Area Residents Gather For Day Of Prayer

David Leraaen, Pastor at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Oskaloosa lead those gathered at Penn Central Mall with scripture reading.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – They gathered to express their faith, and to pray on National Day of Prayer.

In Oskaloosa, a breakfast was held on the William Penn campus, and at noon, others gathered in the center court of Penn Central Mall. The mission of the National Day of Prayer Task Force is to mobilize prayer in America and to encourage personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.

David Leraaen, Pastor at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Oskaloosa lead those gathered at Penn Central Mall with scripture reading. Leraaen said the National Day of Prayer began as a group that felt “we needed, as a nation, to come together and really begin a prayer time, an organized prayer time.”

“This event is important because it brings together the people of faith and of this area to just come together and come before God and ask him for his blessing on our families, on our nation, on our country itself,” Leraaen said.

Rob Noah came on Thursday because “prayer is important.” Noah says that prayer will be a “catalyst to turn our country back to its roots.”

Noah also believes that prayer will be important in “pushing us forward”.

“I think it’s good any time the community can come together around a common purpose,” Noah said.

According to the National Day of Prayer website, “The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.”