First organizational meeting of 40 Days of Prayer scheduled for Tuesday

News-Times
News-Times

The first organizational meeting of 40 Days of Prayer 2018 is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, and the public is encouraged to attend.

Forty Days 2018 is set for Oct. 1 - Nov. 9.

El Dorado City Council Member Judy Ward, who was instrumental in launching the event in El Dorado in 2015, called on religious leaders and residents around the community to participate.

Ward also said organizers are looking for a wide representation of residents of El Dorado and Union County, as in years past.

“This is the fourth annual, and we want this to be the largest and most successful ever,” Ward said. “We want pastors to be involved, and it’s for anybody who wants to participate.

The event was launched in El Dorado as part of a coordinated effort to promote peace and unity, with spiritual support from all corners of the community.

Ward introduced the idea, hoping to replicate the success that had been reported with a similar campaign in Peoria, Illinois.

The effort was organized in response to the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy in July 2015.

Comesico T. Pumphrey was gunned down as he stood in his grandmother’s front yard at the intersection of Cook and Louisiana.

A dispute among several men escalated into a shooting, sending a stray bullet nearly two blocks away to where the pre-teen was helping out with yard work in preparation for a neighborhood block party that was scheduled the next day.

The tragedy prompted an outpouring of grief from the community and spawned several events and fundraisers to honor and memorialize Pumphrey and provide support for his family.

Calls to end violence echoed throughout El Dorado, and weeks later, 40 Days of Prayer got under way.

The format of the campaign includes different prayer topics, scriptures and devotionals that are submitted by participants who volunteer to write them and disseminated throughout the community — via social media, the El Dorado News-Times, word-of-mouth and other outlets — each day for 40 days.

Forty Days usually culminates with a prayer walk in which participants move to different stations — City Hall, the El Dorado Police Department, and the El Dorado School District administrative office building — for prayer and on to the final stop, the Union Square District, for more prayer and fellowship.

“We need many people to participate and write the prayers,” Ward said.

A sign-up sheet for volunteers will be distributed during the meeting Tuesday.

Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at [email protected].

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