Local residents had a variety of options to consider in terms of group prayer May 2, with the National Day of Prayer including indoor and outdoor events touching on a variety of local and international concerns, from families and businesses to terrorism and political leadership.
A noontime gathering at Laurens Street and Hayne Avenue, organized by Roger and Barb Rollins, drew dozens of participants, with prayer leaders stepping forward to spend a few seconds or a few minutes making their petitions. This year's theme was "Lift Up the Word and Light Up the World."
Among those asked to help lead prayers was the Rev. Chris Medlin, known to some for his decades of service in law enforcement and now largely as an associate pastor at Chime Bell Baptist Church, in Aiken.
"I was really glad to have been asked to come up and speak and be a part of it, because you could see… very diverse parts of our community being brought together under the common goal of praying for blessings on our community and all the different aspects of our community and our nation," said Medlin, who is also a paramedic.
"It was really neat to see the diversity of the crowd and everyone's perspective. Everybody brought something different to the table, basically, from their background and their type of church that they go to… so it was good to see the unity amongst the community," he added.
The other major gathering of the day, also run by the Rollinses, was an evening assembly that drew hundreds to the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center, with music and a series of prayer leaders, each addressing a different theme. This year's focal points were government/public service, churches, repentance, families, the military, volunteer organizations, business, education and the media.
The national observance's history includes a variety of major milestones, with one of the earliest being in 1952, with the passage of a bill initiated by Conrad Hilton, of Hilton Hotels fame; and Sen. Frank Carlson, R-Kan. It noted, according to the National Day of Prayer's website, "The President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals."
One of the longest-serving federal legislators in history, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., helped advance the idea in 1987, writing the bill and introducing it to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was a sponsor of the bill, as were contemporaries from Ohio, California, Alabama, Colorado, Virginia and New York.
President Ronald Reagan signed the end result — Proclamation 5767 — into law in 1988, designating the first Thursday of May for the National Day of Prayer's observance. The official signing was May 5.
