Day of Prayer events in Newnan, Senoia, Grantville
By W. WINSTON SKINNERwinston@newnan.com
Thursday will be the National Day of Prayer, and events associated with the annual observance have been scheduled in Newnan, Grantville and Senoia.
The Newnan Kiwanis Club will again be sponsoring an NDOP Community Prayer Breakfast. The community is invited to the free event, which will start at 7:30 p.m. in the parish hall at First United Methodist Church in downtown Newnan.
Scheduled to offer prayers at the Kiwanis breakfast are Willie J. Johnson, pastor of Newnan’s Zion Hill Baptist Church, and Jose or Jessica Santos from Iglesia de Dios Puerta al Cielo.
Boy Scout Troop 2193 from Sharpsburg will present the colors, and Deputy State Treasurer Mitch Seabaugh will lead the pledge of allegiance.
Kerry Moore, associate youth director at First Methodist, will lead music. Newnan City Councilman George Alexander will introduce Epps.
NDOP events are set to start at noon in the downtown areas of Newnan, Grantville and Senoia.
Jonnie Porter, prayer ministry coordinator at First Baptist Church of Newnan, has helped organize the Newnan observance of NDOP for several years. This year’s gathering will be from noon-1 p.m. at the Greenville Street Park.
“The community will gather to pray for the nation, state, county and city of Newnan,” Porter said. She said “local ministers and other citizens” will be participating.
Brad Brimlow, pastor of First Baptist Church in Grantville, said the NDOP observance there will start at noon at the “flag pole in front of city hall.”
Senoia area churches will hold a prayer event at noon at the gazebo at the end of Main Street across from Senoia Coffee & Cafe. “Leaders from area churches will offer prayer,” said Nathaniel Long, pastor of Senoia United Methodist Church.
At least two Coweta churches – Senoia United Methodist and White Oak Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church – are also planning NDOP observances of their own.
Senoia Methodist will open its sanctuary for much of the day Thursday “for persons to enter for prayer,” Long said. The sanctuary will be open from 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
“Anyone who wishes to spend time in prayer may enter and pray as briefly or as long as they desire,” Long said. Senoia UMC is located at the corner of Bridge Street and Seavy Street.
White Oak Presbyterian, one of the county’s oldest and most active rural churches, is located on Gordon Road between Moreland and Senoia. Tom Shoger, pastor of the church, said White Oak is inviting “those in the community to join with us on the National Day of Prayer – to pray for our country.”
White Oak’s prayer service will be held at 7 p.m.
The Continental Congress called for “a day of publick humiliation, fasting, and prayer” in 1775. Pres. John Adams and Pres. Abraham Lincoln also set aside days for nationwide prayer during times of crisis.
In 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer – to be declared by succeeding presidents on a day of their choice. The law was amended in 1988 – permanently setting the prayer observance on the first Thursday in May.
