How northeast OKC leaders are using prayer to raise awareness of challenges their community faces

Carla Hinton, The Oklahoman
·3 min read
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Several Culbertson East Highland Neighborhood Association leaders posed for a photo with other community leaders at a recent meeting. From left, are Valerie McMurry, the Rev. Marcus Carruthers, Kimberly Mackall and Jacquelyn Parks.
Several Culbertson East Highland Neighborhood Association leaders posed for a photo with other community leaders at a recent meeting. From left, are Valerie McMurry, the Rev. Marcus Carruthers, Kimberly Mackall and Jacquelyn Parks.

To raise awareness about ongoing challenges facing northeast Oklahoma City, several leaders turned to something they knew would capture the hearts and minds of many residents: prayer.

Community leaders Valerie McMurry and Kimberly Mackall said PrayOKC is an initiative to bring together people from the community-at-large to pray about quality-of-life issues in northeast Oklahoma City, particularly those that affect the most vulnerable such as senior adults. Along those lines, the leaders held a prayer vigil at McGuire Plaza, 1316 NE 12, a housing complex for senior adults that is located in the Culbertson East Highland Neighborhood.

McMurry is director of community outreach and wellness at MetroTech and a leader in the Culbertson East Highland Neighborhood Association, while Mackall is also a leader with the Culbertson East Highland neighborhood group and a pastor at People's Church. Both said they are committed to working on safety issues and other concerns in their neighborhood as well as the surrounding area.

"We're asking for prayer because we need change," McMurry said during the prayer gathering in late 2023 at McGuire Plaza. "We need better streets, better housing, better jobs."

Mackall agreed.

"When we are in desperate situations, we need to pray. Where there is darkness, we bring the light," she said.

How PrayOKC was formed

McMurry and Mackall said a shooting at McGuire Plaza prompted them to launch PrayOKC and they were thrilled when numerous community, civic and state leaders joined them for the first prayer vigil. In November 2023, a police officer shot and killed 31-year-old Azjaynee Owens-Bey, who allegedly pointed a gun at numerous people within McGuire Plaza before firing a shot at police that had been called to the site.

Leaders who attended the prayer event included Ward 7 Oklahoma City Councilwoman Nikki Nice; the Rev. John A. Reed, president of the Concerned Clergy for Spiritual Renewal and longtime pastor of Fairview Baptist Church; Sen. George Young, D-Oklahoma City; Wes Lane, founder of Salt and Light Leadership Training; DesJean Jones, executive director of Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC); Lee Roland, education consultant and retired school administrator; and Denyvetta Davis, president of a coalition of northeast Oklahoma City neighborhoods.

More: A convenience store owner wants to build apartments in northeast OKC. Why are residents concerned?

Mackall said the prayer vigil was spurred by the untimely death of Owens-Bey. Having said that, she said the neighborhood leaders appreciate the assistance and support of local police officers in the neighborhood. The neighborhood leader said the focus is not to point fingers but to partner with agencies and organizations like the Oklahoma City Housing Authority, which operates McGuire Plaza, to find solutions to challenges and concerns.

But she said as Christians, she and McMurry knew their initial focus needed to be a call to prayer.

"We just believe that in order to do this work, that it starts with prayer," Mackall said.

"The overarching theme of the prayers was that there are broken systems in northeast Oklahoma City that require our attention and they need to be fixed. That's why we had those people from different areas praying."

For more information about PrayOKC, email cehrising@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Northeast OKC leaders raise awareness through prayer organization