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Student praying with a cross in the background.

A Prayer for the School Year

August 16, 2025

By Andre Stephens


As I head into my fourth year - my senior year – as president of Fresno Pacific University, I want to pause and pray for our community: our students, whether new or continuing; our faculty; and our staff who support the calling of our students.

Lord, thank You for this fall semester and for the new students who are moving onto campus—our traditional undergrads. I pray that their move would go smoothly and that it would be a meaningful time. I also lift up our graduate, seminary and degree-completion adult students.

Lord, for each of these students—from Bakersfield to Merced, Visalia to the main campus, to North Fresno—I pray that they would know Your love, that they would experience Your nearness to them, and that they would find joy in the work You have for them in the year ahead. I pray this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Photo of Andre Stephens

André Stephens , Ph.D.

President

Fresno Pacific University President André Stephens, Ph.D., has a passion for students and Christian higher education. As he says: “Students’ success is our success.” Since becoming president in 2022, André has reduced barriers for students and established community partnerships. He and First Lady Beth Stephens have three adult children and a dog named Zaxy.

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