Around forty college campuses across the country united for prayer, worship and sharing their faith, during Rez Week, March 28th through April 1st.  The aim was to “make Jesus the most talked about person on college campuses”.

“It’s one event, in many different locations, happening at the same time, of students coming together to seek God for the next Jesus Movement,” says Jeremy Story, President of Campus Renewal.

100 people, both students and others, also joined an interactive online prayer broadcast from David’s Tent in Washington, D.C. on the night of March 28th, to kick off Rez Week.

The Significance of Rez Week

Rez Week, short for Resurrection Week, began in 1995 at The University of Texas at Austin, as a way for the various campus ministries and churches to set aside differences and come together around their belief in Jesus.

“Rez Week will get our ministries together to see that we all love Jesus and want to see him glorified,” states Matt Vanderworp, senior music education major at The University of Houston.

“Every campus that starts a Rez Week is another campus impacted by the gospel,” says Kelsie Rogers, junior marketing major at The University of Texas at Austin, which has continued doing Rez Week the past twenty-two years, “The amount of changed lives will multiply through other campuses doing this event.”

Diversity and Reaching the World

The campuses that did Rez Week included those big and small, community colleges and four year universities, Christian and secular schools, from nearly every region of the U.S.  Each campus’s event varied, from single nights of prayer, to week long festivals with various activities.

“There are 33,000 people on our campus and about 1% know Christ,” Kevin Chieng, a senior studying kinesiology at San Jose State University, expresses, “When we unite around Jesus, we can reach those 33,000 together.”

Campuses who participated in Rez Week understand this idea: they unite not for the sake of the Church alone, but for a greater purpose — to reach more students who are lost or searching, who will leave the campus and become leaders of the next generation.

“With how diverse these campuses are,” Story explains, “we have the opportunity to share the gospel with the world.”

View More: http://christaelyce.pass.us/stevenandashlyeAshlye is the Public Relations manager for Campus Renewal and a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys discussions on racial reconciliation, authentic Christianity, and the parallels between evangelism and PR.  Ashlye is married to Steven, a fellow Campus Renewal staffer, with whom she loves going on adventures and doing ministry with.