It is 5:45 a.m., a time when most college students are still asleep or just getting to bed, but at Healing Place Church, about 30 people are praying for the troops in Iraq.
Healing Place Church, located on 19202 Highland Road, has been holding a prayer vigil for the troops in Iraq from 5:45 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. Tuesday through Friday from March 18 until April 18, said Marc Cleary, campus ministry coordinator.
Usually pastors lead the vigils, but Tuesday Cleary lead the vigil for the first time, he said. He has been going to Healing Place for five years and has been on staff for two years.
“We need to keep them in our thoughts, not take for granted what they’re doing over there, regardless of whether you agree with the war or not,” Cleary said. “They’re over there fighting for our way of life.”
The Rev. Johnny Green has organized the Family Military Support Ministry, which is offering prayers for people who have family members in Iraq.
Cleary said plans to continue the vigil after April 18 depend on whether the United States is still at war or not.
“It just depends on what God lays on our hearts,” Cleary said.
The vigil begins with individual prayer and goes into a discussion on Psalm 91, Cleary said.
Verses 1 through 14 focus on the 18 promises God makes to his believers, he said.
“All of God’s promises are true, so we can trust him,” Cleary said.
He said he focused on Psalm 91:2, which says, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Parnell Bourgeois, a Blue Cross Blue Shield employee, said he has been going to Healing Place for a little more than a year.
“When I came to this church, I sat down and didn’t know anyone, but now, I have hundreds of friends,” Bourgeois said.
Other religious organizations on campus have been keeping troops in their prayers.
Steve Masters, director of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, said the University Chaplain’s Association will be holding a meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday at St. Alban’s Chapel across from the Parade Ground to discuss having a campuswide prayer vigil for the troops and their families and the apprehension of the serial killer.
Last Thursday, Chaney Ferguson, a BCM student leader, went to Free Speech Alley with a sign saying, “Do you know a soldier?” with little plastic soldiers, she said.
When people would approach her, she would ask them if they knew anyone who was fighting in Iraq. Those who did would write the name of the soldier down on a piece of paper and attach it to the plastic soldier, so the BCM would pray for them, Masters said.
She typed up the 150 names and brought them to the weekly prayer service, and Masters asked if anyone would commit to one soldier to pray for, for the duration of the war, she said.
The response was so overwhelming that Ferguson ran out of soldiers, she said.
The BCM continues to pray for the troops each week, Masters said.
“We just pray,” he said.