Prayer walking has become a common ministry activity and works on many college and university campuses. We teach students and mission teams how to engage in active prayer on campus and in the community. Virtual Prayer Walking allows you to invite ministry partners who may not be near your campus, to actively engage on your campus with you from a distance.
Making videos may be intimidating for you so here are a few tips:
- Do ask students for help
- Don’t make it a complex
- Do make it fun
- Don’t be too wordy (you are not preaching, you are praying)
- Do find the “hotspots” on your campus of student activity
- Don’t video only buildings
- Do video people and students moving about in the rhythm of your campus
- Don’t make it long
- Do be brief and make more videos to send more often
- Don’t buy professional video equipment
- Do use your phone video, a GoPro, or video camera you already own
- Don’t be overly scripted
- Do be real and share your heart as you invite ministry partners to pray with you
I’ve found you can spend hours editing, splicing, cutting, using voice-over, etc., and it doesn’t matter. I’m not winning any short video awards, but I do want friends to see what I see, and go where I go. I know some of our church partners have played our videos on Sunday mornings and prayed for our campuses as a congregation. 2-3 minute videos sent to partners more consistently, (every day might be a bit much!) translates into more people praying for you more often.
There are many platforms you can use, so use what works for you. I’m not sure there is a best, though I am greatly confident there will be many opinions on this.
I have prayed with friends who have posted using Facebook Live, I’ve sent videos used Vimeo, I’ve posted on YouTube. You just have to find a way to get the information from your device to those you want to prayer walk with you.
Don’t miss the opportunity to make personal contact to let friends know you are sending/posting the video so they can join you in your ministry.
I’m confident you can’t do it wrong, but the more you do it the better it will become.
*Important Note: I am not the professional or authority on VPW. This was just one of my “Big Ideas” a few years ago that has worked for me, as we live and minister so far from many of our ministry partners.
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