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By Gayla Brooks Kokel
At the request of Cedar Hill Mayor Rob Franke, a local non-profit corporation, Transformation Vision, will facilitate the city’s 2008 National Day of Prayer event to be held in Longhorn Stadium on May 1. The program will begin at 7 PM and will feature prominent speakers from the community.
Franke explained that, “Transformation Vision is not an organization of the city or a dictate of the government; rather, we are a group of people from different Christian churches that desire to focus on what we have in common over [the] differences.”
“We do not celebrate diversity,” said Franke. “Rather, we celebrate what we have in common and rely on our diversity to create unity, and, once again, fulfill the many good works our Lord has placed before us.”
According to TrinityChurch administrator Shelia Hood, the vision for this National Day of Prayer event in Cedar Hill began at one of the mayor’s prayer breakfasts.
“Normally, cities the size of Cedar Hill will have a medium to small group of participants that gather at either city hall or one of the local churches. These gatherings tend to grow out of smaller groups that meet beforehand in houses or church meeting facilities,” said Hood.
“But following one of the mayor’s prayer breakfasts over a year ago, a group of us discussed having a larger National Day of Prayer gathering in Cedar Hill for the 2007 event,” she explained. “We had approximately 300 last year, which was a significant accomplishment.”
The successful 300-person turnout last year was the momentum for Transformation Vision to move forward in planning the much larger event for 2008, and to invite a larger number of Cedar Hill citizens to join in the expanded project.
“When we combine our desire for a cohesive, safe, and friendly city with our faith, I believe we will glorify our God and find that we do indeed have more in common than we have differences,” Franke said.
Transformation Vision feels strongly that a prayer event, similar in style to the smaller type groups and the Mayor’s prayer breakfast, when expanded, will influence the city and larger community.
Believing it to be a day that will change the future of Cedar Hill, this organization of representatives from the city’s business, government, education, and religious communities have come together for one purpose: to unite the business, spiritual, educational, and social leaders to serve and steward the blessings of God, in order achieve maximum potential.
The stadium location was the vision ofJim Hennesy, senior pastor of TrinityChurch. Hennesy believes that Cedar Hill will benefit when it “has a stadium event where everyone, across denominational lines, comes together in a mass gathering to pray for the city.”
Emcees at the Longhorn Stadium event will be Hennesy and Rev. Toby Snowden, pastor of High PointBaptistChurch, with Mayor Franke as the keynote speaker. Also slated to be a part of the program are Rep. Helen Giddings, television personality Greg Fields, United States Air Force Major Brian Schooley, Cedar Hill City Manager Alan Sims, Judge Elke Daniel, Chick-fil-A owner Luanne Alcaraz, CHISD School Board President Dan Hernandez and Permenter student Jared Agee.
According to Hood, along with the corporate prayer opportunities during the event, “all of the participants will be given the opportunity to seek personal prayer at the stadium gates.”
“Various churches will be manning specific stations for personal prayer time,” she added. “We believe this element, along with the stadium location and number of participants, will be what’s unique about the National Day of Prayer in Cedar Hill.”
Pastor Snowden stated that, “the National Day of Prayer gathering and all the events leading up to it is a wonderful opportunity across our community to join hands and commit to making our city a truly premier city.”
On May 1st at 12 PM, First Baptist Church of Cedar Hill led by Pastor Scott Blair, will host a noon prayer event to prepare for the main gathering later that evening at Longhorn Stadium. These occasions will be preceded by a city-wide prayer walk and literature distribution beginning Sunday, April 27, at 3 PM. Teams from churches across the city will walk their respective neighborhoods, praying and distributing door hangers to promote the National Day of Prayer stadium event.
All activities and distributed materials will be funded by contributions.
For additional information, contact either First Baptist Church of Cedar Hill, TrinityChurch, or TranformationVision.com.
