Church and state come together once a month in Augusta at the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast.

Churches across the city have been hosting the event for nearly two years and it's growing.

The Mayor's Prayer Breakfast is a monthly chance for religious and city leaders to unite.

“The main thing is to get people together to pray for the city. It's always a good thing, but to fellowship as well, you see so many people gathered today with smiles on their faces,” Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver said.

The mayor calls the breakfast a grassroots effort that started when he got into office in December 2005 and it’s one he promises to continue with help from the community.

“I've often said this is not the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, this is the community's prayer breakfast. It's open to everybody of all faiths,” Copenhaver said.

Thankful Baptist pastor Gregory Young says the response from others in the faith community is encouraging.

“We got the Catholic priests, the Jewish rabbi, the Presbyterians, we got the Baptists of all denominations, of all faiths; the door is open for everyone to come,” Pastor Young said.

But to be effective, Young and Copenhaver agree this monthly moment of racial and spiritual harmony must go beyond sanctified walls.

“We really would like to have a presence out there in the community, sharing some efforts to help in some sort of work type of way,” Copenhaver said. The mayor says one idea is a possible partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Everyone’s welcome at the next Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
8:00am on May 29th, 2007
Lake Park Baptist Church
211 Milledge Road
Reverend Gosey will be the host.
Please RSVP to Karyn Nixon at knixon@augustaga.gov