Awakening the Universities

By Ron Boehme | April 1, 2025 |

For the past twelve years I’ve had the privilege of teaching at Faith International University. Instructing eager students globally via the wonders of online education has deepened my burden for a revival in higher education.

While governmental renewal has begun in the USA with President Trump’s DOGE initiative leading the way, and new voices are revitalizing the U.S. media realm, we still need a great revival in education (academia).

Here’s the history of the “university,” how we can pray, and what God is doing on university campuses.

I’m indebted to John Henry, a YWAM missionary serving at the University of Wisconsin, for much of the following information.

Let’s start with the historical backdrop of the modern university, current stats, and points for prayer.

A Brief History of the University

The “university” is generally regarded as an institution that originated via the biblical worldview in Medieval Europe. For hundreds of years prior to the establishment of universities, higher education took place in Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools where monks and nuns taught classes.

The early forerunners go back to the 6th century AD. Followers of Jesus knew that “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”(Colossians 2:3).

The word “university” is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which means “community of teachers and scholars.” The University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy, where teaching began around 1088 and was organized into a university in the late 12th century. It’s the world’s oldest university in continuous operation and the first to bestow higher-education degrees.

University studies in England (Oxford), Spain (Salamanca), and France (Paris) emerged soon after.

Prior to the biblically based schools of higher learning, other forms of study were known in ancient Greece, Africa, ancient Persia, ancient Rome, Byzantium, ancient China, ancient India and the Islamic world. They were not as prominent or complete as the later European universities.

These older educational forms include the University of al-Qarawiyyin, University of Ez-Zitouna and Al-Azhar University, which were founded as mosques in 857, 864 and 970 A.D. respectively. They started out as madrasas prior to the establishment of the higher quality European universities. All three reached “university status” in the mid-20th century.

Today, the top-20 ranked university cities in the world are London, Tokyo, Seoul, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, Sydney, Berlin, Zurich, Boston, Toronto, Vienna, Montreal, Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe, Singapore, Edinburgh, New York, Vancouver, Lausanne, and San Francisco (Source: ICEF Monitor).

We must pray for godly professors, administrators and a move of God’s Spirit in these cities in these bastions of education–most of them now dominated by dark spiritual strongholds. We must pray for God to visit these campuses as he did Kentucky’s Asbury University in 2023.

Students and Campuses

UNESCO estimates there are over 250 million students enrolled in universities worldwide, more than double the number of students enrolled 20 years ago. There are approximately 19 million college/university students in the U.S. with some 14 million learning in public colleges and five million students enrolled in private colleges.

We must pray diligently for these 250 million students world wide and 19 million in the U.S. who will become leaders in education, business, journalism, government and other spheres of life in the coming years. They will either lead the world into a golden age of faith and technological advance, or the greatest darkness ever seen on planet Earth (end times?)

They attend over 29,000 campuses (with global online outreach).

If you would like to “adopt” a university campus in the world in prayer, please check out the excellent National Collegiate Day of Pray web-site and sign up.

I also invite you to pray for university campuses the last Thursday of the month and join in a global movement to pray for university students on the National Collegiate Day of Prayer the fourth Thursday in February each year.

Students need our prayers due to the spiritual darkness in many institutions. In a 2023 poll of over 90,000 students on 133 college campuses in the USA, 44 percent of all students were experiencing symptoms of depression, 37 percent had anxiety, and 15 percent considered suicide, the highest rate in 15 years (source: The Healthy Minds National Data Report, 2022-2023).

Learning without Jesus is “death” (spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally).

Revival Fires

I have reported in past articles the current “baptism revival” taking place on many U.S. campuses. Unite US–a college campus evangelistic movement marked by salvations, water baptisms, and worship–reports its latest outreach at the University of West Virginia saw hundreds of students people making decisions for Christ.

“He did it again,” Unite US organizer and evangelist Tonya Prewett told CBN News. “We witnessed God move in a new way.”

The organization traces its origins to an event that kicked off at Auburn University’s Neville Arena in September 2023. Five thousand students showed up to worship Jesus and 200 were spontaneously baptized in a nearby lake. Since then, more than 70,000 students representing more than 300 universities have attended the outreaches.

Is this the beginning of a mighty move of God on university campuses–maybe the last bastion of concentrated institutional evil?

Bestselling author and founder of IF:Gathering, Jennie Allen, and pastor Jonathan Pokluda of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, have been mainstay speakers for many of the campus events.

“Salvation has come to this campus,” Pokluda remarked. “We saw the Holy Spirit move,” he said adding that students “rushed the stage” when asked to come forward to place their faith in Jesus.

Wherever Jesus is being preached, students are feeling compelled to give everything to Him.

In October of 2024, Unite US reported that members of the University of Florida‘s football, basketball, and volleyball teams were baptized–among 1000 students who gave their lives to Jesus.

“This is the spark of something in our team,” one Gator football player shared. “We needed this and I feel like our team is going to be turned for the better because The Lord is going to be in the presence of our locker room, our game strategy, everything we do because these guys have made the decision to turn to Jesus. Praise the Lord.”

Florida Gator football legends Danny Wuerffel and Coach Steve Spurrier said they are impressed by the impact that Unite US is having and invited students to attend the event. Spurrier added, “As the son of a preacher, faith and religion have always played an integral role in my life. It’s always been a rock for me when going through the hard times, as well as the good ones. The Unite US Movement has a strong message and is sure to be inspirational for the students at UF.”

Meanwhile, thousands are taking notice online.

“Seeing a greater awakening…More Lord,” remarked Evangelist Matt Brown, with ThinkE ministries. “

“Gators for God!!! Revival is here,” a person online said.

One attendee posted, “It was an amazing night! The care and attentiveness with each and every person who went forth in baptism was remarkable and moving! A powerful testimony to the presence of the Spirit of God and unity of believers!”

The ministry believes the movement will continue to gain momentum. “God has HUGE plans for this generation,” reads a Unite US post online.