NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER EVENTS SET

Plans are being finalized and tickets sold for the annual Mayors' Prayer Breakfast and National Day of Prayer events in Cape Girardeau.

Tickets for the prayer breakfast are available for $6 per person or $48 per table of eight. The breakfast will be at 6:30 a.m. May 3 at the Osage Community Centre.

Tickets will be available until April 27.

For ticket information, call the information line at 339-1297 or write Mayors' Prayer Breakfast, 2845 Independence, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63703. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Theme for the event will be "One Nation Under God." Guest speaker will be LeRoy Sullivan, a pastor from Kansas City, Kan.

Sullivan has been instrumental in serving as a community minister. He has organized citywide prayer services and has been a trainer for the Promise Keepers organization. He helped develop a food pantry, emergency assistance program and mentoring program for married couples through his church, Bread of Life Outreach Ministries.

Sherri Mehner, who helps organize the annual National Day of Prayer observance, said Sullivan is an appropriate person to speak in Cape Girardeau because of his experience in community ministries.

"We're seeing denominations work together, and that's been his heart and vision," said Mehner. Sullivan has worked to meet the needs in the city and to reach people for the Lord, she said.

At noon May 3, people are asked to gather at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson, Mo., for a prayer and worship service. At 12:30 p.m. during that service, and all around the country, a special prayer will be read. The prayer was written by the Rev. Billy Graham specifically for the 50th anniversary observance of the National Day of Prayer.

President Harry S. Truman established the National Day of Prayer for America, and President Ronald Reagan declared it to be observed on the first Thursday in May.

Other National Day of Prayer events in Cape Girardeau include nightly prayer services hosted by area churches. The schedule is a 7 p.m. service at First Assembly of God Church April 30, a 7 p.m. service May 1 at Evangelical United Church of Christ, a 7 p.m. youth rally at the old Cape Central gym, a 6:30 p.m. service May 2 at St. Andrew Lutheran church, and the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast and a noon service at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson May 3.