Pastors focus on families, youth during National Day of Prayer
May 5—It was a day to exalt the Lord and find healing and hope for all during Thursday's National Day of Prayer, and Pulaski Countians did their best to make their prayer heard.
Pastors and church groups from all over the county gathered at the Judicial Center Plaza to participate in the Day of Prayer, with several local pastors offering words of praise on subjects from education to revival.
The event is hosted each year by Pastors for Transformation. This year, the prayers were led off by words of thanks for two recent developments in government.
As Mark Harrell, pastor for Victory Christian Fellowship Church, told the gathered crowd that he was joyful not only for the "valiant efforts" of State Representative Shane Baker for sponsoring the Church is Essential bill — which was made law recently when signed by the governor — but he was also thankful upon hearing the news which was leaked out from the U.S. Supreme Court this week that the court intended to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case ruling that oversaw on a federal level allowing abortions, overturning abortion laws in several states.
"Roe v. Wade started a trail of systematically destroying the principals and values that our country was founded upon," Harrell stated.
Baker, himself a speaker and leader of prayer at the event, said there was a lot of speculation as to why the information was leaked to begin with, "but the speculation is that it's to put that pressure on those who support overturning Roe v. Wade, to perhaps intimidate those people and to make sure this never happens."
Baker told the crowd that churches should unite and pray to prevent that pressure from stopping the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Alan Blackwell then led a prayer for world events, saying that while they are seeing turmoil in the world today, he knows God is a God of peace, hope, love and unity.
"Let us shine that light of hope across this nation and across this world," Blackwell prayed "... Father, we ultimately see a world that is in great division everywhere we look, but Father we know you are not a God of division but a God of Unity."
The next prayer was presented by Scotty Nix, who asked all governmental office holders, candidates for office, first responders and those who have served or are serving in the military, to step forward so the crowd could pray for them.
The members of the crowd were then invited to step close to that group and lay hands on them.
"Whatever it is they are doing, they are doing the work for our county, doing the work for our country, and we are, not just here, but we are concerned about our government positions all over our world," Nix said.
Pastor Jamie Taylor led a prayer for families, asking God to watch over and protect all families.
"We know that if Satan, if he can destroy the family, if he can infiltrate the family, God, he can do great damage to all of our society," he said.
Donald Ashley prayed for churches, saying that he thinks churches are one of the most vital things in the world today.
Ashley also thanked God for the responsibility he's given the church. "Help us to look at that responsibility, Father, and take it seriously, Lord, that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun," he said.
Ryan Hensley offered a prayer for the education system and for students of all ages, from elementary school to those in college or vocational school. For those who are in high school, Hensley prayed that they would find a love for God on a personal level.
"When life at this age can be hard, we know that, I pray that this generation of youth will be the ones who will make a stand boldly for your name, Father," he said.
Greg Wells then prayed for revival. "Revival doesn't start in a group. It starts in a heart. God, today I pray that my heart will be the place you start with. I pray that every heart that stands in front of me today would be a heart that seeks you and seeks revival in their life," he said.
