Local leaders, community gather for Day of Prayer

ALBANY — Local and national leaders joined dozens of devout community members in downtown Albany Thursday to show their faith in God and to pray for Albany and the rest of the nation in honor of the annual National Day of Prayer.

Organized by the Albany Dougherty National Prayer Committee, the Day of Prayer event is held in conjunction with the federal National Day of Prayer, which was established 65 years age so that United States citizens with strong faith can gather together with their neighbors and their leaders to seek God’s help in the world around them.

Each year ALDON volunteers organize the local event, which features speakers and prayer opportunities. This year’s event, which had the theme “Wake Up America,” saw dozens of faithful citizens gather in front of the Dougherty County Government Center on Pine Avenue.

“We’re doing this primarily to show our support of God in our community, in our state and in our nation,” said ALDON Co-chair Larry Price. “We want to acknowledge God. Coming here today, we don’t have to come, we’re volunteers, we come to show our love and our support for God and let Him know that He is important.

“Prayer is the conversation we have with God each day, and we want to acknowledge that and emphasize the power of prayer in our community and encourage people to pray for our city, our state and our nation.”

This year’s event featured three key speakers, including Dougherty County School System Superintendent David “Butch” Mosely, U.S. Congressman Sanford Bishop and Trumpet of God Ministries Senior Pastor Charlene Glover, all of whom not only shared their thoughts about faith, but also shared scripture that is important to them.

After a welcome from Price and the singing of “God Bless the City” by Trish Rivers King, Mosely took the podium as the first speaker and shared with the crowd a little about his faith.

He also shared a passage from 2 Timothy 22:26, which he said was very important to him and that informs his daily prayers for wisdom and guidance in his job and for a better tomorrow for his children and grandchildren.

“A couple of Sundays ago, I saw this scripture in 2 Timothy that applied so much to what we are about today and to our country,” said Mosely. “I don’t think that scripture is any more important in any time in our history than today. I think about the trials and tribulations and conflicts that (my grandchildren) are faced with today.

“We don’t have respect for the law enforcement that we should. Our teachers don’t have the respect of many of the children in our schools. Our military is not respected as it should be, and they’re putting their lives on the line every day just like our law enforcement, to serve us and provide us a safe nation and a safe community. So all of those things play in mind that we have got to learn more respect for those leaders who are serving. This day of prayer needs to be for our country to wake up, show more respect for our leaders, show more respect for our country, show more respect for yourselves and the way that you treat others.”

Following Mosely, Bishop welcomed the crowd and reminded them what was at the heart of the day’s activities.

“This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it,” said Bishop. “It is always good, according to the scriptures, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Bishop then referenced 2 Chronicles 7:14 and implored those gathered to humble themselves and seek God so that God would heal the country and the world, which Bishop said he was very concerned about.

“If we look around the world today across our nation, across our state, across our city, we are in trouble,” The 2nd District Congressman said. “Our nation is sick. Our world is sick. In the United States, the greatest country on the face of the earth we believe, with the best system of government we believe, we find a dysfunctional Congress unable to find a consensus to successfully do the people’s business. Law enforcement across the country are afraid of the people they are sworn to serve. People are afraid of the law enforcement to whom they look for protection. (There) is still too much poverty, too much hunger, too much joblessness, too much sickness, too much homelessness, too much hopelessness.”

Bishop said he believes people must turn to God for help in order to overcome all of the ills of the world and all of the dysfunction and evil present in their lives.

“It is obvious, even though we have a United Nations, with all of the countries involved there, they can’t do it,” Bishop said. “Even though we have a United States House and a Senate and the president, they can’t do it. The chambers of commerce, the militaries of all of the countries in this world, they can’t do it. We are in a daze. We are sleepwalking in the world and as a nation. And it is time, high time, that we wake up.

“I am so grateful that in 1952 Congress and President Truman passed a law establishing the National Day of Prayer. I’m so grateful and so thankful that the Albany Dougherty National Prayer Committee has brought us here today. For if we ever needed prayer, we need it now.”

Using Psalm 96 as a foundation, Glover followed Bishop with a rousing sermon and a powerful prayer asking for God’s love and forgiveness while also reminding the crowd of some of scripture’s promises.

“Corey Ten Boom once said, ‘There is no panic in Heaven, only plans,’” said Glover. “The psalmist wrote in Psalm 96, ‘Worship the Lord in all His holy splendor, let all the earth tremble before Him. Tell the nations the Lord reigns, the world stands firm and cannot be shaken. He will judge all people fairly.’”

Following Glover’s address, ALDON Co-chair Tom Hocutt offered a prayer of his own before encouraging the crowd to gather in small prayer circles to engage God directly.

King closed the ceremony with a musical rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer.”