More than 300 people honored the National Day of Prayer with prayer, worship, and listening to a message of hope from a keynote speaker at the annual Apopka Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
The annual event took place on Thursday, May 6, at the Apopka Community Building/VFW Center on South Central Avenue, Apopka.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Kevin Baird, director of pastoral ministries for the Florida Family Policy Council. Pastor Doug Bankson of Victory Church, who is also president of Apopka Christian Ministerial Alliance and a city commissioner, hosted the event.
Community pastors prayed for the nation and effects of COVID-19, the city of Apopka government, communities and families, city first responders, Orange County government and officials, the future, youth and education, churches, and veterans.
The Prayer Breakfast was cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keynote message
As the director of pastoral ministries for the Florida Family Policy Council, Baird’s role is to connect the 12,600 self-identified evangelical pastors in Florida with their civic leaders for prayer, partnership and public policy engagement in a mission called the Florida Capitol Project. Baird said he has recognized the fading connection between the Christian faith and its influence in the civic realm. He said in the 2020 election, 25 million self-identified Christians qualified to vote sat out of it. Also, nine percent of church attendees hold a consistent biblical worldview. He said that if that trajectory continues, that number will drop to four percent in the next generation.
Baird said that when visiting a pastor in Tallahassee recently, the pastor vented his frustration and skepticism over the civic arena. Baird recognized that frustration in many people and reminded the pastor of Matthew 12:43- 45. It says when an impure spirit leaves a person and can’t find anywhere else to settle, it will reenter the same individual with seven other demons more evil than itself.
“There’s a dangerous implication in creating vacuums and then seeding that ground for the devil,” Baird said. “Every vacuum will be filled with something, either righteousness or evil because there’s no such thing as neutral. Every vacuum will be filled. And if the church decides to allow a vacuum to exist in their civic responsibility and influence, then we shouldn’t be surprised when it gets exponentially worse and worse and worse.”
Yet there is hope, Baird said. He cited Romans 8:28, which says all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
2021 Pillar Awards
This year’s celebration saw two Pillar Award winners – one for healthcare, and the other for education. The Pillar Award is presented to an individual for his or her above and beyond community service in Apopka.
Tim Clark, CEO of AdventHealth Apopka, was given the award for healthcare; and Bunnie Acree Schorejs, a former schoolteacher in the Apopka community, was given the award for education.
The full story begins on page 1A of the Friday, May 7, issue of The Apopka Chief.
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