Despite the pandemic, Lawrence County ministers are going to have their annual National Day of Prayer on the steps of the courthouse.

 

But due to the coronavirus and social distancing requirements, the event is going to be much smaller and livestreamed.

 

First Church of the Nazarene pastor Rob Hale said that they are not going to have an audience or hot dogs like they normally do.

 

He added that particularly during these times, the National Day of Prayer is needed more than ever.

 

There will be seven local pastors doing the prayers and Tim Throckmorton, who serves as the Midwest Director of Ministry for the Family Research Council in Washington D.C., will make a brief speech.

 

Throckmorton’s column runs regularly in The Ironton Tribune and it is published nationally in Our Daily Bread and the Washington Times.

 

He is the president of Lifepointe Ministries and serves on various ministry and civic boards including the Ohio Governors Evangelical Advisory Council, the Facility Governing Board of Star Community Justice Center, the Executive Board of the Toler Leadership Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors for Ohio’s Family Policy Council.

 

The National Day of Prayer event has pastors lead prayers for different aspects of American life including those in government, those serving in the military, those in the media and the arts, local businesses, those who educate our children, for the body of the church in the U.S. and for Americans to follow the Bible.

 

The annual event was sponsored by the Ironton Area Ministerial Association, who has held the event for the past three decades.

 

The first National Day of Prayer was created in 1952 by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Every president since 1952 has signed a National Day of Prayer proclamation.

 

In 1988, the law was unanimously amended by both the House and the Senate and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on Thursday, May 5, 1988, designating the first Thursday of May as a day of national prayer.

 

The National Day of Prayer can be watched at https://www.facebook.com/205343910354020/posts/544154729806268/?d=n