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Southlake community comes together
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
A record number of people gathered at Rustin Pavilion at Southlake Town Square on Thursday to celebrate the National Day of Prayer.
The 61st annual event drew nearly 300 people, who came out to join others in praying for the community and the world.
Led by Pastor Clayton Reed of Southlake Baptist Church, the community prayed for seven areas of American life: government, military, media, churches, businesses, education and family.
Unlike previous years, the event brought together various churches.
“We had about 20 people here last year,” Reed said. “We had more involvement from the churches, and we made the conscientious effort to reach out and include every church. This was sponsored by the Mayor’s Advisory Committee, and Mayor [John] Terrell was a huge part of it. So we were able to get several churches here, and that brought out about 10 times more people.”
Terrell said he was happy to see so many people come together.
“This was a long, ongoing effort from a number of pastors,” Terrell said. “They’ve talked with me about the significant issues that impact the citizens from the faith-based community. I’m thrilled to be a part of this event. Expressing faith is good for a community.”
Prayer leaders prayed for help in a variety of places, including guidance of elected officials, the right decisions by the military and an informative and unbiased news media.
They prayed for a unifying church that is able to share the truth and reflect Christ’s character.
They also prayed for strong marriages and the return of core family values; for God’s voice to be heard in the workplace and for business leaders to have the wisdom they need to be successful.
Prayers were made for help in education, asking for guidance over administrators, staff members, teachers and students.
“Church happens behind walls,” Reed said. “This is one of those events where we move from my church to the church.”
National Day of Prayer’s roots can be traced back to 1775 when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to join in prayer as they prepared to build a nation. Later, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of fasting and prayer to help heal the country during the Civil War. In 1952, President Harry Truman signed a joint resolution of congress to establish a national day of prayer. In 1988, President Ronald Regan set the date for the annual day of prayer as the first Thursday in May.
Southlake has participated in the event for more than 10 years.
“This shows that we are a faith-based community,” Terrell said.
Terrell said he hopes the outreach will expand even more and for the event to take place more than once a year.
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