Wednesday, 05.19.1999 - 6pm-8pm; Post-Walk De-Briefing @ The Pavilion CoffeeHouse

Here are just a few guidelines for you on this journey:

• Try to park near the intersection of College St. and Sumter St.; this is where you will start and end your walk tonight.
• Please walk in groups of at least two. Keep "chatty" conversation to a minimum; this is God and you time.
• After your walk, feel free to grab a bite (if you're not fasting), but please be at the Pavilion Coffeehouse by 8pm.

As you enter the Horseshoe from Sumter St. at the intersection with College St., Lieber College will be on your right. Now housing the Office of Admissions, it once provided residence to Horseshoe faculty. The rose garden has ten varieties of roses, as well as other indigenous plants.

This is the starting point for thousands of students every year. When Jesus said, "I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest" (John 4:35b), I have a feeling He had something like this in mind as part of His definition of "fields." We do not really have anyone in our group from the USC campus, a population of almost 25,000 virtually unreached by us.

Pray for campus ministries already working; pray that this summer and in the fall, the students coming through this Admissions Office will be hungry for spiritual food and will seek truth. FCA, BSU and other campus ministries can reach a few; and some churches have excellent college programs; pray for their increases as students continue in their education. But also pray for our group, that we might be wise and sharp about intentionally bringing new seekers to our community. Pray that we will have something worth sharing, and that each student will be "ripe for harvest"!

Cross the Horseshoe here at the gates, and you'll approach the first free standing college library in the country. Built in 1840 by Robert Mills, it now houses extensive collections concentrating on South Carolina. Follow the bricks around the right of the building to the garden nestled behind. You'll find a three-tiered fountain, a defective column originally intended for the State House, and a Civil War-era cannonball.

Take this time to thank God for creation. As you see the flowers and plants and running water, know that many people before you have pondered their beauty, created to bring Glory to the Father. Give Him praises; quietly sing a hymn of worship, lifting your voice to the heavens. Then, close your eyes; smell the aromas of creation, hear the sounds of the city and feel the grass beneath your toes. Thank God for such a rich creation, a precious thing for us to tend for Him. Begin to ask Him for fresh ideas of conservation and appreciation for your world.

Next to the library, these buildings, and their mirror images across the Horseshoe, were constructed to replicate facilities at Yale. Built to house an increasing enrollment, Elliot today serves as home to Honors College students and Harper houses South Carolina College.

Take this time to pray for any students that you might specifically know. (If you do not know any, pray that God will lead a student or two into your sphere of interaction.) Pray that these students will learn and grow wise, while being able to temper worldly ideas with the ideals of Christ. Pray that they might join us in community, bringing diversity to our group!

Continue on the brick path. Like most of the buildings here, McCutchen was originally built as a residence. Currently home of the Faculty House, renovations in the 1970s revealed evidence of slave quarters on the third floor.

Racism is rampant in the Deep South. Our church and the 1J13 group want to be ministers to everyone, and that means everyone is equal and on sure footing in the Lord - "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). Pray for the spirit of "other-ism" in our culture, even in your own heart. Ask God to deal with you first over your prejudices and biases. Pray for opportunities to reach out to people different from you. And pray the CWO and 1J13 will be communities of believers and pre-believers with no hindrances or distractions.

The next building is the second oldest building on campus. It was also the first building to house female students on campus, World War I having depleted male enrollment.

Like racism, a gender bias exists in our culture, perhaps most strong in the church of today. Pray for men and women to be drawn into our group by Christ Jesus, and that we will all have opportunities to serve and worship and grow together! Pray for your own abilities and gifts. And pray for women, especially to be able to find a place in our group and church to minister and grow in their God-given talents and callings.

At the head of the Horseshoe, this was the main library until the Thomas Cooper Library was opened in 1976. This magnificent building is home for many different offerings of southern folk art, culture and history.

This is the time to thank God for the rich Christian heritage you have. Thank Him for Godly parents and grandparents, if you can. If not, thank Him for putting Christians in your path to guide you out of an ungodly lineage. Maybe your family has sought God for generations; maybe the cycle will start with you! Thank Him for providing church leaders through the ages - from Noah to David to Paul to John Wesley to Billy Graham, from Ruth to Esther to Mary to Fannie Crosby, and beyond. Our relationship with God today is richer because of the sacrifices and insights of ordinary people serving and extraordinary God!

Continue around McKissick to the right, and you'll find a path to some of the newer parts of campus. As you walk around the circle and over the walk-bridge crossing Pickens St., you'll come to the high-rise class/office complex where most of the humanities studies are housed. Stop at the square and artwork there (used to be a reflecting pool!); reflect over the past few years of your life. Just as the campus has changed over almost two hundred years, you have grown in the Lord over these past few years, too. I've seen growth and maturity in everyone; no one is perfect, but we're all growing on our own journey, our prayer walk, together. Thank God for where He's brought you from, where He has you now, and what He has in store for your future!

Head back to the Horseshoe on the same path. After passing the Observatory on your left, you'll come to Rutledge College. The first building on campus, this edifice has housed many things: the first college for fifty students, military headquarters during the Civil War, the Columbia Post Office and the House of Representatives, to name a few. It now houses the Department of Religious Studies and Rutledge Chapel.

College is a place for most young people to first try out their "wings" - to leave the safety of home and fly out into the real world. Ideas and opinions from many different backgrounds and worldviews are brought together. In our country's past, God was a fixture; now oftentimes, Christians aren't even represented on our campuses. Pray that the students here, and our city in general, will be re-awakened to the Truth of Christ. Pray that "Religious Studies" will lead to "Jesus Relationships" that can really change the world today.

This is the most elegant of the old buildings on campus, ornately constructed and re-constructed over the years. As you pause here, remember the Church, the Bride today. Inside this building, Dr. John Palms and his family live today. It's home to them tourist attraction to you and me. Too many people have this idea of the church, too. Pray that our church will be much more "home," not "architectural edifice." And pray that our "family" will be hospitable and open to all comers, welcoming the world to the Bridegroom, the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Cross to the middle of the Horseshoe for our last stop. This memorial has been a focal point of college lore for decades, from students gathering here to burn wooden steps and porches from the surrounding buildings for nighttime fires, to a visit from Pope John Paul II and the MTV Unplugged with Hootie & The Blowfish concert.

Pray for Columbia and the communities we will be ministering to. Pray for the Rosewood area, and the Hendley Homes region. Pray that the strongholds in this city will fall - holds of racism, religious spirits, and hypocrisy. Ask God for deliverance in this town, in this state. Ask Him to use you. Seek Him, lift Him up, and let Him use you to draw men to Himself!

Pause to thank God. Let yourself be overwhelmed by history and the future. God has such great plans for us; ask Him to open your mind to new possibilities in Christ, new horizons and challenges to come. Confess again any personal shortcomings, any hidden faults; seek His face fresh and new, so that as you pass through the gates on your way out, you might have a new mindset and a new direction for ministry. Then, ask for guidance in using your specific gifts, your particular talents in ministry within 1J13/CWO. Let's get ready for a ripening harvest!

Please join us at the Pavilion Coffeehouse, on State St. in Cayce across from BC High School and State Street Baptist Church. Please try to refrain from talking with anyone about the experiences you've had until we can all come together. Let God use the waiting time to digest the sounds, smells, sights and thoughts of your prayer walk. We'll meet at 8pm sharp!

Thank you for participating in this exercise. My hope is that you will seek many more opportunities to just walk and pray, taking it all in, giving it all back to the Father...

peacefully, I bid you Christ - pastor rick, 1J13