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By Lauren Johnson

This Saturday, June 13, at 10:00 a.m. pastor Brian McLendon of Antioch Baptist Church will be leading a Unity in Christ Prayer Walk. This is not a protest, but instead, it is a moment for people in the community to come together to pray.

The walk will start in the grass lot at the corner of East College and North Oak Street behind the First United Methodist Church. The main part of the service will be held on the square in downtown Troy, and for those who can’t join the walk, can meet on the square a little after 10 a.m.

During the main part of the service, there will be three speakers as well as several different pastors to lead in prayer.

They will stop to pray at four different locations for the unification of God’s Church including the square, across the road from the police department, city hall, and back at the starting location.

“We want to pray for our police, the administration at city hall, and for unity with them in our community and our churches,” McLendon said.

At the end of the walk, McLendon explained that after the closing prayer there will be a challenge for each person in attendance to keep unity between the churches and to put God first giving Him the praise and glory.

“The main goal of this walk is to unite all of the church. I believe we are in a season of spiritual warfare, and it’s going to take the churches fighting together in order to lift God back up,” McLendon said.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “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 sin and heal their land.”

McLendon believes it’s important for churches to come together and proclaim God’s name above all things. He also believes it’s just as important for spiritual leaders and Christians to take back God’s land through prayer and to build His church.

“Our biggest plan is to build God’s church, not our church but The Church,” he said.

McLendon has lived in Troy all his life and aside from being a pastor, he has also been a police officer for 14 years.

He explained that he has felt called to do this prayer walk for about three years, but he kept hitting stumbling blocks. Now, with everything that has been happening in our nation, he feels God won’t allow him to quit.

“The other day I woke up to pray for our community, our police department, our churches, and leaders and God put it on my heart that we need unity in Christ,” he said.

McLendon has reached out to as many churches and pastors in the area that he could about this event.

“I pray that this will be the biggest spiritual awakening that Pike County has ever seen,” McLendon said. “We’re going to be God’s servants and messengers and do what it takes to make an impact.”

From here, McLendon hopes that pastors will continue to come together and work on unity within the churches. He also hopes that churches outside of Troy will want to do the same thing.