Church, leaders join for luncheon, prayer
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 2, 2012 1:46 PM
Faith Free Will Baptist Church's men are once again pairing with local community and business leaders to provide support through prayer.
This will be the 21st year that the church has done a National Day of Prayer event. It will be Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. at the church.
It will include a luncheon prepared at the church, a patriotic song, a patriotic oratory by a local student, a few words from Faith's senior pastor the Rev. Dann Patrick -- and lots of prayer.
During the luncheon, men of Faith Church sit with the community and business leaders, then pray for them throughout the year, Patrick said.
"Our men pray for that person on a regular basis," Patrick said. "We don't just have prayer here at the luncheon. But we ask our folks to continue on through the year.
"I tell our men that if they see their person's name or picture in the paper, that person may need your special prayers."
If the men of the church run into their person during the year, they will remind him or her that they are still praying for him.
And although the local leaders are the focus of the luncheon, Faith's men also pray for the nation, the president and state leaders.
There are normally anywhere from 30 to 50 local leaders at the luncheon, including the mayor, county manager, law enforcement, fire and rescue personnel, businessmen and women, judges, chairmen of the Democrat and Republican parties, clerk of courts and more.
"It's short and sweet and the main emphasis is to pray and say thank you for what the leaders are doing in our community," Patrick said. "It's gone very well in the past. We get a lot of great compliments from all of the people involved.
"We based our thoughts on 1 Timothy: 2 that says we are to pray for or make intercession or supplication for kings, those in authority, and give thanks."
The event is not a political one, Patrick said. It's merely a way to express the church's appreciation to its community leaders. And it's not based on any one denomination; leaders from all faiths are invited to the event.
"It's not a revival meeting," Patrick said. "It's supporting them in prayer. And it's just as much to see two people pat each other on the back and say 'I'll be praying for you.' I don't think any of us mind that someone's praying for us."