Organizations Finalize the Details for National Day of Prayer Events

Ten-year-old Atarah McCrae says that God was testing her faith when she suddenly marched up to the altar at her church.

Atarah, then 5, passed the test when she was able to lead the congregation in a moving prayer.

Now a fourth-grader at Port Hueneme’s Bard Elementary School, Atarah regularly delivers passionate prayers before the congregation at St. Paul Baptist Church in Oxnard.

“Whatever the Lord leads me to pray for, I just pray for it,” Atarah said.

During the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, Atarah will lead an expected 400 people in prayer from noon to 1 p.m. during a presentation at the main fountain area of the Ventura County Government Center at 800 S. Victoria Ave.

“I’ll be praying for the nation and praying for marriages to stay together and praying for Jesus’ love,” Atarah said. “I’ll be praying for the whole world to rise up to the true meaning of prayer.”

It will be one of several similar events scheduled throughout the county on Thursday. At one event, a puppet will even pray with the help of a retired police officer who is also a ventriloquist.

Youth will be a central theme during the Government Center event, which is sponsored by leaders of denominations countywide. It is free and open to the public.

Betty Alverez-Ham, director of City Impact, a nonprofit organization in Oxnard that helps at-risk youths, will give the keynote speech.

“We’re concentrating on local concerns,” Fawn Parish, an organizer, said. “Because if it doesn’t work in our city, it will never work in our nation. We can’t pray for things in our nation that we’re not willing to do right here.”

Other events, such as the 25th annual National Day of Prayer Community Breakfast sponsored by the Salvation Army’s Ventura Corps, will focus on national concerns. About 300 people are expected to attend that sold-out event at the Holiday Inn. Its theme: “America, Return to God.”

Randall Terry, who is running for a congressional seat in New York’s 26th District, will be one of two featured speakers at the breakfast. In 1986, Terry founded Operation Rescue, a nationwide anti-abortion organization. He is also a founder of Project Life Crisis Pregnancy Center and the Christian Leadership Institute, among other New York organizations.

Theodore Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, will be the other featured speaker at the breakfast. The Camarillo resident presents the Teddy Awards each year in Hollywood for the top “family-friendly” films.

Bob Brooks, chief deputy at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, is slated to read from the Bible, and Ventura Mayor James Friedman is among those on the event’s guest list.

The Salvation Army’s Oxnard Corps will hold its 26th annual Mayors Prayer Breakfast at the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort, 2101 Mandalay Beach Road, in Oxnard. Doors open at 6:30 a.m. and breakfast will be served at 7, an organizer said. Tickets are $15 at the door or in advance.

Mayors from throughout the county are expected to attend. The scheduled keynote speaker is John Reed, a retired police officer in Santa Ana who now lives in Camarillo. Reed is to speak about how prayer helped him cope with his sometimes grueling police work, and will also entertain the crowd with his ventriloquist act.

Other events are planned at local churches. At Oak View Baptist Church, for example, Pastor Greg Sanders will conduct a service from noon to 1 p.m., praying for the “integrity of our national leaders.”

“They wave the Bible one moment, then ignore its rules when it comes to other areas,” Sanders said. The church is at 390 Old Ventura Ave. in Oak View.

At Ventura Baptist Church, at 5415 Ralston St., assemblies will be held throughout the day for kindergartners through eighth-graders. The emphasis will be on the importance of prayer, guidance counselor Tim LaBouf said.

That subject holds special meaning to young Atarah.

“People need to learn how to pray and teach others in the belief of prayer, because it’s a gift from God,” she said.