Collegiate Day of Prayer Broadcast to Originate from Baylor University

Contact: Lori Fogleman, Baylor University Media & Public Relations, 254-709-5959
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WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) – Baylor University will serve as the originating site for the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast, the University announced on Thursday. The Collegiate Day of Prayer is an evening worship and prayer service focused on college-aged students, traditionally held on a university campus and live-streamed around the world.

The 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast will air at 7 p.m. CT Thursday, Feb. 29, from the Baylor campus in Waco, Texas, and will be arranged in cooperation with local churches and college ministry leaders. The Collegiate Day of Prayer organization operates as a coalition of collegiate ministries and church networks and is led by a representative steering team of these partner organizations.

“Baylor University is humbled to serve as a conduit for Christians from around the state, nation and world to connect in prayer as a part of the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer, and we look forward to showcasing the beautiful diversity of the Kingdom of God in this global moment,” said Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D. “We believe college-aged students near and far will be strengthened and encouraged during this season of prayer.”

For the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer, Baylor will leverage a combination of local and extended prayer opportunities to encourage broad prayer intercession. In addition to the evening broadcast, which will be primarily focused on Baylor students, Waco-area churches and college ministries have committed to praying together in advance of the broadcast as well.

Churches and college ministries will join “Last Thursdays,” a Collegiate Day of Prayer tradition in which believers gather on the same day each month to intercede for the nation’s college-aged students. Also, Waco-area congregations will work though the Collegiate Day of Prayer’s 40-day prayer guide, which is widely available in digital formats.

“The Collegiate Day of Prayer has a long and impactful heritage, and the University is honored to host it in 2024 for the first time as prayers are offered from Christ followers here on our campus and around the world,” said Burt Burleson, B.A. ’80, D.Min., University Chaplain and dean of Spiritual Life at Baylor.

In addition to local church and college ministry engagement, Baylor also will offer ways for members of the Baylor Family to get involved, such as organizing prayer sessions, promoting the evening broadcast and including the Collegiate Day of Prayer in the University’s longstanding Parents in Prayer program.

The Collegiate Day of Prayer builds on Baylor’s deep history on and beyond campus — one that reflects Baylor’s mission in Christian higher education and its roots in Baptist evangelism. In the spring of 1945, Baylor students gathered to pray for revival for 90 straight days. That effort proved to be the origin of a revival movement that spread throughout Texas, the South and around the world, launching a dynamic generation of professionals, pastors and missionaries.

Community prayer at Baylor most recently has included two annual Community Prayer Breakfasts hosted by President Livingstone in which Waco-area pastors and community leaders are invited to the University campus at the beginning of each semester to pray for students throughout the city, both college-aged and younger. The University also hosts FM72 each spring, a three-day prayer vigil at the center of campus on Fountain Mall that began in 2019 for students leading into the Easter season.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.