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Community Corner

Tucker Churches Unite for 72 Hours of Prayer

Congregations, along with the community, prayed for a successful school year

Leading up to the start of school on August 8, the Ecumenical Group of Youth Pastors in Tucker (EGYPT) worked together to pray for students, teachers, administrators, the school board, and the community in the coming year. From 7 p.m on August 5 through 7 p.m. on August 8, community members were invited to the Ministry Center at  to participate in the event, which they dubbed CPR (Community Prayer Room). Activities included a prayer wall, a labyrinth, prayer closets, creative stations and areas to listen to or play music.

The EGYPT group has been working together for a couple of years now, hoping to foster the sense of community and partnership between congregations in the Tucker area. Last summer (2010) they considered hosting a back-to-school event and then realized they needed more time, so they worked toward organizing this year’s, said Shawn Duncan, associate minister at . For the event, churches in the Tucker area were invited to sign up for one-hour blocks of time in which members would be at the Community Prayer Room, actively praying for the coming school year and helping others to do the same. 

At the center of the room was the prayer labyrinth, a maze of sorts.  “They have been used for centuries to help center the mind and focus the thoughts. At the center of our maze, we had a cross,” explained William Deal, youth minister at Tucker First Baptist. One option that many participants chose to experience was to carry a backpack full of rocks through the maze, he said, and then drop it at the base of the cross, literally laying down their burdens before walking back out. “A lot of people said that they’ve never done this before, and it took them out of their comfort zone, but in a good way,” Deal said.

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Churches involved in the EGYPT group include Tucker First Baptist, Tucker First United Methodist, St. Andrews Presbyterian, Northlake Church of Christ, Rehoboth Baptist, and Sozo New Covenant Fellowship, but many other churches from the community, along with individuals, church member or not, were invited to attend and participate.

“We are the body of Christ. Even though we worship in different places we can all work together to support our community,” Duncan said, and his sentiment was echoed by Deal. One of the goals of the EGYPT group, according to Duncan, is to “be invested in the community collectively.”

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In addition to the Community Prayer Room last weekend, the group has worked together on collaborative worship nights with different groups hosting a leading the program in order to expose youth to different faiths and worship styles, which helps "allow kids to accept others and also value their own traditions," said Duncan. They also work on a “Sidewalk Sunday School” on Wednesday nights at an apartment complex in Clarkston, running it much like the that many of Tucker’s children participated in over the summer, and the group has also worked together on and other mission projects.

"I would say that our community has a remarkable working relationship between the various congregations," said Randy Shepley, pastor of Tucker First Baptist. "Our premise is that the mission of God is bigger than all of us, so we must partner together in building events and relationships to love our community. The really exceptional part about Tucker is that we are not unique. My experience has been, almost without exception, that churches in the greater Tucker community look to work together equally for the love of our community, without being concerned about competition or credit."

EGYPT, although centered in Tucker, doesn’t draw boundaries too strictly, said Duncan. If any other churches are interested in working with the group to collaborate on youth activities and events, big or small, the doors are wide open. Please contact him at shawn@northlake.org for more information.

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