Before his mother knew Wellison “Gabriel” Maia was running for Student Association president, she had a dream.
“I was asking the Lord for confirmations, if that [word] was really from Him because I didn’t want to step in something that was not from Him,” Maia said. “I asked for crazy things. I asked the Lord to give my mom a dream. She said, “I just had a dream last night that you were running to become something. God is the one calling me to do this. He’s going to help me.”
Maia and this year’s other candidate for SA president, Abhishek “Raja” Lagadapati, will have a public forum at 7 p.m. Friday in the Fenimore Room in the Hammer Center along with their vice-presidential running mates.
‘Captivated Nights’
Maia and vice-presidential candidate Abigail Sosa want to promote revival on campus with an idea that came during a chapel service where the speaker referred to Hebrews chapter 12 and “fixing our eyes on Jesus.”
“I was like ‘Lord, there’s a word for that,’” Sosa said. “It then just hit me —‘captivated.’”
Maia and Sosa want to create a recurring event known as Captivated Nights.
“It’s a revival,” said Maia, a pre-med sophomore at Oral Roberts University. “It’s pushing (students) to bring the revival and set up a fire in their hearts.”
Captivated Nights would also include bonfires, retreats and worship in the Prayer Garden.
The candidates also want “more opportunities for prayer, outreach and discipleship to be united,” said Sosa, an international business junior.“ The Lord calls us to be disciples, and in unity.”
‘We are the bridge’
Maia and Sosa have described their potential positions in SA as “intercessors” of the campus.
“There’s this saying that ‘prayer is not preparation for work, prayer is the work,’” Sosa said. “So, for us to be people of prayer, we are going to be people that pray for the campus very intentionally.”
As students themselves, they promise to take other students’ requests seriously.
“We are all living here together, and that’s the point of the position,” Maia said. “We have concerns, we have ideas, so we need to hear from other students. We are the bridge from the student body to leadership.”
All enrolled ORU students can cast votes online through Vision on April 1. The winners will take office at the start of the fall semester.
