The eighth annual 40 Days of Prayer kicks off today and the public is invited to participate in a community prayer circle that is set for noon Monday in City Hall.
The prayer session is the traditional launch of the annual 40-day, community-wide prayer campaign.
Forty Days is a prayer initiative that is open to anyone who would like to participate, coordinators have said.
During the 40-day period, participants are asked to dedicate five minutes per day to coordinated, concentrated prayer on topics that are highlighted each day.
The topics are submitted by local residents and faith and community leaders, all of whom work together to coordinate 40 Days each year.
Forty Days began in 2015 as an initiative to help curb violence in the community.
The topic is especially timely this year, as there has been a steady uptick in violent crime in El Dorado over the past two years, including the arrests of three teenagers, all males, a week ago for an alleged plot to engage in a shootout with a rival gang during the final night of the Union County Fair, which was held Sept. 20 - 24.
Prayer topics have expanded over the years to cover a wide range of issues that affect El Dorado, the nation and the world.
Topics have included children, safety in schools, the military, elected officials, first responders, poverty, addiction, homelessness and more.
Prayer topics are disseminated through a variety of avenues, including social media, local media outlets and churches and word of mouth. The News-Times publishes the daily topics and prayers throughout the forty days each year.
Event coordinators held an organizational meeting on Sept. 6 to lay out the prayer topics and other details for 40 Days 2022.
For the first week, prayer topics are Thankful for the Avenue of Prayer (Day 1, today); Praise of God (Day 2); Peace in Our Community (Day 3); Peace in Our Nation (Day 4); Peace in Our World (Day 5); Revival (Day 6); and Marriages (Day 7).
The community-wide prayer, the official kick-off of 40 Days, is designed to help "prayer warriors get a powerful start to the (2022)campaign" and will be held in the atrium of City Hall.
A prayer walk is typically scheduled for the last Wednesday of 40 days as the campaign winds down.
This year, the prayer walk will coincide with the final day of the campaign and is set for 6:30 p.m., Nov. 9.
During the prayer walk, participants will visit different prayer stations, starting at El Dorado Police Department headquarters and stopping at City Hall and the El Dorado School District Central Office before moving on to the Union County Courthouse to cap off the walk and engage in fellowship and other activities.
At each stop, community and ministry leaders will lead the group in prayer.
For more information, visit #eldorado40.com or the 40 Days Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.