A Day of Prayer spent on the Hi-Line

A large crowd gathered at Town Square Thursday to honor the 64th Annual National Day of Prayer.

This year's theme was "Lord, Hear Our Cry," which is inspired by I Kings 8:28: "Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day."

Several people who spoke at the commemoration expressed their concerns about the spiritual direction the nation is taking and asked the crowd to join them in prayer for a spiritual revival.

Pastor John Ulrich of Van Orsdel United Methodist Church was the main speaker at the event.

"You cannot turn on the news, morning, noon or night, without knowing that this country is in a world of hurt," he said. "There's violence, there's war going on, there's people cheating each other, the government is in gridlock."

Ulrich referenced a scripture from the Old Testament of the Book of Second Chronicles.

"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land," he said. "One of the things we have to do is we have to humble ourselves. ... We have to turn from our wicked ways and look again at how our life is structured."

Pastor Brian Barrows of Foursquare Church, prayed for city government, Rep. Stephanie Hess prayed for county government, Rep. G. Bruce Meyers prayed for tribal government, Sen. Kris Hansen prayed for state government, Ulrich prayed for federal government, Pastor John Chapman of First Baptist Church prayed for military, Pastor Edroy Curtis of Havre's Assembly of God Church prayed for the judicial system, Father Dan Wathen of St. Jude Thaddeus Church prayed for families, Pastor Michael O'Hearn of First Lutheran Church prayed for businesses and the media, and Pastor Frank Donato of Fifth Avenue Christian Church prayed for education and churches.

Barrows then prayed for the "believers around the world."

"God, we are a nation that is blessed and I believe that part of that blessing is that we're willing to invest in the gospel around the world today," he said.