(Franklin, TN) Tonya Prewett, the founder and visionary of Unite Us says student-led prayer, fasting and campus gatherings are leading to powerful testimonies of faith, freedom and changed lives.
“God, we ask You to continue to do immeasurably more in all of us and in all the things that we're seeing on college campuses across the nation,” Tonya Prewett prayed at the beginning of her conversation with K-LOVE/Air1’s Monika Kelly. “The ripple effect that's taking place in families across the nation—we just thank You for it.”
Prewett is the founder and visionary behind Unite Us, a movement that began with prayer at Auburn University in September 2023. Nearly three years later, she says the testimonies of what God is doing among college students continue to grow.
“We are seeing unbelievable things,” Prewett told Kelly. “I think since our last conversation, the testimonies just continue to grow. We just finished visiting our 33rd event, and it was just amazing.”
Every gathering has its own story, she explained, because God works differently on each campus.
“I tell people all the time, it's like every event is special. Every event is different. And God moves in different ways on different campuses.”
Students Prepare the Way Through Prayer and Fasting
One recent gathering at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, stood out to Prewett—not only because of what happened during the event, but also because of what students did to prepare for it.
“The local student team there did a 40-day prayer and fasting leading up to the event,” Prewett said. “They were doing Jericho marches during those 40 days. I mean, I don't know how many times they walked around that arena.”
On the day of the event, students marched around the arena seven times and shouted, following the biblical account of Jericho in Joshua 6.
“And I will have to say, they took the city,” Prewett said. “We had far more students in attendance than we had anticipated. We saw students just get free from so many different things. It was really incredible.”
An Atheist Hears the Gospel and Gives Her Life to Jesus
Among the many testimonies from Appalachian State, one story especially moved Prewett.
During baptisms at the gathering, a young woman sat down in the water. Before the baptism began, someone asked her what she wanted to say.
“She said, ‘You know, all my life I've been an atheist. I've never believed in Jesus my whole life,’” Prewett recalled.
But that night, everything changed.
“She said, ‘I walked into the arena tonight, heard the gospel presentation, and I just had to give my life to Jesus.’”
Prewett described the moment as powerful, adding that similar stories are emerging from Unite Us gatherings across the country.
For her, the testimony reflects more than a successful event. It points to the personal transformation that can happen when students encounter the message of Jesus for themselves.
“But we're seeing this all over the nation on these campuses,” she said.
A Free Event and an Invitation to a City Hungry for God
The next stop for Unite Us was the University of South Alabama in Mobile. Prewett said that the gatherings are free and open to students from universities throughout the area. High school juniors and seniors are also welcome.
“It is a free event. All of our events are free and all students are welcome,” she said. “We have started seeing high school students, juniors and seniors come to our events.”
Prewett said she is looking forward to seeing how God moves in Mobile, a city she described as having a special spiritual significance.
“Mobile had (historically) been named "Bay of the Holy Spirit", and we're just trusting that the Holy Spirit is just going to move in powerful ways,” she said.
Her prayer is that God will do something beyond what the team has already experienced.
“My prayer is that God will move in ways that we haven't even encountered or experienced before,” Prewett said. “But there's a lot of hungry students, pastors and student ministries in Mobile. So it's going to be good.”
Praying for Strength, Wisdom and God's Direction
With large campus gatherings, travel and speaking engagements filling their schedules, Prewett said she and her husband, Chad, need prayer as they continue leading the ministry.
“We are doing major events on campuses all over. We're traveling a lot,” she explained. “He's speaking, I'm speaking in between these events at different conferences, and it's beautiful. We do need strength.”
But strength isn't the only request.
“And then just wisdom in all things,” she added. “We never want to be in control of this. We always want God to be in control of this and the ministry that we lead.”
Prewett asked supporters to pray that God would continue to guide them and that His presence would go before them at every gathering.
“We would just say to everyone who would pray for us, pray for wisdom and guidance, and that God would continue to lead and guide and His presence would go before us in all of these events.”
Looking Ahead to Nashville and Beyond
After Mobile, Unite Us planned to head to Nashville for its final event of the semester on November 10. Prewett said she believes the city is ready for a fresh move of God.
“I believe Nashville as well is very ripe for revival,” she said. “There's such a hunger here among all the college campuses.”
The conversation ended with gratitude, but the message was clear: Prewett believes the work is far from finished.
From students committing to 40 days of prayer and fasting to a young woman who entered an arena as an atheist and left having given her life to Jesus, the stories emerging from college campuses continue to encourage those who have been praying for this generation.
For Prewett, the focus remains on allowing God to lead, trusting Him to move and continuing to make room for students to hear the gospel.
The hope is that what God is doing in the lives of students will ultimately reach families, communities and the nation for Jesus.