On Saturday, Aug. 22, the ROC Church once again hosted the Richmond County Prayer Walk in its gym which was packed with attendees.
Everyone who desired to attend was invited to come, and all showed up in unity with one purpose: to pray for Richmond County Schools, students, teachers, and all staff for the new school year.
Breakfast was available to all attending prior to the event’s start at 9 am.
This is the church’s 13th year hosting the event — which started out at L.J. Bell Elementary when it was placed on the heart of the student ministries pastor, Vonnie Gilmer — and it continues to grow each year.
Numerous churches and schools were represented during the event. There were several key speakers, including Richmond County Schools Superintendent Dr. Joe Ferrell, who has spoken at the event for the past several years. Handouts with scripture representing the ABC’s of Praying for Students were also available.
With schools having to be on guard more so now than ever, the priority for prayer showed in each person who attended the event.
Toni Hodges, student ministries pastor as well as one of the event coordinators, opened the event in thanking everyone for showing up. She also acknowledged the importance of coming together.
“We are thankful for a community of believers who know how essential prayer is and how important covering every part of our school system in prayer is,” Hodges said. “We are one heart, one church, and one body this morning.
“Over the past few years, we have seen such a beautiful turnout in this room; our school staff from our teachers, principals, students, and families to members of our school board, our bus drivers, cafeteria teams, custodians — thank you guys for showing up year after year.”
Each person representing the schools in any form was asked to stand and was acknowledged by all in attendance. Hodges prayed and quoted scripture from Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Pastor Stacy Tuttle was the next speaker, thanking everyone and expressing his gratefulness to be part of a legacy that has been handed down and acknowledging others in ministry.
“It is a vision that we would like to see this event grow to a supernatural number gathered together in the unity of the body of Christ to literally set a shaking earthquake in the spiritual realm off in our county and through our school system,” Tuttle said.
He also mentioned how he was very grateful that Ferrell is so supportive of the event each year: “Where honor is due, we give honor.”
After introducing the attending school board members, Ferrell encouraged pastors who weren’t members of the minister’s council to join.
“I started the ministers council to connect our schools and our churches, then I was gone for several years,” Ferrell said. “Mr. (Melvin) Ingram took it and ran with it, and I am grateful to him.”
Ferrell went on to say that he’s never seen an event like the county’s prayer walk in any other community he’s served during his three decades in education.
“When she (Gilmer) told me about it, I thought, ‘That’s a great thing, let me go check that out,” Ferrell continued. “At Convocation this week, I reminded our staff of the importance of continuing to show up for our students. Maybe our theme for this year is showing up.”
Ferrell continued, mentioning the new security director and teasing upcoming news regarding test scores.
“We are really pleased to report some of the successes of Richmond County Schools, and of course we still have our challenges just like any organization,” Ferrell said. “Successes that we celebrate and challenges that we can face, in part, because of the power of prayer, and I’m grateful for that.”
Next up to speak was Ty Hicks, pastor of Hope Church and fifth-grade teacher at Roberdel Baptist School.
“Churches don’t get together like this in many places, so I want to thank you for coming together and standing in unity,” Hicks said, offering a challenge to the churches. I
“God has put us together for such a time as this,” Hicks continued. “There are a lot of different churches, different ministries, and different denominations in this place today with different traditions. None of that matters today. It doesn't matter about the name of our church, what matters is that we are here to represent Jesus.
“We are here to stand in the gap for a generation,” Hicks continued. “We believe that God has put us in our community … to intercede on behalf of our students. Before they need our churches, they need Jesus.”
After quoting from the books of Psalms and Ezekiel, Hicks said the group was putting “a hedge of prayer” around every school in Richmond County.
“If the younger generation matters to Jesus, that same generation should matter to us today,” Hicks said. “We are one church with one mission with one prayer for this generation that they see the goodness of God.” He encouraged all to continually pray. “We are here today because we believe that prayer changes everything that does happen.”
Following a closing prayer, attendees split into teams to pray at the schools in the district before meeting back at Richmond Senior High School with one last prayer walk before the beginning of a new school year.
