By: Belle Kelly
Caden Rogers, junior, has used his Student Government Association (SGA) position as chaplain to create a fresh way to incorporate God into Samford by reaching many areas of campus and bringing them together.
Far before running for SGA chaplain, Rogers has always chased his passion. He serves with Campus Outreach, participates in Bible studies, is part of discipleship groups and serves with his church, Redeemer Community Church. He says God prepared him for his office by aligning his passion with the chaplain’s role.
“I’m passionate about seeing other people grow in their knowledge of who Jesus is and grow in their knowledge of what it means to follow Him,” Rogers said. “Jesus is who changed my life, knowing Him is what changed my life, and I desperately want others to know Him deeper and to follow Him.”
As he began his work as chaplain, Rogers found himself spiritually burdened, seeking how God wanted to use him in his SGA position. Instead of asking God what the people of Samford wanted from the chaplain, Rogers asked what God wanted from him to enhance His Kingdom throughout Samford.
Rogers was soon drawn to Acts 2:42-47. Despite diversity, the members of the church in this excerpt come together in their faith and have all things in common, praising, serving and growing the Kingdom of God. Rogers then knew that he wanted to create a way to reach many groups across campus to bring them together under God.
With this theme in mind, Rogers sought to create an initiative to bring together “sold-out” followers of Christ — those who recognize and live with selfless ambition and pursuit of the Lord in everything they do — to collectively pray for their respective areas of campus together. Rogers sought out leaders within different areas of campus to create this group.
After meeting with a few sold-out followers, Rogers formed Prayer Around the Fountain.
From this theme, Rogers created a vision statement for Prayer Around the Fountain: “A prayer initiative for believers who see their pocket of campus as a mission field and seek to unite with like-minded believers from across campus to pray that the Gospel will be advanced in every corner of Samford University.”
With an emphasis on bringing glory to the Lord and not to themselves, members of Prayer Around the Fountain meet once a month on Brewer Plaza to share amongst themselves and talk through both how God is moving in their pockets of campus and the specific needs for prayer within their areas. Prayer Around the Fountain is composed of organization presidents, chaplains and other sold-out followers of Christ who seek to help their area of campus grow in faith.
“Prayer Around the Fountain was started based on the Biblical call to unity amongst all believers, that we are not defined by the fraternity we are in or the sport we are part of, but we are defined by Christ and our mission to pursue sharing the Gospel,” Rogers said. “It has been so incredible to see the Lord’s faithfulness from that initial burden to the reality of that group of people meeting once a month and being so committed to prayer.”
Brayden Broome is a sold-out follower of Christ who is graduating this semester. Broome represents the baseball team at Prayer Around the Fountain. He intends to impact future students through prayer over different areas of campus.
“I believe it is important for us as a student body to come together to get to know each other in a more deep and meaningful way to find ways to better serve each other,” Broome said. “I want to leave Samford helping the ones coming after me to keep this place as special as it was for me.”
For Elena Ebensberger, another sold-out follower of Christ, Prayer Around the Fountain is an encouragement.
“Prayer Around the Fountain has been such a sweet opportunity to cover Samford in prayer. Getting to sit with other believers and talk about how we see the Lord moving on campus is so encouraging and reminds me that there is not a corner of campus that is not held by the Lord,” Ebensberger said.
Rogers invites students who would like to join in prayer on March 31 from 6:45 to 7:45 a.m. at Brewer Plaza at the SGA-hosted event, Pray for Samford. Details can be found in the graphic below.
