Today, the university setting is the primary place where our generation is discipled and obtains values for the rest of life.  Together, a group of students from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and some of us from the Kansas City Boiler Room stood in the heart of America, in Kansas City, and with one voice we asked God to make UMKC and these institutions of higher learning His again, places that raise up followers of Jesus for every sphere of society.  Over the last months, we have been pleasantly surprised by rain and thunderstorms that seem to follow our rhythms of prayer, interrupting the stifling heat, reminding us again that God is in the storm and hears our prayers.   

After the miles of practicals and all the last minute rushing around the UMKC Kangaroo's successfully launched the first week of 24-7 Prayer for our nation's universities.  This July, out of a small gathering of young college students in San Diego, a God-initiated idea for a Year of Partnered Prayer (YOPP) emerged – a year of unbroken, 24-7 prayer on the campuses of America, during 2006-2007.  Early Monday morning, our 15 x 15 prayer tent went up in the center of campus – and the first day of school was primed for a new beginning.  Students flooded by, curious as to what this crazy group of students were doing.  We gave out free food, a must for any and every college function.  We consecrated the week to the Lord, a new faith stirring in those of us who have pioneered on this campus for the past 4 years. 

Early on in the week a Middle Eastern student came into the prayer tent, tears filled his eyes, and he freely confessed his need for God, the brokenness and destruction that he could no longer escape. He gave his life to Jesus.

It was very common to have students and staff from every walk of life wander in the prayer tent, full of curiosity, questioning why we would be praying 24-7 for the first week of school. It was such a pivotal moment for the outworking of the rest of the week.   

Each night we gathered together corporately, and there was a sense of family, of the body of Christ really taking shape on our campus.  There were points of plodding, of wondering if these prayers really had the power to bring transformation, and there were times of assurance, of boldness before the throne of God.  At the end of the week, our rag tag crew gathered on a Friday night – the band set up on the steps overlooking the quad.  We worshiped freely and wholeheartedly for 2 hours.  We were really struck be the freedom of it, of openly declaring in the center of a campus that exalts humanism, that in fact there is hope, that Jesus is Lord, and that the cross is the redeemed “tree of life”.   

We closed our week of prayer in worship, about sixty students gathered to declare the supremacy of the cross of Jesus Christ.  We were overwhelmed at the freedom we had to make such a bold proclamation.  The piercing words of Isaiah 53 were read, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”  We were profoundly brought back to our reason for knowing true life and joy.  Those of us who were not students prayed for those who were…it was a sweet time, tears filling the eyes of young people who want to lay down their lives for Jesus on their campus.  The final culmination to it all was the highlight…as we prepared to pass the baton to the next university, we talked of the great cloud of witnesses [Hebrews 12:1], the idea that those who’ve gone before us beckon us to run forward with our part of the story, in our time…  In a similar way, we respond to God and those who will take the next watch on their campus with a similar cry.  It only made sense for the cry to express itself in the form of a YOPP (thank you, Dr. Seuss!!), like in the book Horton Hears a Who.  In the middle of our campus, at 9:00 pm on a Friday night, dozens of young people raised their voices.  An all consuming “YOPP!” filled the air, resounding through the campus for a few minutes.  The few drops of rain that began to fall as we closed turned into an overpowering storm. Thunder boomed in response to our collective cry, lightning lit up the sky, and the whisper in our spirits said, “God is with us”.  Soon we were drenched, filled with joy and awe, with a clear sense of God's purposes for the University of Missouri, Kansas City and for the many universities in our nation.