TOWSON, Md. – On any given Friday night, while most college students are looking for weekend plans, a group of students from Towson University gathers at Valley Baptist Church for something different: worship, prayer and community under the banner of Gracelife, part of BCM/D’s Baptist Collegiate Ministry.
It started small – with just a pastor, a need for music and a single student voice backed by a track.
Then came Brandon Arnold. Arnold, a Towson University student, had only recently come to faith. Six months after being saved, he learned that his name had been on a prayer list at his high school an hour away in Ellicott City.
“They would make these long lists of people in the parking lots of our school,” he said. “They prayed for us by name. When I found out, it was powerful. I knew God answered those prayers because I was one of them who got saved.”
That discovery left a mark.
When Arnold arrived at Towson, he began talking with students on campus and realized many of them had questions about faith, community and God. “I just thought, what if we prayed for them too?” he said.
He started with a small list of names.
By the end of spring 2025, there were more than a hundred. Students began gathering on Friday nights, sometimes for hours, simply to pray over each name.
“We didn’t have a plan,” Arnold said. “We just knew people needed prayer. Students would show up, sometimes 30 at a time, in one room. It was messy, unorganized, but people kept coming back. They were hungry for God to move.”
As the list grew, so did the gatherings. Students began adding worship, first with a single voice and a track, then with live music as others stepped in to play and sing. Friday nights soon became a mix of prayer, music and fellowship.
Delaney McDaniel, a Towson student, was invited by friends, and said the nights changed her perspective.
“Friday nights at Valley have enhanced my sense of community,” she said. “It’s allowed me to fellowship with people my age who want to learn more about the Lord. That’s helped my faith grow, too.”
Rebecca Farris, another student, shared how the gatherings encouraged her.
“It’s amazing to be in an environment where people my age want to spend their Friday nights honoring God,” she said. “I love the worship, the prayer, even the impromptu moments where people start singing. It’s another outlet to praise God.”
Arnold said one moment in particular showed him the impact of prayer.
“We were praying for a Muslim student we had met on campus,” he said. “One night, I was in the union by myself, praying specifically for God to open a door to talk to someone about the Gospel. Minutes later, this student came up to me and asked, ‘What’s your favorite thing about the Bible?’ We talked for thirty minutes about faith, Islam and Christianity. It was like God was showing us He really does answer prayers.”
Today, Friday nights at Valley have become more than prayer meetings. Students gather to worship, eat together, play volleyball and board games, and stay late into the night talking and praying.
Arnold hopes the gatherings continue to grow, grounded in Scripture and led by students themselves. This semester, they are praying through the book of Psalms, using the words of Scripture as the foundation for every prayer.
“My hope is that Friday nights keep going,” he said. “That students keep leading. That our church members and college students come together. We’ve already seen God answer prayers. I think He’s just getting started.”
Morgan Lewis is a freelance writer and a senior at Morgan State University. This article originally appeared at BCMD.org.
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