It was different, but it was a success.
Last Thursday’s National Day of Prayer observance in Crowley was without the usual large gathering at the International Rice Festival Building. Instead, it was online.
“I received many favorable comments afterward,” said Peggy Sandidge, chairperson for the event. “People appreciated the content and the overall brevity of it.”
Prompted by the governor’s stay-at-home order brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the Day of Prayer, like many such events across the country, was forced to move to a more “socially distanced” format.
“We don’t know exactly how many people participated, but I think it was well-participated in and the comments seemed to indicate that it was a good program,” Sandidge said.
Usually, representatives of aabout 15 churches take part in the program. This year’s program was pared down considerably.
After the greeting and opening prayer by Sandidge, the hymn “Amazing Grace” was led by Chad Boudreaux, worship pastor of First Baptist Church of Crowley.
Brother Barry Thompson of KAJN explained the theme of this year’s program, “Pray God’s Glory Across the Earth. AMEN.”
Father Godwin Imoru, pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church, led the prayer for government and military while Brother Barry Thompson led prayers for church, family and education.
Another hymn, “Lord Have Mercy,” was led by Broudreaux before Dr. Cullen Clark of First Baptist Church led the prayer for business and media and the closing prayer.
“We all went in and taped our ‘parts’ beforehand and we got a number of compliments on professionalism,” said Sandidge.
“There were a number of other people on our task force from many churches. It was really a joint effort.”