Legislative prayer service set for Jan. 3
Gov. Blunt among expected attendees
JEFFERSON CITY – The third annual Legislative Prayer Service will be held Jan. 3 at Concord Baptist Church.
Gov. Matt Blunt and the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) are extending invitations to the event, which has been sponsored all three years by The Pathway, the Christian Life Commission (CLC) of the MBC, and the host church. Members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government are invited, as well as the general public. Breakfast will be served in the Family Life Center at 8 a.m. with the special dedication service to follow at 9 a.m. in the sanctuary.
“It’s our responsibility to pray for our elected officials, and it is also our responsibility, as the church, to be the ones to lift our lawmakers before the Lord,” said CLC Lobbyist Kerry Messer. “We commission and dedicate them, as the church, in obedience to what the Bible teaches us to do.”
CLC Chairman Rodney Albert, pastor of Hallsville Baptist Church, will be this year’s featured speaker. Cindy Baumann of Concord Baptist will sing “God Bless America,” and Concord pianist Debbie Poire is scheduled to play a prelude.
The service will feature special prayers for all three branches of Missouri’s government. It is designed to last no longer than one hour, and it is open to the public.
Monte Shinkle, pastor, Concord Baptist, will offer a prayer on behalf of the governor and the executive branch of state government. MBC President Mike Green, pastor, Calvary Baptist of Republic, will pray for the judicial branch. MBC First Vice President Bruce McCoy, pastor, Canaan Baptist in St. Louis, will pray for the state Senate. David Krueger, pastor, First Baptist of Linn, will pray for the state House.
Others on the program include MBC Executive Board Member Michael Knight, pastor, First Baptist of Viburnum, who will serve as master of ceremonies for the second consecutive year, and MBC Executive Director David Clippard.
“It is very kind of the Missouri Baptist Convention to provide this opportunity for all of us to come here and reflect on the challenges ahead,” the governor said at the second annual event. (He also attended the first event as governor-elect.) “Prayer is one of God’s greatest gifts, and a great gift that an individual can offer to another person is to pray for them.”