Liberty University panel talks revival, 'godlessness' ahead of Collegiate Day of Prayer

Students at a Virginia-based Christian university took part in a “24 hours of prayer” event as part of the Collegiate Day of Prayer.

Thursday evening, Liberty University hosted the Collegiate Day of Prayer for the first time in the event’s 200-year history, uniting campuses, churches and ministries across the nation and around the world in prayer for college students.

While the annual event is traditionally held on a college campus, this year’s Collegiate Day of Prayer was live-streamed from Liberty University's campus in Lynchburg as part of a “multi-generational day of prayer for revival and awakening on college campuses worldwide.”

This year, the Day of Prayer also coincided with Liberty’s 24-hour prayer event, where students, staff and faculty gathered in designated spaces to pray for college students in Virginia, across the nation and worldwide throughout the day.

While it concluded Thursday night, the prayer marathon began in earnest Wednesday morning at Liberty’s Convocation, where Pastor Jonathan Pokluda, UniteUs founder Tonya Prewett and Christian content creator Bryce Crawford took part in a “Next Gen Revival Prayer Panel.”

Moderated by Joshua Rutledge, Liberty’s vice president of spiritual development, the panel looked at reports of revival stirring on campuses nationwide and how Liberty students can play a role in America’s spiritual renewal.

Pokluda, a regular speaker at Liberty who also spoke at the university’s Convocation in August 2024, said it all starts with personal devotion to Christ. “We are suited up for this battle, and we are doing work, but it has to begin with our personal and our private life,” Pokluda said. “You don’t want God to use you publicly if you don’t have a relationship with Him privately.” 

Crawford, a student in Liberty’s online courses, pointed to Psalm 139 as a model for how students can pursue God in prayer — a pursuit, he said, that requires courage in an increasingly anti-Christian culture.

“We’re living in a generation where godlessness is rising,” he said. “If we are really tired of the junk, we need to stand in the face of adversity and not have fear. We need to stand in the face of the devil and say, ‘I’m not afraid of you.’”

He wrapped up the event by encouraging students to participate in the Collegiate Day of Prayer, adding, “We are in the midst of a revival right now, and I believe we are on the brink of another wave of a harvest being reaped.”

Rutledge was joined by Liberty President Dondi E. Costin and Chancellor Jonathan Falwell for the Collegiate Day of Prayer event Thursday evening. Apologist and Pastor Cliffe Knechtle also appeared on the Convocation stage to wrap up the week’s events.

The focus on prayer comes on the heels of another Liberty University initiative to get students to take a break from their digital devices as part of a 28-day challenge that runs through the end of February.