About 70 people gathered in front of the Moniteau County Courthouse to join with others across the nation at more than 30,000 locations for the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 4.
Hosted by the California Ministerial Alliance, the prayer service included patriotic songs, inspirational scripture, the Preamble to the Constitution and prayers for specific aspects of the community and nation.
Afterward, the alliance joined with the Lions Club, Kiwanis Club, St. Pauls Lutheran Church and New Life Christian Center to serve Chick-fil-a box dinners to emergency responders and public officials.
Those who attended ranged in age from children to retired. Among them was Norma Porter, a member of the Jamestown St. Pauls Evangelical Church.
"I thought it would be a wonderful thing to come to," she said, after reading about the event in the California Democrat. "It's a nice thing to do to pray for our country. I think we need it more than ever."
The National Day of Prayer was established by Congress in 1952 and became the first Thursday in May in 1988.
"It's good to remember the history of our nation," said Pastor Casey Malley, alliance president.
Pastor Frank Hensley closed the gathering with the reminder: "We believer there's power in prayer."