The Rev. Benji Nobles, pastor of Greater Believers Worship Center, prays for law enforcement and first responders during Thursday's National Day of Prayer commemoration on the Colquitt County Courthouse Square. Nobles is himself an 18-year veteran of the state Department of Corrections.

Editor’s note: The following article has been changed from its original version. The Rev. Matt Peek’s church affiliation has been corrected to First Baptist Church of Moultrie.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The organizers of Moultrie’s National Day of Prayer commemoration on Thursday divided American life into eight component parts. 

Participants in each of those parts (save one) described for the assembly on the Colquitt County Courthouse Square what they are thankful for and what they wish the group to pray for relevant to their subject. Then a local minister stood to pray for each subject.

Jim Matney, president and CEO of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, was to lead off the event asking prayers for the health-care community, but he was himself unable to attend because of illness. The Rev. Matt Peek, pastor at First Baptist Church of Moultrie, prayed for the doctors, nurses and other health-care workers.

Dr. Irma Townsend, assistant superintendent of student services at the Colquitt County School System, asked for prayer for safety and unity in the education system.

“We have a little under 10,000 things we’re thankful for — the children we teach,” Townsend said.

The Rev. Steve Scarrow, a pastor at Friendship Church, lifted her concerns in prayer.

Tommie Beth Willis, president of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce, told the audience of about 65 people how important small businesses are to the community and said some had done well through the pandemic, but others have struggled. Willis asked for prayer to help people looking for jobs to connect with the many vacancies that local businesses have and asked for people to have grace and patience with the businesses trying to serve them without enough workers.

“The battles that these businesses face belong to the Lord,” she said.

John Norman, owner of Prospex Promotions, led the prayer for businesses with a big nod to the agricultural businesses that form the community’s backbone.

“Year to year, you sustain us,” Norman prayed. “… Bless the farmers, bless the workers who come from all over the world to bring in the harvest.”

Moultrie City Manager Peter Dillard listed much he was thankful for, and the Rev. Charlie Tucker, pastor of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church, prayed for local governments, as well as those at the state and national levels.

Lt. Col. Paul Nagy, commander of the Colquitt County High School Junior ROTC program, praised America for its support of its military. He said during his 25 years in ROTC, he’d taught students from around the world.

“In some of these countries, people are somewhat leery or even afraid of their people in uniform,” Nagy said, grateful that is not the case in the United States.

Nagy described his former commander, Marine Gen. Al Gray, who once told him, “Morale is a combat factor. Your men and women have to know they’re being taken care of.” Nagy said the greatest way the servicemen and -women can know that is through Jesus’s promise, “I will be with you to the end of the earth.”

“We don’t have to pray for Christ to be with our men and women in uniform,” he said. “We need to pray that they understand [that he already is].”

The Rev. Wayne Woods, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Moultrie and a Navy veteran, prayed not only for active servicemen but also for veterans, particularly the ones who came back wounded in body or in mind. He prayed that the country would do “whatever it takes” to return them to health and full participation in society.

Colquitt County Sheriff Rod Howell and Moultrie Police Chief Sean Ladson both said they’re blessed to be lawmen in a community that continues to support law enforcement. Howell said the Day of Prayer was held on the 126th day of 2021 and the Officer Down Memorial Page already lists 119 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.

“In this day and time, to put on a badge … goes above and beyond,” he said.

The Rev. Benji Nobles, pastor of Greater Believers Worship Center, who has himself worked for the state Department of Corrections for 18 years, prayed for God’s provision and protection on law enforcement and first responders and asked that they receive the “wisdom to know what to do, the wisdom to know how to do.”

Katrina Bivins, director of Hope House, the community’s crisis pregnancy center, asked for prayer for families, that fathers would awaken to their responsibilities, that mothers would recognize the child growing inside them is a gift from God, and that they’d come together to build a family in which that child can grow.

In his prayer, the Rev. Kevin Hopper, youth pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, repeated that a child is a gift from God, whether conceived in marriage or outside of it, and asked God to return America to the truth of The Word.

The Rev. John Eubanks, a pastor at Friendship Church, offered the last prayer of the event, a prayer for the church.

“There’s only one Church in Colquitt County,” Eubanks proclaimed, citing congregations of multiple races and social classes. “… Forgive us for our pride and competitive spirits,” he prayed.