Whether you give a hoot about the Hooters “Restaurant” coming to Fayetteville speaks volumes about our community.

Last Tuesday night cars started showing up at the fountain off the square in Fayetteville. One by one people of all ages got out of their cars and walked toward the fountain.

Woody Johnson from New Hope Baptist Church spoke for just a few minutes about why we were there and shared that we were assembled for the purpose of praying for our community and for all involved in the Hooters situation. Then Woody asked for Grey Harwell to open in prayer. We were then asked to get into prayer groups to pray.

There was something very spiritually powerful to be standing hand in hand with other believers with our heads bowed humbly petitioning God's throne on behalf of our community and our families. There were people of different denominations, and creeds and backgrounds, but we all had one thing in common. We all believed in the power of prayer and that if God's people got together and prayed, things changed.

Another thing I observed was that there was not a word spoken in anger against anyone. There were even prayers for the leadership of the Hooters establishment to have their eyes open to the truth of God.

I felt honored to be a part of it all. The next time the call goes out for believers to get together to pray, be there.

It has always been interesting to me to watch the media and often the liberal left who for years have said “Christians should stay out of politics.” They say the church is not the place for the issues of the day, and that pastors who are involved in these issues should remain silent, and on and on and on. There is one reason and one reason only that they say these things and that is because they want to control and influence the action themselves.

If you look at history, many of the greatest movements in our nation started in the churches of America. To begin with, the American Revolution had its roots in the churches. The Civil Rights movement began in the church. The democratic movements in Eastern Europe which cracked the evil empire of the Soviet Union started in the church.

After the fall of the Berlin wall, the East German leaders attributed the church and the democratic movements as the two unifying factors that brought down the hated Berlin Wall.

The churches and places of worship are not just a place where we go to “feel good” on Saturdays or Sundays. They are places of prayer and places where we fight the spiritual warfare of our complicated lives; places where we go and place our burdens of life at the foot of the cross and go away free; places where we share one another's burdens; places where we hear of the saving power of the blood of Christ who cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

That's power from above. Believers everywhere, don't give up the battle. Our community needs you. Watch and pray!

The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of His House Community Church (SBC) and a substitute school teacher in the Fayette County School System, and a former Army chaplain. The church is currently meeting in the American Legion Log Cabin across from the fountain on the Square in Fayetteville, but not for long. It will be moving to a new location near Senoia in August. Prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail Khern2365@aol.com.

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