A group of Long County citizens on Tuesday held a meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in Ludowici to begin the process of planning a communitywide day of prayer.
Event organizer Jimmy Howard said the tentative date for the prayer is about 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Long County Recreation Complex. He said that he first had thoughts of a communitywide day of prayer prior to the last election and feels like now is a good time to do it.
“We want to begin with the prayer lists from all of the churches, then pray for the needs of our county, our state and our country,” Howard said. “Our country is in bad shape, and it needs prayer at all levels.”
No one church, denomination or group is behind the event.  
“Everyone can help us plan it. Everyone’s invited, and we want everyone to feel comfortable,” he said.
Several members from the community attended Tuesday’s meeting, with all offering input and support.
Long County Sheriff Craig Nobles said one way to promote the event to youth is by informing the Christians on Campus and Fellowship of Christian Athletes members in the school system. He also said that making fliers would be helpful.
Grace Baptist Church Pastor Robert Long said that the event needs to be family oriented, and that everyone who helps needs to envision it as a big day.
“We want to get everyone’s attention for this prayer day. We have to find a way to rattle their chains without blowing something up,” Sandra Ensling said.
Howard said the tentative date is the opening day of recreation football but believes games will be over by about 5 p.m.
 “If we did it at around 7 p.m., people would have time to get cleaned up, eat some supper and be able to get back down there,” he said.
Howard also told the group that he would contact local church pastors to ask for help in supporting the day and also to help promote it in their churches. But he said that he doesn’t want just “church people” to attend.
“This isn’t just about the churches, or about Long County. Everyone can come out whether they attend a church or live in another county, or whatever. It’s not about any of that,” he said. “God is going to be the drawing card for this, and the object is to get everybody back praying to the Lord.”
For more information, call Howard at 876-0324.