LEEDS — Ray McKenzie says a member of the Leeds community called him several weeks ago with “an idea the Lord laid on her heart.”

“She told me we needed to have a city-wide day of prayer,” he said. “And she wanted to know if we were interested in being the instigator.”

McKenzie – the pastor at First Baptist Church in Leeds — took Linda Hendricks, a member of the Church of the Highlands, up on her offer. The church now hosts a city-wide day of prayer each Wednesday, from 12:15-12:45. The prayer vigils began in September and will last until Nov. 11.

According to McKenzie, organizers are currently working on a city-wide “Prayer Walk” to wrap everything up, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14.

“And I think we’ll probably do it again next semester,” he said.

The city’s prayer days are patterned after a similar event throughout the city of Birmingham: the “Call to the Wall,” as it’s known. Each week, McKenzie leads those who attend in prayer for a variety of issues facing the city.

“The first one, we prayed for revival in our city,” he said. “We’ve prayed for our leaders, for our police and fire, for our rescue personnel. We’ve also prayed for our youth – there are so many issues facing them, with drugs and alcohol.”

McKenzie also says the days of prayer have brought many people from the city – he estimates the average attendance is “around 20-25.”

“We’ve probably had 50 or 60 different folks to come by,” he said. “Not all the same people show up every week.

“We’ve had multiple churches, different pastors and lay-people, a different person leading every week.

“We’re multi-denominational, multi-cultural and interracial.”

McKenzie also said he believes the efforts are appreciated by those who attend.

“I think everybody’s really enjoying it,” he said. “People keep coming back even if they can’t come very week.

“It’s something to bring various churches together, which is a very healthy thing for the community. And we’ve called people we’ve prayed for, to let them know we’re praying for them – a few times, when people knew we were praying for them, they showed up that day.”

According to McKenzie, the efforts to bring the community together won’t stop with the day of prayer – New Hope Assembly of God will host a community-wide Thanksgiving service on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m.