The people of Pike County are invited to participate in the Bible Reading Marathon, which begins on Sunday at the Gazebo in downtown Troy.

The Salem-Troy Baptist Association is once again sponsoring the Bible Reading Marathon, which will open with a time of prayer at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and conclude with a prayer service at the Gazebo at noon on Thursday, the National Day of Prayer

The Rev. Averyt Walker, Association director of missions, will begin the 90 continuous hours of Bible reading from Genesis at 7 p.m. Sunday. Scores of people will then read in 15-minute intervals through Revelation.

“This is the fifth year that we have participated in the Bible Reading Marathon, which is a national event held in conjunction with the U.S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon,” Walker said

The U.S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon was established in 1990 and brings hundreds of believers to the West front of the Capitol to read aloud the entire Word of God.

Walker said that the public reading of God’s Holy Word will call the nation to return to God’s precepts and will lay a solid foundation for the National Day of Prayer.

“The Bible Reading Marathon is an event of the American Bible Society that is planned to coincide with the National Day of Prayer,” Walker said.

“It’s a community wide event and people of all denominations are invited to participate, as readers and as those who come to hear God’s Word. Reading the Bible publicly brings honor and glory to God and attention to the Bible and the God of the Bible.”

The Bible Reading Marathon concludes on the National Day of Prayer, which brings awareness to world conditions as people come together to pray for the country and its civic and religious leaders.

“The Bible tell us that God’s Word will not return to him void,” Walker said. “We will read God’s Word and leave the rest to God’s will.”

Readers are still needed for the 2011 Bible Reading Marathon, especially during the hours from midnight until 6 a.m.

“In the past, Troy University students have filled many of the late night and early morning slots but finals will be going on so we haven’t had as many readers from the university sigh up,” Walker said.

“We still have daytime and early evening slots. We invite church groups, clubs, organizations, families and individuals to be readers. We will read continually from 7 p.m. Sunday until noon on Thursday.

“There have been a couple of times that we have halted reading for a while due to the weather. But each year, we have read the entire Bible and started back with the New Testament. That is our mission.”

For more information or to reserve a reading time, call Linda Adams at the Salem-Troy Baptist Association at 566-1538.