Baylor University’s FM72 Brings Students Together to Seek God for Revival: ‘Things Happen When We Pray’

There’s no doubt that a spiritual movement is taking place across college campuses. In almost every region of the country, young people are having their lives impacted by the love of Jesus Christ. This week, thousands of students at Baylor University gathered for 72 hours of continuous prayer to ask God for revival on their campus in Waco, Texas.  

Since 2019, students have gathered for FM72, or Fountain Mall 72,  under a white tent for three days to pursue “the heart of God.” 

Each year, the tent has gotten bigger, the crowds have gotten larger, but the heart has remained the same. 

“It’s a week given to prayer,” Charles Ramsey, Ph.D., associate chaplain and director for Chapel and Campus Ministries at Baylor, shared on a social media post. “Prayer is powerful. Things happen when we pray.” 

“There’s something about lingering in prayer. There’s something about having this consecrated space where I’m going there with the intention — I think that intentionality’s very important — this intention to go pray. That is different and it’s very special,” he later told the Baylor Lariat. 

This year’s event kicked off on March, 30 and concluded on April 2nd. Organizers estimate that nearly 3,000 students gathered on the initial night event to worship, pray, and hear an encouraging message from Lisa Koons, the mission and justice director of the 24-7 Prayer Movement USA.

“Your primary calling isn’t 100 things. It is one thing. And if you get that one thing right, you will have a fuller measure of resources to live out the other things more rightly,” she shared with the students.  

Students stood shoulder to shoulder under a nearly 10,000-square-foot canopy each night to also celebrate their fellow students who made decisions for Jesus Christ. 

By the end of the three-day event, 35 students gave their lives to God and many of those students took part in water baptisms.

“He transformed my life and I want to live everyday for Him,” one young woman remarked before being publicly baptized.

What is taking place at FM72 has been 75 years in the making.

According to event organizers, Baylor students prayed for 90 straight days for revival in 1945.

“The movement that God brought was felt throughout Texas, the South, and even as far as Hawaii and helped develop ministries like the Journeyman mission program and the Passion Conference,” reads their website. 

Ramsey says that the desire for revival and spiritual awakening is still present decades later and serves as the inspiration for FM72.

“The 1945 generation experienced revival, a spiritual awakening that brought a searing clarity about what is truly important,” Ramsey said. “They understood that faith was not simply a good thing, but rather it was the vital element of a good life.”

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