National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 6

Throughout the day on Thursday, May 6, San Diego County will reverberate with prayer. In fact, our entire nation will be saturated with prayer that day, the National Day of Prayer. Last year millions across the nation at 40,000 sites prayed on this annual day of prayer set by Congress in 1952. Even more participants are expected this year, locally and nationally.

In a dozen regions of San Diego County, from morning to evening, “Prayers of the faithful will go before our heavenly Father,” said Jane Crane, co-chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force for the county.

“We are coming before the throne of mercy and grace in the name of Jesus,” said Crane, “to ask that God’s Hand would rest upon our nation and communities.”

Produced from a Christian perspective, free National Day of Prayer events are scheduled for East County, Southeast San Diego, South Bay, North County Inland, North County Coastal, Central Coastal, Clairemont, Central San Diego, North Park/Hillcrest, San Marcos, and the mountain area. Multiple churches in each area are working together to produce these events and all are welcome. A list is provided at the end of this article.

NDP Task Force organizers are also very pleased that the Hispanic Ministerial Alliance is planning an NDP event in Spanish in National City for Hispanic pastors and leaders, their spouses, and church prayer teams.

On Sunday night, May 2, the North County Inland area will kick off the week of NDP activities for our county. A group of over 20 pastors who meet together regularly to pray in the North County Inland area are planning this event. From 6 to 8 p.m., at New Hope Church, they will have an evening of praise and worship and a time of prayer for our nation, and to usher in the NDP on May 6.

In the North County Coastal region, a noon prayer event will take place at Carlsbad City Hall. Pastor Roger Moyer of Carlsbad Calvary Chapel, who is facilitating this event along with other pastors in the area, has been involved with National Day of Prayer events for 10 years. More than 20 churches are now involved. “Since last year’s NDP event,” he said, “the pastors in our area have chosen to meet weekly to pray together. We look forward to producing another NDP event together this year.” Prayer will also take place at 6:30 p.m. at the beach in Carlsbad at Warm Water Jetties, across the street from the power plant.

The Central San Diego region will have a marathon of prayer, with a 12-hour event from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at College Center Covenant Church in San Diego, with different churches overseeing each hour of prayer.

A group of North Park pastors who have recently begun praying together are co-producing an NDP event at North Park Baptist Church from noon to 1 p.m. Hillcrest pastors have also been invited to participate in producing that event.

For the first time, Southeast San Diego will have a multi-church event for the National Day of Prayer. When asking the Lord where to have their NDP event, they felt He wanted it right where a group of 10-20 pastors prays together weekly: The Lord’s Gym on Market St. The Lord’s Gym is a large, outstanding building on Market Street (between 42nd & Morrison) that will be transformed into a dynamic place of prayer on May 6. The organizing pastors say that people should be ready to pray with power when they gather from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. They also know how to run a classy event, as refreshments will be served!

“We are excited about this opportunity to be part of our entire nation’s voice,” says Pastor Archie Robinson, who along with a large group of pastors is co-producing this event. “We are coming together at The Lord’s Gym to seek healing in our nation and His blessings on all of us. Everyone who wants these things for our community and our nation is very welcome.” Pastor Robinson also facilitated pastoral prayer for the Billy Graham Mission in Southeast San Diego.

The Central Coastal pastors will produce an event at noon for one hour at Clairemont Emmanuel Baptist Church. They chose this church for its convenience for the noon hour, and all are welcome. Pastor Mark Slomka said that a group of 12-15 pastors who pray together weekly in this area decided unanimously to do an NDP event together when the idea was proposed to them. This group of pastors has been praying together weekly since the Billy Graham Mission.

Later that evening, another NDP event will take place in Clairemont in association with a group of pastors from the Clairemont area, a number of whom meet together regularly to pray. They will gather from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 6 at North Clairemont United Methodist Church. Pastor Jim Hill, a veteran NDP organizer, says the evening will consist of prayer, along with a time of praise and worship.

In East County, two mega-churches, Journey Community Church and Foothills Christian Fellowship, have joined together to invite other churches in their area to an NDP East County gathering. This event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. at Journey. Numerous pastors and prayer leaders will participate in this service, but again the focus will be on prayer and not people. Approximately 35 pastors who meet quarterly for prayer luncheons are being invited to be part of this event.

Heading south, San Diego Calvary Chapel will host the South Bay gathering. They have planned an evening event from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring worship and an outstanding visual presentation of prayer topics and scriptures. All South Bay churches are invited to join them.

In San Marcos, where pastors and their churches have gathered together for years for the National Day of Prayer, they will meet again this year at the San Marcos Civic Center. Their NDP event will begin at 7 p.m. and one of the facilitators, Pastor Sam Brumit, says they expect as many as a dozen churches to be involved. Lastly, the Mountain Empire area will be hosted for prayer at Guatay Christian Fellowship on May 6 from 7 to 8 p.m. All Mountain Empire churches are encouraged to participate.

The National Day of Prayer is an annual event set for the first Thursday in May as enacted into law by Congress in 1952, and any faith is welcome to organize an event for it. “National Day of Prayer Task Force-San Diego County” exists to facilitate the Christian expression locally. It is affiliated with the National Day of Prayer Task Force nationally that has an esteemed leadership team (see www.nationaldayofprayer.org) and is co-chaired for San Diego County by Jane and Chris Crane.

This is their fourth year serving as NDP Task Force Coordinators for San Diego County. The countywide NDP event they produced on Harbor Drive in 2002 made national news for its size and energy, and thousands participated. The NDP Task Force for San Diego County has a local Advisory Board of highly respected pastors and civic leaders from across the county, which can be viewed at www.ndpsandiego.org.

To print flyers and get driving directions for each of these free regional events, and to see a listing of individual churches that will also be open on the National Day of Prayer in San Diego County, please visit www.ndpsandiego.org, or call 858-756-7282.