Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is the latest American college to witness what appears to be a wave of Christian renewal and awakening among young people and particularly college students.
During what has become an annual prayer and worship effort called FM72, thousands of students gathered over 72 hours from Sunday, March 31, to Wednesday, April 2. At the event’s kickoff service, more than 3,000 students showed up to hear worship music and be challenged to pursue God’s heart through prayer and discipleship.
Named for the Fountain Mall on campus, this year’s FM72 event featured not only continuous prayer in the tent but nightly praise and worship. Even though Baylor has historic Baptist ties, its 15,000 undergraduate students include many from diverse backgrounds. One report said around 35 students made professions of faith and were baptized in water troughs following nightly worship services, cheered on by fellow students.
The focus of FM72 is prayer—for personal and campus-wide renewal and for a spiritual awakening in the current generation, said Charles Ramsey, director of campus ministries in Baylor’s spiritual life office.
“This is not a conference. It’s not a preaching event. This is not a stage event. At the heart of it, we want this to be a prayer event,” Ramsey told the Baylor Lariat, the student newspaper. The idea for FM72, Ramsey said, was the story of Baylor students in 1945 who gathered to pray for 72 hours for a spiritual move of God.
“There’s something about learning how to pray that’s different. There’s something about lingering in prayer,” he said. “There’s something about having this consecrated space where I’m going there with the intention—I think that intentionality’s very important—this intention to go pray. That is different and it’s very special.”
Ramsey said the prayer focus has ballooned in interest among students since FM72 began in 2019. The proof, he said, is that the 10-foot-by-10-foot prayer tent used in 2019 is now literally 100 times larger and is filled with students journaling, praying in groups and seeking God’s face.
Jeff Edwards, who along with his wife, April, is a Baylor alumnus with two children who are now at Baylor, said he is thrilled to see a renewed spiritual focus among the students and some of the leadership at the university.
“For me it’s encouraging to see Baylor support and encourage events like these that allow students to worship together and proclaim the Gospel and then see students’ lives transformed, despite an outside culture that is pushing young people in the opposite direction.”
The increased spiritual fervor at Baylor dovetails with college revivals in the last three years at places like Asbury College in Kentucky, Ohio State University, where members of the football team preached and baptized new converts on campus last summer, and through the UniteUS gatherings on dozens of campuses across the nation.
A new report from Barna research on American adults suggests greater numbers now identify as having “made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important to them”—up 12% since 2021. The data were released April 7 in Barna’s annual “State of the Church 2025” report.
Barna’s research shows flat growth in Christianity among Baby Boomers and Generation X, but surprising growth among Generation Z—which are those born between 1997 and 2012.
“Undeniably, there is renewed interest in Jesus,” said David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna. “Many people have predicted the growing irrelevance of Christianity; however, this data shows that spiritual trends have a dynamism and can, indeed, change. This is the clearest trend we’ve seen in more than a decade pointing to spiritual renewal—and it’s the first time Barna has recorded such spiritual interest being led by younger generations.”
Baylor’s Ramsey is quick to note that such spiritual renewal doesn’t occur without fervent prayer.
“Prayer is powerful,” Ramsey said on a social media post. “Things happen when we pray.”
Screenshot: FM72 via Instagram