Students come together for 150 hours of prayer

UW-Whitewater Christian organizations banded together during the week of Feb. 21 for 150 hours of prayer.
        The 150 hours of prayer began at midnight Feb. 21 and lasted until 6 a.m. on Saturday.
        Campus Catalyst for Campus America Elizabeth Bledsoe said she along with others came up with the idea at a Christian conference in Kansas City, Mo., earlier this year.
        During the week, a prayer room was available to students in the University Center from 8 a.m. to midnight and a prayer room was available at First United Methodist Church in Whitewater from midnight to 8 a.m. 
        Bledsoe said that this is the first time she remembers all campus Christian organizations coming together and the first time there has been a prayer room on campus.
        Bledsoe said that the hope for this event was to encourage students to pray for their peers and their campus.
        “The ultimate purpose is for a student awakening,” Bledsoe said.  “We just said pray for our campus … a lot of this is about how this campus really needs to see god.”
        Prayer rooms offered students a place to pray however they like.  Bledsoe said some students chose to sit silently while others chose to turn up the music and dance.
        “Everybody worships and everybody prays differently,” Bledsoe said.  “They’re just allowed to do whatever ... really, anything within reason.”
        Students could also write a letter to God as well as list the names of students they feel “don’t know Christ.”
        “When I spoke on Monday I told people ‘write down people’s names,’” Bledsoe said.
        At Friday night’s event “Nightwatch!,” students prayed for each of the individual students that had been listed throughout the year.  The event also offered live music and prayers of all kinds.
        Bledsoe said the original plan was to have a full week of prayer however they chose to end the week of prayer at 6 a.m. on Saturday with the end of Friday’s event.
        “We wanted that to be the culmination, we wanted that to end this thing, so we ended it at 6 a.m.,” Bledsoe said.  “We didn’t even realize it was 150 hours until last Thursday.”
        Bledsoe, along with University Ministry coordinator for United Methodist, are in the process of planning another 150 hours of prayer event for April 19-23.
        Bledsoe said she, as well as others, have felt very accepted throughout the event and have faced no opposition.
        “I have not heard any bad talk about the prayer room,” Bledsoe said.  “Nobody has come to protest us and it’s not like we’re not known … The amount of students that have come out and taken a leap in their faith … I think it’s really awesome.”

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2 comments

James

Fri Mar 5 2010 02:28

So awesome. We're in the midst of some prayer on campus here at UW-Madison, and I'm so thrilled to see Jesus moving elsewhere. May His love be known by all!

Anonymous

Thu Mar 4 2010 13:19

This is amazing!

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