A Legacy of Prayer
As we begin a season of exhilaration surrounding our upcoming 75th anniversary celebration, we start the process of recalling treasured memories and traditions that are part of the mixture that formed the foundation of what we now know as William Jessup University.
Tese ingredients continue to form the pillars to our ‘city on a hill.’ Faith, prayer, obedience, thanksgiving and fruit-bearing remain to combine and result in the Holy Spirit’s transformation of lives for Jesus Christ.
Many would agree that one instrumental component of the Christian life is prayer. Prayer helps to build our relationship with Christ as we praise and worship His work in our lives. Prayer is the vehicle in which we humbly communicate with God, knowing He hears the prayers that often take the form of confession, praise, adoration, supplication and intercession.
“Dad made prayer a real heavy emphasis and focus in his ministry here,” President Emeritus, Bryce Jessup recalled as he thought about the founder of William Jessup University. “His heart was for prayer, that is what led him to SJBC. He was a man who would fast and pray frequently. Tere were times when I was a kid where Dad would be absent from the dinner table, sometimes three or four times a week because he would fast and pray.”
Bryce later went on to complete his master’s thesis on the topic of fasting, exploring the theological and historical basis for the Christian practice.
When William Jessup (or Brother Bill as some remember him) first began SJBC, he was known to come to campus at 5 a.m. to pray before each day. He invited students to join him, some who tried to “one up” the president, arriving at 4:30 a.m. only to find their beloved president already in his office.
At that time, with only a few supporters, praying for financial resources from individuals and churches was a necessity. William Jessup also prayed for the establishment of new churches by students and staff in addition to praying for the missionaries and would-be missionaries in training at SJBC. He prayed for students and staff, for their Christ-centered lives, their passion for the lost, for the unity of the Church and their personal growth.
In 1941 and 42, archive documents record SJBC students who were most inspired and strengthened during their one-and-a-half hours in the ‘Garden of Prayer’ on Tuesday evenings. Tey called this time a “Power-house for spiritual life and a place where comfort, strength and blessings are earnestly sought.”
Current students are privileged to attend a school with a foundation that began each day with a student body on its knees in communion and fellowship with God. Where prayers of thanksgiving and joy were offered up and where prayers for spiritual renewal, guidance and strength for the day and for the forgiveness of sins were heard.
Fast-forward nearly 75 years to Rocklin to find prayer warriors still hard at work. When Dr. Jackson took the helm as president, he established a prayer team tasked to develop a prayer room on campus to pray for Jessup, all of our community and for the churches in our area. In addition, he and his wife Pam pray daily for the university and have a prayer team that lifts them and WJU up in daily prayer. Te university’s executive team prays weekly as a group for Jessup concerns and of course campus-wide email notifications are effective at requesting prayer interventions as real-time needs develop.
6 | JESSUP MAGAZINE
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