During the 2018-2019 school year, Southern and the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists partnered in a special way to surround the campus with intentional prayer, culminating in 10 nights of prayer and revival called Praxis.

Beginning in the fall, Julie MacLafferty, senior theology major, worked with Pastor Dave Ferguson and Southern’s Chaplain’s Office to identify volunteer prayer warriors. She coordinated church members and Southern employees, giving each volunteer a list of 10 specific Southern students to pray for, ensuring that every university student was blanketed in prayer.

This initiative led up to Praxis, which means “practice, as distinguished from theory; the Greek word for acts.” The 10 nights of prayer were modeled after the example found in the book of Acts, with the team providing a structure for prayer over specific areas in participants’ lives.

“The overarching goal of these days of prayer was to draw the community together to pray for one another about specific burdens, praises, illness, relationship issues, etc.,” Ferguson said.

Each night, participants received a passage of scripture to study, a challenge to change something in their personal life, or a specific prayer request.

Small groups from Praxis continue to meet together once a week in various locations on Southern’s campus to keep up the spirit of the “Acts prayer,” sharing stories, testimonies, and lifting each other up in prayer.