A banner in Harvest Baptist Church’s sanctuary reads “Many Hands, Many Minds, One Goal,” and that was exactly the aim of Tuesday night’s city-prayer revival, hosted by the church.

The purpose of the revival, which will continue on April 20 and 27, is to address many of the social problems facing Ferriday. Tuesday night’s meeting focused on racism.

“We have made history,” Evangelist Gay Cooper said. “It might not be exciting to you, but it is to me.

“We are breaking down racial barriers.”

The meeting was broken into three sections: repentance, forgiveness and unity.

Praying for repentance in the stead of Mayor Gene Allen, Charles Minor said, “We have a responsibility to lift those in a degenerated state.”

Minor prayed asking for the restoration of the town of Ferriday.

“We lift up our local officials, that they would turn back to (God),” he said. “We pray for integrity again, for integrity to be in the men of influence.”

“We pray that this nation would fall to its knees and repent of its evil ways,” he said.

Karen Wells also prayed for repentance.

“We ask (God) to change not only our land but our minds and our families,” she said.

Charles Chandler, pastor of Harvest Baptist Church, prayed for forgiveness in the stead of Police Chief Richard Madison.

“Bless us to forgive even in this town, that we would no longer hold grudges for the things that have gone on in the past because of the color of our skin,” he said.

Penny Rachel also prayed for forgiveness.

Open the eyes of those who feel they have done no wrong,” she said. “Let them open their eyes to their need for forgiveness.”

Bishop Hans Brendt of the World Missions Center in Natchez, a former neo-Nazi, prayed for unity.

“Let us look back and see that all people are from the same bloodline,” he said.

“Let healing come to the descendents of slaves, of Native Americans, of all who have been done unrightly,” he said.

“Let unity come to the town of Ferriday, with its dilapidated buildings and culture that seems to be stuck back in time.”

“Let the black, white, red, yellow children of Ferriday come together; let there be no prejudice, racism, hatred, bigotry — no more division.”

Sharon Byrd also prayed for unity.

At the end of the service, Chandler made a call for those present to restructure their lives by putting an end to seeing things in terms of color.

“Let’s not leave here thinking that we’ve prayed for someone else,” he said. “Let’s make a real difference — and that includes with ourselves.”