Twelve years ago, when Ben Patterson wrote this article from the thick of pastoral work, he struck a chord with our readers, who ranked it as one of LEADERSHIP'S best. Now that his ministry has shifted to the rarefied atmosphere of a college campus, we wondered whether Ben would still be as passionate about prayer. His answer, in a word, was yes--only more so. "I feel more deeply about prayer than I ever have," he says. "I've become increasingly jaded about programs and institutional exertions. The last decade has only served to convince me more than ever: prayer must be central to what we do."

Great baseball catcher Yogi Berra played a game in which the score was tied with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The batter from the opposing team stepped into the batting box and made the sign of the cross on home plate with his bat. Berra was a Catholic, too, but he wiped off the plate with his glove and said to the pious batter, "Why don't we let God just watch this game?"

That is good ...