The Persuasive Power of Prevailing Prayer

Continuing with our prayer theme leading up to the 125 Hours of Prayer, today we hear from Moody's president about the powerful prayers that brought him to Chicago. 

By Paul Nyquist, Moody Bible Institute president

I am at Moody Bible Institute today because of prayer. Not my prayers, although I can assure you I hit my knees often in the process. I am at Moody today because of the army of prayer warriors who faithfully interceded during the search process two years ago.

Having two sons as students at Moody during that time, I had a unique perspective on the proceedings. I heard often from them of the expansive prayer effort that was active on campus.  Regularly it was a vital element of the student chapels. People from all segments of Moody were involved. Folks from the Facilities Department, Food Service, faculty members, Treasury Operations, Public Safety, and the administration were all knit together in fervently asking for God’s kind leadership to lead them to the new president of Moody. I heard of teams of students who would go the president’s vacant office, and kneel in prayer for the person that God would bring to operate out of that office and lead the school. Prayer requests were posted on the search website, so that those outside the immediate Moody community could access them and join in the effort.  It was persistent, it was pervasive and it was persuasive. Often, as I visited the website during the search process, I would see again the comprehensive nature of the prayer effort. I had led churches before and I had been the president of an international mission agency. But I had never witnessed such a carefully organized, passionate, intelligent prayer ministry as I saw with the Moody search process.

God moves when His people pray. I know the theology of that statement. I lived it out as the Moody community prayed for a new president. The steps in the search were deliberate, careful and comprehensive, as would be demanded for such a critical position. As Cheryl and I navigated the process, we sometimes had doubts whether we wanted to continue exploring the position or if I was the right person to lead the school. But everyone kept praying. And praying. And praying.

In the end, that is what convinced me to humbly accept the offer when it was accepted. I did not do so because I was sure I had the skills and experience to lead such an incredible place like Moody. Far from it. I did so because I was convinced God had led the process through the prayers of His people. As we pray now for the future of the school, we do so with the same confidence and trust. As He has led us in the past, in response to our prayers, so He will lead us in the future.