DAY OF PRAYER
Ministers, city, Brook Hill plans second annual event
By Lori Mellinger editor@bullardnews.com

Bullard will join legions around the country on May 1 to celebrate the 57th annual National Day of Prayer.

This is the second year Bullard has participated.

It begins at 6:30 a.m. and ends about 7:30 a.m. with breakfast served in the Brook Hill auditorium.

"We were proud of last year's event, and excited to have the opportunity to do it again," said the Rev. Donnie Barron, one of the coordinators of the event.

Barron is helping organize ministers and the City of Bullard is partnering with Brook Hill on the venue, decorations and entertainment.

This year's theme is "Prayer! America's Strength and Shield" and is based on Psalm 28:7: "The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped."

More than 100 attended last year's event - Bullard's first ever.

The event, held at the Brook Hill School, will host a combination of musical tributes -religious and patriotic - as well as a "Season of Prayer," with area ministers praying for national, state and city leaders, as well school leaders, schools, families and churches.

City Manager Larry Morgan will welcome everyone to the event.

"Through the efforts of many in the community, we will come together to do what many other cities are doing - supporting National Day of Prayer with a Mayor's Prayer Breakfast," Morgan said.

"Our hope is that this event brings the already closeknit community together."

The Boy Scouts of Troup 366 will present the colors and lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The event is free to the public, Morgan said, thanks to those who sponsored the event and shouldered the costs.

To sponsor a table for this year's event, call city hall at 903-894-7223. Cost is $60 to sponsor a table.

According to the National Day of Prayer web site, the National Day of Prayer Task Force's mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

The National Day of Prayer Task Force seeks to:

! foster unity within the Christian Church;

! protect America's Constitutional Freedoms to gather, worship, pray and speak freely;

! publicize and preserve America's Christian heritage;

! encourage and emphasize prayer, regardless of current issues and positions;

! respect all people, regardless of denomination or creed;

! be wise stewards of God's resources and provision;

! glorify the Lord in word and deed;

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation.

It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.

It is a privately funded organization whose purpose it is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer.

It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families.

The Task Force represents a Judeo Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.

The National Day of Prayer Task Force was a creation of the National Prayer Committee for the expressed purpose of organizing and promoting prayer observances conforming to a Judeo- Christian system of values.

People with other theological and philosophical views are, of course, free to organize and participate in activities that are consistent with their own beliefs.

This diversity is what Congress intended when it designated the Day of Prayer, not that every faith and creed would be homogenized, but that all who sought to pray for this nation would be encouraged to do so in any way deemed appropriate.

It is that broad invitation to the American people that led, in our case, to the creation of the task force and the Judeo- Christian principles on which it is based.

If you go:

Bullard's second annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast -- in conjunction with National Day of Prayer -- will begin at 6:30 a.m. May 1 in the auditorium of The Brook Hill School. To sponsor a table for $60, call Bullard City Hall at 903-894-7223. The event is free to the public and everyone is invited to attend.