into an the world

The ideawas tocreatea centralized location where students could pray and share prayer requests Dr Rob Jackson, Vice President for Spiritual Affairs, originally came up with theidea, but the project gathered momentum as the other campus pastors ran with it

While the Prayer Chapel remained open for students, theprayer room located near the Campus Pastor'sOfficeoffered aconvenientand central location forstudents to frequent between classes or whenever a need arose. Campus Pastor Dane Emerick assisted indeveloping the project and said, "Thelocation and the quiet,uninterrupted atmosphere,was justwhat the campus needed."

The prayer room was designed by Scott Ray oftheCampus Pastor'sOffice and Wendy Kerstetter of the Distance Learning Program. "Our desire was totake into perspective ourtheme, 'Into all theworld,'" explained Emerick One ofthe walls in the prayer room waspainted asa map ofthe world with a mustard seed pinpointing Lynchburg. Emerick explained thatthe ideawas tosignifytherippleeffectwecanhave here atLiberty and emphasize thatprayer startswith one andreaches many.

The prayer room wasopen from 8:00a.m. to10:00 p.m. There were prayer room managers whovolunteered tobe present during allopen hours and wereavailable to pray with students Junior Liz Sampson, aprayer room manager, said,"Thebiggest thing Ihave gotten from my time in the prayer room isa larger awareness oftheneed forprayer all around theworld Sometimes it'sso easy tofocuson ourselvesandjustthe people around us, but there are people everywhere thatneed so much prayer."

The prayer room was designed to bea place of solitude amidst the busyness of everyday pressures,schedules and activities. It was aplacewhere studentscouldescape theconstant bombardment ofthesenses totakesome time tobe alonewith their Father "It'sjust a neat place;" said Emerick, "Every time youpass by, youseekids in there praying.Even intothe evening you walk byandthey'repraying."