MANSFIELD — On Thursday, May 3 the countywide National Day of Prayer observance will be taking place between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Central Park Gazebo in downtown Mansfield.
Sponsored by the Richland Community Prayer Network, the corporate gathering will have Scott Saunders of 90.7 WVMC as a moderator and include music from Mansfield Christian’s youth choir IMAGE, directed by Ms. Heidi Zentz.
An annual local tradition since 1992, the event will include proclamations by local officials and faith-based prayers by local clergy. Participants are encouraged to bring chairs and dress according for the outdoor assembly.
According to the National Day of Prayer (NDOP) Task Force, there were at least 30,000 NDOP events across the nation last year, including one event held in the U.S. Capitol Building for the first time. The Task Force’s stated mission is to mobilize the nation to unified public prayer and to see spiritual awakening come to America.
Speaking of spiritual awakening, the keynote speaker at this year’s assembly will be Reverend Doug Abner of Manchester, Kentucky. Between 2002-2010 Abner saw his community transform from the “painkiller capital of America” to Manchester: the City of Hope.
“God changed every aspect of our society from top to bottom” Abner said.
Prior to the community turnaround, Clay County, Kentucky was regularly listed in the top 10 poorest counties in America and was between a rock and a hard place, with 40 percent of the population in the county growing marijuana.
According to police, one drug house in one month drew more customers than four fast food chain restaurants combined. The community had an uphill battle to survive.
When overdose deaths were occurring every week. Doug Abner helped lead a march against drugs, collaborating with 62 other pastors. After this tipping point, key cartels were incarcerated and eventually became informants for the FBI.
As a result, a divine dragnet ensued, ensnaring key government officials for bribery and voter fraud, and bringing down the administrations of the Mayor, Councilmen, District Court Judge, 911 Director and Election Commissioner in the largest corruption case in state history.
One of the indicted officials later admitted in federal court, that the pastor involvement with police and the march against drugs had concerned him.
With the gravy train derailed, new leadership took over and drug dealers either got saved or busted. After the march, drug arrests were off the charts in Manchester and the county saw a dramatic dip in the number of narcotic painkillers prescribed by doctors.
Abner points out at that time church attendance and baptisms in the region skyrocketed. A Jesus-based drug detox center also moved in to fix lives and became a resume builder for compassionate business owners to consider when giving second chances for employment to former addicts.
People from all over the world began coming to Manchester to hear the story of redemption. Other communities began having marches of their own. One State Court of Appeals Judge stated that “the answered prayer in Clay County has been nothing short of a social exorcism.”
But that’s not all. Abner commented that Manchester’s quantum leap also included an ecological turnaround on the land where the water supply rebounded and the land became more hospitable to deer, elk, turkey, fish, and black bear after a century-long absence.
Abner’s remarkable story is featured in a documentary entitled “An Appalachian Dawn” by the Sentinel Group.
Several years ago, Mansfield was impacted by Doug Abner’s Manchester story and area churches held their own “Project Turn Around,” march against drugs. The area had just been profiled by ABC News “Nightline” and Oprah Winfrey as a hotbed for heroin.
After the local march in 2007, Richland County experienced a season where newfound awareness on the problem of drug addiction took place, where an increase in citizen involvement in the public arena was observed, where increased drug testing in public institutions occurred, and when a dramatic decline in violent crime occurred, the lowest in 17 years.
With Doug Abner’s story and mighty prevailing prayer at Central Park on Thursday, there could certainly be another chain reaction.
Ben Mutti
Richland Community Prayer Network
Mansfield, Ohio
