The Alabama-Crenshaw Baptist Association will host a community prayer walk at all four Crenshaw County Schools – Brantley School, Crenshaw Christian Academy, Highland Home School, and Luverne School – on Aug. 6 beginning at 2: 30 p.m. Organized by the association’s Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), the annual effort is an opportunity for the entire community to gather together to pray for, encourage, and support students and families as well as school faculty and staff.

“It’s an opportunity for families, parents, students, churches, and anyone in the community to come onto the school grounds and into the building to pray for students, faculty, teachers, administrators, and support staff prior to the start of the school,” said WMU missions consultant Leesa Massey, who coordinates the event. “Typically, teachers have already been in the school and are preparing their rooms, waiting for kids to come in the following week. The prayer walk is a time to saturate the schools with prayer, when you can pray, freely walk the campus, and go up to your child’s desk if you want to. It’s very important and the schools welcome us with open arms.”

Linda Owens, who serves as Alabama-Crenshaw WMU president, said the association has hosted the event for more than 20 years. The effort began as a way to support local schools and continues today for the same reason.

“Our children and families need prayer,” Owens said. “They need God to protect them and to give them the things they need. We need to pray for our schools so that things can be carried out in a godly and orderly manner.”

According to Ownes, the effort aims to support school faculty and staff, who give of themselves to educate the county’s children.

“The teachers need our support,” Owens said. “We want to support our principals, the bus drivers, the ladies in the kitchen, and everyone who is involved in the school system.”

The structure of each school’s event can vary slightly, Massey said. In most cases, prayers can enter the school, gathering for corporate prayer before splitting up to pray over areas of the school such as classrooms, offices, the cafeteria, hallways, and athletic fields and facilities.

“Everyone should gather for corporate prayer,” Massey said. “Then, you are free to walk to the school or not, but most of the time people choose to pray over specific areas.”

Local pastors will lead corporate prayer at the school in their community. Ministers leading at each school will include First Baptist Church Luverne pastor Clay Crum at Luverne School, Springhill Baptist Church pastor John Massey at Highland Home School, Craig Hamm at Crenshaw Christian Academy, and Mt. Zion Baptist Church pastor Mark Perry at Brantley School.

According to Massey, everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend any one of the four schools to pray, or to pray on their own during the same time.