Our National Day of Prayer Event

By: Chris Johnson

 

Thursday, May 6 was the official National Day of Prayer for the United States of America, where communities across the country united to bring our nation before our Heavenly Father in prayer. Our organization was privileged to organize an NDOP event in our little city of Fremont. If you’d like to watch for yourself, you can find our Facebook live video of the event on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanDecency/videos/2893405607613466

We were pleased to see our auditorium nearly filled with community members, burdened for the struggles of our nation and eager to lift them up to the Lord in prayer.  By way of several guests, some in-person and some virtual, we introduced the issues of preeminence in our community and nation and followed along in prayer as our speakers followed their assigned topic.

But first, we were excited to hear the students of Cornerstone Christian Academy as they quoted several Bible verses and sang a song to begin the program.  Our first speaking and praying guest was Michael Perkins, the director of American Family Studios’ most recent film, a documentary entitled “In His Image.” This movie addresses the current cultural craze surrounding the issue of “gender identity,” and Mr. Perkins passionately addressed this issue, calling Christians to lovingly uphold the standard provided by God’s Word and praying that we would have wisdom to address these issues as they continue to impact our communities.

Next was a Grand Rapids community member, Deborah Van Dyk, who shared a specific encounter with this issue where she pushed back against the Grand Rapids Public Library’s featuring a Drag Queen reading a book about a crayon being born in the wrong jacket during a fundraising event. She recounted her interaction with the library director who had stressed their supposed values of “diversity and inclusion.” Deborah responded kindly by offering to add to their diversity by appearing in a similar event with readings from the Bible about God’s plan for manhood and womanhood. She was turned down, but there remains some interaction with the library staff.

Deborah was followed, virtually, by our friend, Kamal Saleem. Kamal prayer passionately for our country and our churches, that we be given the gift of the spirit of repentance and that we would be given the boldness to confront the evil occurring in our nation.

Then, our friend and board member, Pastor Gene Walter brought a devotion from Philippians, encouraging Christians with the concept of Christ being our “garrison,” which we both retreat to and find rest and sally forth from to bring the gospel to our nation and communities.

Finally we were pleased to hear Bob Azkoul, who has been the pianist at many of our events. Although you’d never know it from looking at him, Bob will soon turn 90 years old, and we asked him to share some memories and insights from his long and fruitful life as a musician and evangelist.

We were pleased to be able to gather with community Christians in prayer for our families, churches, and nation in a God-honoring time of fellowship. If you’d like to watch for yourself, you can find our Facebook live video of the event on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanDecency/videos/2893405607613466

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