall on the three-story dorm keep track of prayer needs and quietly minister to their fellow students. Two other dorms are organizing to do the same, Kanyok said.

Prayer is changing the atmosphere on campus, Kanyok said. Leaders sense a stronger commitment among Christian students to live out their faith and more openness among non-Christians to hear the gospel, he said. Hundreds of students meet weekly for an outdoor praise-and-worship service on campus. A group called The Haven started last year with five students meeting in a house to worship together, Kanyok said. It grew to 50 by the end of the semester and this fall as many as 300 students gather on Thursday nights at Landis Green, an open, grassy area on campus, to sing praises to God and hear testimonies of God's love, he said.

More information: http://www.campusrenewal.org/ and http://www.missionamerica.org/.

Source: Religion Today via JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL http://www.joelnews.org