24-7 Prayer USA: Campuses AstirKatie Cornick - 3 May 2011
Katie Cornick, who was an active and vital part of Campus America and is now part of the 24-7 Prayer USA team, shares her perspective on the 2010 Year of Prayer and the time leading up to it. She was a student in Georgia and later served the Georgia state coordinator before moving to Kansas City, Missouri in August 2010.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)
This is a passage we prayed often throughout the Campus America Year of Prayer in 2010. Campus America was a direct initiative of 24- Prayer and 24-7 Prayer USA where we called students to pray and intentionally seek God’s face. University students from every corner of the nation initiated seasons of prayer on their campuses, stirred by hunger to meet with God and share His love. Week after week, students pressed in to know Him. The Campus America website recorded 174 colleges who collectively prayed over 26,000 hours in 2010 alone. We also know there were many more campuses that prayed who weren’t logged.
Even before the Year of Prayer began, hunger for God was being cultivated on campuses and miraculous stories were recorded. In the spring of 2008, 14 college campuses across Georgia came together with one mind and heart, covering 52 days with prayer. The following fall, a garage in LaCrosse, Wisconsin was set aside as a holy place. What was meant to be week of prayer was extended to five weeks due to overwhelming response from students who wanted to pray. That semester over 100 students came to the Lord.
In 2009 the stories continued. Alabama was roaring strong, pressing in for breakthrough. Things started popping in South Carolina and testimonies were flooding in from North Dakota. Surely, the Lord is at work. He was up to something good.
By the time 2010 finally arrived there was a sense in that the floodgates would open. Revival would come and another Great Awakening could be birthed. We waiting and
watched.
Students cried out.
Some were still.
We paced, we jumped, we sat cross-legged in circles and huddled into His heart. Hands were lifted, folded and extended to the needy. Feet were sore from prayer walking campus. Knees worn out from patiently drawing near to our deity Daddy.
A lot of us found out in 2010 what it means to wait. We set forth with great visions and learned that some things are sown in tears before being reaped in joy. What a journey it’s been to experience the Father’s delight when a single student draws near to Him for the first time and when a professor hears His voice anew. What a profound honor to experience the first fruits of an awakening and be challenged to persevere.
It is the already-not-yet Kingdom. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
While some of us experienced glorious pockets of revival others felt the resounding sound of the prayers as they bounced off the ceiling.
So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn, and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." [Hosea 6:3]
So we press on, standing on the testimonies of His goodness, remembering His faithfulness to us. We are propelled by His promises. Across the campuses of America we continue to be motivated by our longing, confident that the words of the Lord that have gone forth over our universities will not return void.
We keep praying. We keep sowing.
Find out more about Prayer on Campus through 24-7 Prayer USA.