Ministers, citizens gather at court square for an hour of prayer

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The numbers were few but the enthusiasm for the cause was high when three local ministers and a group of citizens gathered at the Saline County Courthouse for a one-hour period of prayer on Saturday.

Organized by the Harrisburg Ministerial Alliance, "Cry Out America" was a prayer event in commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks of nine years ago.

The prayers also were for a spiritual re-awakening of America.

Cry Out America is an initiative by the organization Awakening America. The event is intended to unite people in prayer and spark a spiritual awakening to bring people back to church.

The local event began with a prayer as a group and then spread out on all sides of the court square for small group and individual prayer.

Three ministers accompanied the citizens, often moving from group to group.

Pastors on hand were the Revs. Paul Taylor and Herb Vinyard of the Land Street Church of God and the Rev. Bobby Gentry, pastor of the River of Life Pentecostal Church.

Prior to a group prayer, Taylor told the gathring, "We are a nation founded under God."

While the nation is Christian, he said the greatest growth in the religious sector is the Muslim faith.

"Christians need to stand up," he said. "We need to be more active in our towns."

As those in attendance began to spread around the court square, each group carrying a "PRAY" sign, a prayer agenda was in use.

All were asked to pray for a spiritual awakening in America, a spiritual awakening within the church, for God's forgiveness and an outpouring of spirit among His people, prayer against moral decline and conversion of the lost, prayer against wickedness and darkness in our community and prayer for unity among God's people.

"We believe that we can change the world under prayer," Taylor said.