Southwestern Adventist University

To start the new year off right, a student-led week of prayer took place in the Keene Seventh-day Adventist church. Students presented every aspect of the meetings, including the sermons. The speakers for the week were Buster Swoopes, Dee Barizo, Wendy Clayburn, Greg Batla, and Russell Patterson, all seniors at Southwestern Adventist University. The theme was a “Closer Walk” with Jesus, and the sermons covered a variety of ways to do just that.

Swoopes and Barizo reminded the congregation that “God is in the silence” and that “[He] is closer than you think.” Fellowship was the topic of Clayburn and Batla’s sermons. Clayburn urged the students to fall in love with Jesus while Batla spoke about how the Christian walk is strengthened through “togetherness” with others. Patterson wrapped up the week during Friday night vespers with a testimony on what God has done in his life. 

According to Dee Barizo, a senior theology major, the reason SWAU provides a week of prayer at the beginning of every semester “is to start off with the focus on God and to remind us that he dwells here.” By the end of the week, some could say that they had experienced a closer walk with their friend Jesus.