ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / September 17, 2000

LAPLACE – The First Baptist Church of LaPlace is asking all adults and parents of every church and denomination in St. John the Baptist Parish toparticipate in the first annual Campus Prayer Journey 2000 at 7 p.m.Tuesday.

People are urged to gather at the flagpoles at every public school in the parish for a ceremony of prayer to ask God to protect every school from the rash of violence that has been present in the nation’s schools.

The Campus Prayer Journey started in 1998 in Arkansas after the school shootings in Jonesboro, Ark. Over 10,000 parents gathered at the flagpolesof schools all over Arkansas to show support for their schools and to pray for protection for the students and administrations.

Since then, the Campus Pray Journey has spread to other states, and on Tuesday, St. John Parish will join the ceremonies taking place all acrossthe nation.

Julie Rexford, a youth worker at First Baptist Church and organizer of the Campus Prayer Journey for St. John Parish, hopes this will become anannual event in the parish.

“Our kids are important, and we thought this was a way to do something for them,” said Rexford. “This is our way of asking God to put a wall ofprotection around each school.”Every public school in the parish will participate in the ceremony.

Rexford said Superintendent of Schools Chris Donaldson gave the Campus Prayer Journey permission to hold the ceremony on school grounds.

Several private schools, including Riverside Academy, St. Charles CatholicHigh and Reserve Christian School, will also participate. All the schoolswill begin their ceremonies at 7 p.m. except for St. Charles Catholic, whichwill begin at 6 p.m.”In light of all the violence and deaths in schools during the past several years, we think that we should show support for our schools and ask for protection,” said Rexford. “We’re asking all churches and denominations tocome out and help.”Campus Prayer Journey is a companion to the See You At the Pole program which is a youth-led prayer meeting held each year on the third Wednesday of September. Rexford said the Campus Prayer Journey will provide supportfor the students prayer gathering the next morning.

For further information, call the Rev. Danny Taylor at 652-6219 or JulieRexford at 652-1351.

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