Walkers prepare Center for Baptist convention by praying

As crews tried to fasten a large, swinging projection screen to rafters 20 feet in the air, two college students sat with fingers intertwined, eyes closed and heads bowed.

In the midst of noise of workers on the beams above calling to crews on the floor, Maeve Roach and Andy Callis, both juniors at Southeast Missouri State University, quietly prayed on a corner of the main stage at the Show Me Center.

Roach and Callis were among a group of 22 students and community members who took time Sunday to go on a prayer walk at the Show Me Center, the meeting place for the 2001 Missouri Baptist Convention, which runs today through Wednesday.

The prayer walk, the third of its kind in as many years at the convention, served as a time to spiritually prepare the facility by asking God to be with the people who will fill its rooms.

"One of the most beautiful highlights of this week will be hearing the heavenly voices of the choir fill this whole place," Roach prayed while sitting on a step where the choir will perform. "I pray these people will shine in your light and that every person will be moved in their seats."

Jim Bryant, state prayer coordinator for MBC, said prayer walks are "prayer on site with insight."

Eleven groups of two walked around the building and in each of the rooms where meetings will be held throughout the convention. Each pair prayed for the messengers of the convention and the MBC speakers, asking God to give wisdom and strength to all.

"Whatever goes on in this building over the next three days we need to cover with prayer," Bryant said. "We need to pray for every worker, every speaker and every person who will attend."

Over 3,000 Baptists from the 1,900 churches in the MBC across the state are expected to attend the convention, which begins today at 7 p.m.

On the convention agenda is the election of a new president, approval of a budget and funding of colleges and agencies.

The annual MBC sermon will be delivered at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday by the Rev. Terry Eades, pastor of First Baptist Church in Scott City, Mo. The Rev. James Merritt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, will close the MBC with a message at noon on Wednesday.

All Baptists may attend the meetings, but only those registered as messengers will be allowed to vote. Churches are allowed a specified number of messengers based on their memberships.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128