Prayer Events Connect Baylor, Waco Communities

The City of Waco has been home to Baylor University since 1886. The two have persevered and grown alongside one another through wars, economic downturns and incredible prosperity. Baylor and Waco partner regularly on a range of programs and activities, and one unique event is the annual Community Prayer Breakfast. The breakfast, which on occasion is held as a luncheon, is an opportunity to start each semester in prayer with pastors, school officials, and community leaders for the city, local colleges and universities, and area students of all ages.

Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., began the Community Prayer Breakfast in 2018, one year into her tenure as the University’s 15th president. Under the guidance of the Office of Spiritual Life, the events continue to bring together members of the Baylor campus and Waco communities to pray, deepen connections and foster new relationships. Pastors and church leaders from a range of faiths and Christian traditions are warmly welcomed.

“The Community Prayer Breakfast reminds us of our shared Christian mission and the inter-dependence of the University and community,” says Charley Ramsey, Ph.D., dean of spiritual life and university chaplain at Baylor. “Simply stated, we begin the year in prayer recognizing our dependence upon the Lord and expressing our gratitude for His manifold blessings. As a participant, it is such a joy and source of encouragement to look across the room and see pastors, school leaders and government officials gathering in fellowship and bowing our heads in prayer.”

As the events have grown, more and more members of the campus and community have attended and participated, including the mayors of both Waco and Woodway and the President of McLennan Community College. Baylor students have prayed for one another and for their peers at MCC and Texas State Technical College, which also are in McLennan County – where Baylor is located. Local superintendents have joined as well, interceding for K-12 students and teachers.

The spring prayer gathering continues to engage local pastors and community leaders, but in recent years the focus has shifted to the Lenten and Easter season, serving as a precursor to FM72. The three-day prayer vigil at the heart of the Baylor campus on Fountain Mall began in 2019 and has become a staple on the campus and community calendar.

“At the end of the day, what matters most to the Baylor Family is not academic accolades, but our success in preparing students to lead and serve communities in need, sharing the gospel and glorifying God,” Livingstone has said. “I am overjoyed to see our students boldly stepping out to encourage this generation of men and women to know the transformative power of the gospel.”