Arizona Daily Wildcat

Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Roxana Vasquez Sarah Garrett, an undeclared freshman from the Campus Crusade For Christ, prays inside the 24-hour prayer tent last week on the UA Mall.

Nine UA Christian groups are coming together for 40 days of 24-hour prayer for the campus community during February and March.

From the hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. the prayers will be held in a small tent on the UA Mall. Then, from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., the prayer will move to the Catholic Newman Center, said Isaac Yourison, a nutritional sciences senior and member of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, a group participating in the event.

The prayer began Feb. 12 and corresponds roughly with the Christian holiday of Lent. Prayer will suspend during spring break and continue afterward until Easter morning.

To maintain continuous prayer, a different Christian group is responsible for prayer on particular days. Members of the group maintain constant prayer during their day, said Theo Davis, president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.

Though a specific group is assigned each day, the tent is open to any person who wishes to pray.

The event is intended to bring together many Christian groups on campus and to create a space for the UA community to meet God and Jesus, according to event organizers.

"I guess we feel like there's a lot at this campus that really needs to be prayed for," said Andy Hall, an freshman majoring in English affiliated with the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.

"I feel like this is kind of a place of darkness and that the power of God can help. There are a lot of people who are hurting; there are a lot of people who are kind of lost."

Those praying may pray for anything they wish. There are guides, such as maps, on the walls of the tent to inspire them, as well as paper where people can write what they are praying about or their impressions.

"We're praying for our friends, for campus, and we're praying for the world that God will reveal himself and make himself known," Yourison said.

Participants in the prayer do not anticipate any negative reactions from the campus community.

"I think that even atheists or people who don't believe in God don't think that praying will hurt," Hall said.

"I think it'll be a positive response despite people's religious views."

Chris Bischof, a history junior and president of the student group Geniuses of Diversity: Atheists, Agnostics, Deists and Freethinkers, said he also thinks the event will not be negative.

"They have a right to (pray)," Bischof said. "I don't feel offended in any way; I don't think most atheists would."

The event was inspired by a similar continuous-prayer event that took place at Arizona State University last semester.

"ASU did 40 days of prayer last semester, and it ended up turning into, like, 56," Yourison said. "We felt God was calling us to do it at the U of A."

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