It has been said that the power of one person’s prayer is not something to underestimate. But what about five people’s prayers, or even 500 people?

Brent Baker, pastor of Central Christian Church in Ironton, said prayer can definitely make a difference, and has plans to coordinate a prayer chain of Biblical proportions.

The idea came to Baker after speaking with a woman who holds a weekly prayer night to pray against drug addiction in town. From there, he said God led him to the Bible where he read from 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

“It’s not if we pray, but when we pray, that God will heal the land,” Baker said.

Baker also felt called to study the Book of Joshua. It was that scripture that gave Baker the idea of a Joshua Walk.

According to the Old Testament, Joshua and his men circled the city of Jericho once each day for six days. On the seventh day, they circled seven times and when the priests blew their trumpets and the men shouted, the walls came down.

Baker said his plan is not to bring down any physical walls in Ironton, but to bring down the walls of drug and alcohol abuse and economic despair that he has seen creep into the city over the years.

“I was here once, 15 years ago as a youth minister for 9 years,” he said. Having been back a little over a year, he said the change as been dramatic. “Coming back, it’s hard to see the shape that the town is in.”

Baker is calling out to all the churches in the county to help with the Joshua Walk.

“It’s 12 miles around from Coal Grove all the way down to Hanging Rock, back up to Second Street and over to Third (Street) and back to Coal Grove,” he said. “If we can get 48 groups, each group would be responsible for a quarter mile and covering that in prayer. We want 10-20 people in each group.”

Each day for six days, the people would gather in the evening and pray while walking their quarter-mile stretch. On the seventh day, just like Joshua, the people will walk their portion seven times.

“What happens when we walk past the project area and pray for alcoholism to be removed and drug addiction to be taken away?” Baker said. “And then all of a sudden we see drug dealers leaving town. That’s an answer to a prayer.”

Baker is asking for all the churches to pull together for this project because it is their responsibility.

“It’s our responsibility. It’s not the mayor’s, it’s not the town councilmen, it’s not the city leaders. It’s our responsibility to turn from our wicked ways and to pray and humble ourselves.”

The Joshua Walk will be June 12-18 in the evenings when people would be off of work and there would still be daylight, saying that there will have to be a lot of coordination for the event.

There will be a public meeting at Central Christian Church at 7 p.m. on March 17 to discuss details. Everyone is invited. Baker also said there would be a community wide worship service with the theme of, “Our need is greater than our differences,” at 7 p.m. on June 5. The venue for the event has not been finalized.

“It’s going to be huge for this town,” he said. “I firmly believe it’s going to be the jump-start to kicking off some great things here in town, getting it back the way it used to be.”