Summoned by Prayer

They prayed for redemption and forgiveness in Thousand Oaks, tolerance and diversity at the Ventura County Government Center and for the salvation of abortion-rights advocates and homosexuals in downtown Ventura.

In Oxnard, hundreds of people at a Salvation Army-sponsored breakfast also prayed to give thanks that no one was hurt after a chandelier dropped from a ballroom ceiling and crashed on a table at the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort.

The 46th annual National Day of Prayer was marked Thursday with overtones ranging from the ecumenical to the political as people gathered around the county in a public expression of faith.

“We pray there is not a spirit of bitterness or condemnation today, but one of love,” said Pastor Steve Larson of the Evangelical Free Church in Thousand Oaks, as he huddled in a circle with more than a dozen other church leaders, just before the Civic Arts Plaza event attended by more than 500 people. “Lord, we want to see great things happen as a result of today.”

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The tone was different, but the call to action no less fervent in Ventura, where more than 300 people heard a fiery oration by Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, a nationwide anti-abortion group.

In a room lined with literature from the Ventura County Chapter of the California ProLife Council and Terry’s books and videotapes, the Salvation Army-sponsored community breakfast at the Holiday Inn assumed the air of an evangelical meeting and political rally.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bob Brooks, running unopposed in June to succeed Sheriff Larry Carpenter, took the opportunity to lament the “killing of our unborn children primarily for our convenience and prosperity.”

Master of ceremonies Peter Ford requested both prayers and financial support on behalf of Terry, who is running for a congressional seat in New York.

And the charismatic Terry stabbed the air with emphasis during a fire-and-brimstone speech that exhorted the crowd of 300 to pray for deliverance from the “militant homosexual movement” or such “vicious godless” organizations as Planned Parenthood.

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Judgment is coming, he said, referring to this winter’s “bizarre weather patterns” as only the beginning.

“We have lived beside darkness and debauchery and treachery and wickedness for so long,” Terry said. “It is only Judeo-Christian values, it is only Judeo-Christian principles, it is only Judeo-Christian law that can revive America.”

Terry’s address was met by prolonged applause, but attendees downplayed the event as a political statement.

“I don’t think it’s political, it’s biblical and moral,” said Ventura resident Kathy Ogden. “We’re not here to judge anybody, we’re here to love and stand up for what we believe in.”

But Marty Melvin, director of operations for the nonprofit International Reconciliation Coalition, found the event “a bit skewed toward the conservative evangelical.”

In contrast, an event at the Ventura County Government Center--where Melvin was a speaker--emphasized diversity and penitence.

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At that event, Melvin publicly apologized to some members of the local Muslim community for the wrongs committed in the name of Christianity during the Crusades.

The hundreds of people in attendance introduced themselves to strangers and held hands while they prayed together.

“If we’re coming here for our own agenda, it’s not going to be blessed,” said Frank Rabinowitz, principal of the College Heights Christian School, who brought 45 seventh- and eighth-graders to the noontime prayer meeting. “It’s people gathering to voice our unity that we’re all under God’s direction. This is an assembly of God’s people.”

There was a similar atmosphere in Thousand Oaks, where hundreds knelt on the grass and held their hands in the air while singing verses and offering prayers of Thanksgiving.

“Yes, we want to call the nation back to a sense of morality--and in this day and age that has political overtones--but condemning is not the approach we want to take,” Larson said.

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John Tolle, pastor of Living Word Christian Fellowship, welcomed the crowd by reading from the Bible Book of Joel: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

It was a theme, Tolle said, that helped pastors lead a prayer service that didn’t “point fingers.”

“Different ones may pray against something like abortion, but the tenor should be an attitude of reconciliation and repentance,” he said. “God is more interested in us being his people than he is in our politics.”

In Oxnard, people received a different kind of awakening, said attendee Bill Stewart.

The falling chandelier prompted paramedics to arrive and ensure that no one was hurt, although two women shaken by the accident left the meeting.

“It was a very frightening experience,” Stewart said. “We’re all kind of in a state of shock.”

Correspondent Joel P. Engardio contributed to this story.