LOVELOCK - Churches in Pershing County are gearing up for two National Day of Prayer events that will take place in Pershing County.
On Friday, May 4, the Imlay Baptist Church and St. Cecilia Catholic Mission in Imlay will hold its fifth annual Imlay Prayer Walk. Participants will walk the perimeter of the town of Imlay, approximately 2 miles, while praying for the community and government.
On Saturday, May 5, Lovelock will celebrate the National Day of Prayer with the Prayer in the Park event. The celebration will be marked with music and prayer in the Pershing County Courthouse Park at 1 p.m.
This is the second year of involvement for organizer Pastor Chris Wenzel of the Assemblies of God New Life Fellowship Church.
"My hope in doing this event is to bring the Christian community together for a godly purpose, to humble ourselves as believers in Christ, seek God's agenda for our city and county and to build lasting relationships between Christian churches that will go beyond just a one-day event. God has given the local church the responsibility to impact their community, and it takes all believers to accomplish that," Wenzel said.
Three more local churches, Big Meadow Bible Church, Lovelock Community Church and the Imlay Baptist Church, are involved in the preparations of the event.
"This event is not an Assemblies of God event only. This is an event for all believers in Christ to participate in, in fact I am really excited to have Imlay Baptist's youth band involved with the music," Wenzel added.
So what can people attending the event expect?
"Those who participate can expect to meet some great folks, hear some great music, and participate in an important event to impact our community for the good," Wenzel exclaimed.
Topics of prayer will include national and city governments, local businesses, law enforcement and military, schools, churches and the community. There will be specific individuals leading people in the various areas of prayer; there will also be a brochure available outlining the event, Wenzel said.
"These topics of prayer have been chosen because they are areas that affect us all. For instance, we should be praying for our elected officials. And praying for them doesn't mean we necessarily agree with their political positions or policies. We do it because it's God's desire and Scripture tells us to. In the book 1Timothy 2:1-3 it tells us that it pleases God when we pray for our leaders, be it church or civil. We're praying that God would direct them through His wisdom, His direction and His sovereignty," he commented.
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance first enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman.
In 1988 President Ronald Reagan amended the law so that the National Day of Prayer would be on the first Thursday of May each year.
According to the website www.nationaldayofprayer.org, the National Day of Prayer Task Force was instrumental in securing a single designated day as the National Day of Prayer. The task force is a privately funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer. It was organized for the expressed purpose of organizing and promoting prayer observances conforming to a Judeo-Christian system of values.
Both events are registered on the National Day of Prayer website as well as the Nevada National Day of Prayer website (www.nevadandp.ning.com).
Virginia Douglas-Rommel, the Nevada coordinator for the National Day of Prayer Task Force, said there were 20 prayer events registered on the website in Nevada last year.
"I hope there will be more this year, although registration seems to be going slower this year," she said.
Douglas-Rommel said that her hopes for results of the prayer events are best summed up by a scripture found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which she quoted, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
"The validity of Biblical principles has been shown by the unprecedented liberty and prosperity that has attracted people from every continent to participate in building America. We continue to rely on Divine Providence to deliver us from evil and preserve the government of the people, by the people and for the people," she commented.
Douglas-Rommel encouraged all coordinators to share photos and comments on their events on the state website.
"Wouldn't it be wonderful to remain connected for daily prayer year round in Nevada," she commented.
Wenzel added that prayer was important because it was a primary form of communication with God.
"But, we can be mistaken to think that prayer is simply the means by which we get God to help us in whatever need we may have. It's much more than that; it's getting us in line with what God is about to do," Wenzel said.
He then quoted one of his favorite authors, Henry Blackaby, "Prayer is God's invitation to enter His throne room so He can lay His agenda over our hearts."
The National Day of Prayer is not without controversy. In 2008, a Wisconsin-based group, Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), sued to challenge the constitutionality of the government's right to establish a national day of prayer. On Oct. 3, 2008, the group filed their suit naming as defendants then President George W. Bush, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and Shirley Dobson in her capacity as chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
On March 1, 2010, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the plaintiffs had shown that they suffered concrete injury and that the lawsuit could proceed. On April 15, 2010, she ruled that the statute establishing the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional.
On April 14, 2011, a panel at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overruled Crabb's decision, stating that the president is free to make appeals to the public based on many kinds of grounds, including political and religious, and that such requests do not obligate citizens to comply and do not encroach on citizens' rights.
According to the FFRF website (www.ffrf.org), on April 30, 2012, the group announced its Facebook Rebellion against the National Day of Prayer campaign, introducing slogans such as "God fixation won't fix the nation" and "Get off your knees and get to work." According to the website the FFRF is pursuing two challenges of gubernatorial prayer proclamations at the state level, in Colorado and in Arizona. Its staff attorneys are working on requests for help in stopping mayors from sponsoring National Day of Prayer-related prayer breakfasts in their official capacities.
Douglas-Rommel rebutted, "Any faith group could organize events for the National Day of Prayer."
The National Day of Prayer website states, "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."
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