The local faith community is gearing up for a chance to come together to pray for Henry County.

  The third annual As One Prayer Walk is scheduled for Octobor 12. Gates will open at 8:15 a.m. at Henry County High School’s old Warhawk Stadium in McDonough. The walk will start at 9 a.m.

  Randal McNeill of Radiant Church in McDonough will lead this year’s Prayer Walk with Senior Pastor Ral Waltower of True Gospel Christian Church, also in McDonough. McNeill said the goal of the walk is to promote unity among people of faith, and in the county as a whole.

  “We felt like if anything can bring us together, it will be prayer,” said McNeill. “There is a deep-seated desire for unity and for healing and for the body of Christ to represent the unity that Christ calls us to.”

  The walk will include stops at the Henry County Board of Education, the Judicial Center, the McDonough Square, the McDonough Fire Department and McDonough City Hall. At each stop on the walk, said McNeill, walkers will be “praying strategically” for each institution.

  “At the Board of Education, we will pray for children and families,” said McNeill. “At the Judicial Center, we’ll be praying for righteousness and justice, and also praying for our judicial system, victims, and those who are incarcerated. Next, we go to the Square and, there, we pray for unity and pray for the churches in our community. We will also pray against racism and racial tension, as well as political divisiveness.”

  McNeill said the prayer on the Square is significant as a demonstration of unity for local residents, and to promote reconciliation within the community.

  “That’s the center of our county, so we want to pray for our county to be united,” he said.

  Participants in the walk will then go to the McDonough Fire Department to pray for first responders, military personnel and their families. The prayer at City Hall will focus on government leaders and systems at the municipal, county, state and national levels.

  Pastor Waltower said when he was approached about participating in this year’s Prayer Walk, he eagerly agreed. He said the event is particularly

important when considering issues that plague society today.

  “We’re living in a day and age that we’re divided in so many areas in this country,” said Waltower. “There’s division socially, racially, economically, as well as politically.

  “The most disturbing of all is the spiritual division within the church,” he continued. “As the church unifies and comes together in being ‘the Church’ as opposed to ‘a church,’ we’ll be able to fulfill the mandate that Jesus gave us, which is to love one another so that the world will know that we are His disciples,’” [John 13:35].

  Pastor T.J. McBride, from Tabernacle of Praise Church International in McDonough, spearheaded the first As One Prayer Walk in 2017. He said his goal was to unite Christians in the area, regardless of denomination, to pray for the needs of the county.

  “We saw a lot of division happening in our country, in our communities, and we wanted to do something to bring our communities together,” said McBride, who will also help to lead this year’s walk. “We know the thing that unites us all is prayer. We want to show the world that Henry County is a place where we walk as one, and unite as one.”

  Approximately 600 people took part in the 2018 Prayer Walk. McBride said he hopes to have 1,000 people walking with him this year.

  Former Henry County  Com-mission Chairman, Elizabeth “B.J.” Mathis, is providing administrative support to pastors in anticipation of the Prayer Walk. She said the 2019 event is expected to be larger than those in past years.

  “A planning team, made up of a dozen local pastors from different denominations and ethnicities, are working hard to spread the word about the event to the over 200 churches in Henry County,” said Mathis.

  McNeill added that this year’s Prayer Walk is “not just a one-time event.” He is hopeful that the event will spark an ongoing movement that will break down the barriers of gender, race, and denomination.

  “At the prayer walk, we’re go-ing to introduce a county-wide prayer calendar,” said McNeill. “We’re going to submit that to every church and

respectfully ask those churches to pray for special issues or concerns that affect our county. Imagine what would happen if we were all praying the same thing every month.”

  For more information, visit www.asoneprayerwalk.org, or the local event’s page on Facebook.