Some students on the OU campus are participating in an International Fellowship of Evangelical Students’ global initiative today called “World Student Day of Prayer,” to pray and celebrate people from all over the world.

The Weitzenhoffer Room in the Oklahoma Memorial Union will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. for all students on OU’s campus to come and pray.

This event is hosted by the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at OU, which is a part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. The fellowship has student groups on campuses in more than 150 countries, according to the fellowship’s Web site.

“I love the idea of the World Day of Prayer,” said Katelyn Hardcastle, University College freshman. “We get to dedicate a day to pray for Christians and nonbelievers all over the world, and the Christians from all over the world will be praying for us too, in addition to celebrating their different cultures.”

Hardcastle said she will be praying, not only for the people in general in the different countries and regions, but also specifically for the people she knows who live in those areas.

She said she went on a church trip to Peru and Panama last summer and met some really amazing Christians during the trip.

“I think a lot of the time we, as American Christians, forget that there are Christians all over the world,” Hardcastle said. “This day is a reminder that we are not alone, that we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the planet, and that God is at work on a global scale.”

Christopher Goree, director of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at OU, said there will be prayer stations set up around the Weitzenhoffer Room.

He said these stations will be divided up into different groups from around the world with pictures, prayer requests and information about the different people groups.

“I think that anytime you honor someone’s culture and ethnicity, I think that goes a long way in building them up,” Goree said. “And I think honoring the way people worship God in their own culture is a beautiful thing.”

Goree said they planned the kickoff event for this World Day of Prayer to have an evening that is reflective of and dedicated to different cultures and ethnicities praising God.

Evan Pirtle, health and exercise science sophomore, said he is glad the different groups on campus can come together in a day of prayer.

“I think it brings unity in the Christian community,” Pirtle said. “It gives a big picture kind of thing. You can see how all the groups work together for one bigger purpose.”

Pirtle said he thinks other people will see that, too.

“People will look past different groups and denominations because, ultimately, they’re all doing this for the same reason, as a fellowship of Christians at college praying for the nonbelievers and the believers around the world,” Pirtle said.

The kickoff event for the World Student Day of Prayer took place Thursday evening in the Tarman basement of Adams Tower.

The students participated in the Nigerian praise and worship song and dance, saw a performance from and worshiped with the OU Gospel Choir, heard a Vietnamese worship song and took part in other cultural activities.

Ryan Marsh, director of the university gospel choir, said the choir will be performing and participating in the program.

“We just want to show that we can come together and sing and tell about God and his work,” Marsh said.

Marsh said the OU Gospel Choir has about 15 to 20 members, and although they hope to be more diverse as this group is open to any student, he said it is primarily black students right now.

“From what I’ve been told, this is a good program just because prayer doesn’t hurt,” Marsh said. “They’re dedicated to praying for the betterment of the world and I agree with that.”

Prayers events around the world

The “World Student Day of Prayer” began Nov. 7, 2008, when members of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in the South Pacific began praying for student ministries around the world. These prayers continued for 48 hours.

That same day, students in Spain organized an all-night prayer chain and had breakfast with food from the countries of student movements they had prayed for.

The student Christian Unions in the United Kingdom held a prayer meeting that evening. Forty people gathered to pray for the fellowship’s movements around the world and they collected money for the fellowship’s student ministries in areas of conflict.

That same day, those a part of the fellowship in Nicaragua prayed for the students in Slovakia, as students from France prayed for students in New Zealand. Students in India, South America and Africa organized 24-hour prayer chains.