Inspire, Spring 2002

A mong the many student-led organizations at Cedarville is Prayer Force (PF). PF is an organization that encourages women to meet in small groups to pray for requests that have been submitted by students, professors, missionaries ... anyone. Jennifer Lutz Killingsworth ’98 started the group in 1997 with the help of assistant organizer Rachel Reno ’00. “We were responsible for spearheading the quarterly Kick- Offs, organizing the yearly leadership retreat and bi-weekly leadership meetings, and distributing the prayer request cards,” explained Jenny. PF started in response to a personal struggle that Jenny was facing. “At that time in my life, I didn’t see the point of so many Christians sequestered away by ourselves, not affecting the world,” she explained. “I saw PF as our way out. We could use this place where we were safe from the influences of the world to pray for those who were out in the world, such as missionaries or students at secular schools. I had just tried to transfer to the University of Florida (UF), because I felt like I was twiddling my thumbs at Christian-ville. When that didn’t work out, I saw this as a way to affect something. I felt that by praying for missionaries and my friends at UF I could be a part of what they were doing to reach other people.” It started small as Jenny first put a prayer request box outside her dorm door. “I thought it would be fun to ask 21 girls to form seven groups of three to cover each day of the week,” she recalled. “We could all put our prayer requests in and know that they would be prayed for every day. It was kind of a selfish notion, I guess. I wanted to know I was being prayed for, and I thought it would be cool to see God answer our prayers together as a group. That was the original idea.” In preparation for her plan, she invited some girls over one night to tell them her idea. Exactly 21 girls showed up. Jenny noted, “I think some of them thought I was weird, others really liked the idea. Other girls heard about it and started asking me if they could do it, too. Then so many girls started asking me about it that I realized I was going to have to organize and coordinate this a bit more than I was initially thinking.” When Jenny saw how many girls were interested in prayer and praying together, she realized that she needed to make sure everyone was on the same page. To keep things accessible and coordinated, PF placed three prayer request boxes in different areas on campus. “Women would meet at one of the locations once a week at the time they signed up for at the quarterly Kick-Off. They would pray for requests for half an hour, marking which request they stopped at so that the next group could pick up where they left off.” Soon Jenny’s vision for PF started to evolve. “That’s when I started seeing the potential for a massive prayer chain that could be enacted at a moment’s notice if we were really organized and had a good communication line,” she stated. “That was not part of my original idea, but part of the expanded vision.” PF changed on its own, and the leaders simply responded with the changes that needed to be made. “A lot of the organizational aspects were done out of necessity. It wasn’t me sitting down and thinking up this massive organization,” Jenny added. The men soon caught on and formed their own prayer group, Elijah’s Fire. “Their purpose is basically the same as the women’s Prayer Force,” explained Bob Rohm, vice president for Christian ministries. “As in any voluntary group, the group is only as effective as its student leaders. Each year the impact is a bit different.” Jenny said that PF ministered to her in many ways. She concluded, “I learned a lot about leadership (basically because I made many mistakes) and people in general. I got to see God answer prayer in big and small ways. It was exciting to me to help provide a way for women to learn about prayer together. Many missionaries wrote and thanked us for praying for them. They appreciated knowing that they were prayed for consistently.” Jennifer Lutz Killingsworth ’98 was an organizational communications major while at Cedarville. Currently, she is a full-time mother to her son, Isaac. Jenny and her husband, Trey, reside in Stuart, Florida. Inspire 21 Jennifer Lutz Killingsworth ’98 Operation: Prayer Force