Sparking Connections, Building Community: PUC’s Student Week of Prayer

For five days each quarter, PUC hosts Week of Prayer, a time when students, faculty, and staff gather for daily worship services. Spring quarter marks the annual student-led Week of Prayer in which two student speakers share their testimonies each day. With 10 speakers featured in total, all of the messages shared during Student Week of Prayer speak to the campus’ vibrant spiritual life in their own unique ways.

Biochemistry major and sophomore honors student Emma Tyner reflected, “Student Week of Prayer is such an important event. Not only are we given the opportunity to take time each day to worship, but we also get to do it surrounded by our closest friends.”

Each 50-minute meeting opened with a handful of praise songs followed by an introduction to the speaker. A wide variety of students across departments, years, and academic interests joined to lay hands on each speaker as they were prayed over before they shared their messages.

Each sermon featured a personal testimony interwoven with a discussion of a corresponding Bible character. Monday opened with Amber Sanchez in the morning and Joseph Santos in the evening, both seniors and majors in theology. On Tuesday, Carlos Piedra and Jamie Nelson shared their stories. Matt Gearing spoke on Wednesday morning and was followed by Jane Yoon later in the day. Colloquy on Thursday morning featured Keysa Miranda, and Abraham Garrido spoke that night. To close, Mario Sanchez presented the message on Friday morning and Pastor Uriel Herinirina, youth pastor at Orange Coast Church, wrapped up the week with vespers.

Despite the large number of speakers, each worship session remained distinct from the others, and the personality of each student shone during their respective sermons. Difficult topics were broached with an abundance of grace, as the PUC community came together to learn more about God’s work in the lives of students. From personal loss, to emotional trials, to medical complications, each speaker bared their soul and was met with support and prayers each day.

Malek Sheen, a senior and double major in English and Spanish noted, “Student Week of Prayer gave us a chance to see a vulnerable side of our peers. Sharing these personal trials, I think, helps us all feel less alone.”

Student Week of Prayer provided PUC with a much needed time of worship and reflection, as well as an opportunity to strengthen relationships across campus. The results were clear: students ended the week with a deep sense of spiritual fulfillment and renewed solidarity with their peers.

To learn more about student-led activities, spiritual and otherwise, visit puc.edu/life-at-puc.