By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
An event being held in St. Joseph for 12th year will celebrate a nationwide event bringing several communities together in prayer.
The National Day of Prayer is Thursday, and a gathering will be held at St. Joseph's Civic Arena early that morning.
Chairman Dale Rodney says everyone in this time and day has something going on in their lives.
"One of the best ways, and if not the only way, is to spend that time in prayer," Rodney tells host of the KFEQ Hotline Barry Birr. "And if there's any power that we can bring to the things we've got going on, if there's any hope, is that we can stop for a moment and talk to the God of all creation and say listen we need help, we come back to you, and this National Day of Prayer is just bringing people in the community together."
Vice Chair Melissa Frakes says the event will begin early Thursday morning with breakfast at 6:45am.
"But what a great way to start your day in prayer and with a breakfast with Gina's and then I think it's over by 8 o'clock," Frakes says. "That's our goal so that people can get to work on time and be able to start their day in a fun way with 500 other people eating breakfast and gathering."
Doors to Civic Arena will open at 6am. If you don't want to pay for breakfast, you can also attend the event for free up in the arena seats.
Rodney says this year’s keynote speaker will be Chris Singleton, a former baseball player and current commentator, whose presentation will be about a tragedy in his life.
"In 2015 his mother was killed in the Emanuel AME Church, she was there with her team, with her fellow parishioners, and she was killed in that shooting that occurred in that church, it was in 2015," Rodney explains. "So, out of that tragedy it kind of launched, from reading about him, kind of launched him into a different arena of his life."
Singleton will speak around 7:20am. You can contact the Civic Arena for tickets for the event.