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Mayor wants prayer warriors

Posted October 31, 2007 11:00 pm

Michael Miller

Jim Ardis wants to drive the city to its knees.

The mayor of Peoria has invited religious leaders to meet with him at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Riverside Community Church, 207 NE Monroe St., to discuss a citywide prayer effort he's calling "Ready Set Pray" as part of the fight against crime.

"I think it's going to energize the faith-based community more," Ardis said Wednesday.

Prayer gatherings were the norm during a spate of slayings in Peoria earlier this year. Churches also have been involved in a recent gun buyback program.

Ardis said he was inspired by an effort started earlier this month in Orlando, Fla., called Operation Armor All. That 40-day program was initiated by police department chaplains in response to an increase in violent crime.

The Peoria mayor said he will ask the faith leaders to create a 40-day calendar and try to get different groups to commit to prayer on each of the 40 days.

He said he's not worried about a church-state separation backlash.

"This isn't the City Council's initiative," Ardis said. "This is something that I'm advocating for in cooperation with the faith-based community. There's no city dollars in this. There's no city sponsorship of it, so I don't see it as an issue."

Despite a news release inviting "pastors of all church denominations," he said he didn't "want to preclude" members of non-Christian faiths.

"It's not geared toward any specific denomination," Ardis said. "But most of the initiatives that have been undertaken have been by Christian denominations."

The Rev. John King, pastor of Riverside, said a multifaith program would "be a challenge for all of us, but I feel that as long as there's people praying … I think our differences at this moment are better lost in the need to pray."

"I think that God is big enough to sort all that out," King said.

The pastor also said he was "excited by anything that's calling the city to pray."

"I personally believe that the churches of the city need to be taking a lead in the fight against crime, and what better place to start than on our knees," King said.

Bishop Keith Ackerman of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy also was encouraged by the idea.

"I really appreciate his taking that step," Ackerman said. "Even though I have many communities that constitute my diocese, I'm going to attend that meeting."

Michael Miller can be reached at (309) 686-3106 or mmiller@pjstar.com.

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