April 26, 2024
DURHAM, NC — Southern Baptists are being invited to join together for a live National Day of Prayer gathering over Facebook at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear extended the invitation via state executive directors yesterday through an email. The event will be held on the Facebook pages for the SBC Executive Committee, Baptist Press, and Greear himself.
“I know many of you already have planned very special virtual events or programs for our National Day of Prayer (May 7th), but I want to invite you to consider joining myself, our Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President and CEO, Ronnie Floyd, both of our convention’s Vice Presidents, Marshal Ausberry and Noe Garcia, and pastors, missionaries, and church planters from all across the and around the world on a virtual call to prayer and fasting,” wrote Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, NC.
“This should not, of course, replace any programming you already had planned,” he added. “Instead, it’s simply another resource for us to join together and cry out to the Lord together.”
While the current reality rendered by COVID-19 has made large-scale public prayer gatherings unavailable, Greear asserted that “our nation needs our prayers now more than ever as we walk through the crisis this pandemic has caused.”
He cited 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a passage that has continually appeared to him over recent weeks.
“Of course, that verse was given to ancient Israel, showing the heart of God for His people, and it’s meant a lot to me to read and meditate on God’s willingness to hear their cries for help in times of trouble,” he said.
“Jesus told us that if we ask anything in His name, He will hear us. We should take him at His word on that now more than ever before, desperately crying out to him in response to the current crisis that grips us and the world around us.”
In a post on Baptist Press, Floyd urged for steadfastness in praying for the country.
“We must be vigilant to pray for America consistently and even daily as we face the COVID-19 global pandemic,” he said. Floyd encouraged participants to consider using a prayer guide (below) that addresses seven “centers of influence.”
“Please tell your friends to pray Thursday. Share these prayer points with them, as well as with pastors and churches, and everyone working in business, education, healthcare, and all areas of American life. Let’s join in clear agreement, visible unity, and extraordinary prayer as we focus on praying for America on Thursday, the National Day of Prayer,” he stated.
