Natchez-area residents will join people from all over the United States to remember National Day of Prayer on May 3.

The Natchez Ministerial Alliance is sponsoring the event, which begins at noon and continues to 6:30 p.m. in Memorial Park at the corner of Main and Rankin streets.

The Rev. Bob Perkins, pastor of First Evangelical Methodist Church in Natchez, is the chairman of the event.

“It went very well last year the way we organized it,” he said. “It will be much the same this year, with 13 different churches taking part and a different program every 30 minutes.”

The program centers on prayer for local and national officials, Perkins said. “It’s a time to pray for our mayors, police departments, fire departments and schools.”

The Rev. Dr. John Larson of First Presbyterian Church and president of the Ministerial Alliance, said he sees another purpose for this year’s gathering of the community to pray together.

“I would like to encourage us to remember recent tragedies in our prayers,” he said, referring particularly to the incident at Virginia Tech but others as well.

The Rev. Dr. Jerry Nickerson said the urgency for prayer today is great.

“Turmoil in the Middle East, conflict over domestic issues and continued fear over national security point the nation to the need for prayer,” he said.

The official National Day of Prayer traces its beginning to 1775, when the first Continental Congress set aside a day for prayer for the nation.

The tradition continued in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln also called for a day when the country would pray together.

In 1952, Congress established National Day of Prayer as an annual event. “It began as a time for people to gather on the steps of city halls and places like that to pray for the nation,” Perkins said.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a law making National Day of Prayer the first Thursday in May each year.

The official Web site of National Day of Prayer estimates that in 2006 more than 2 million people attended events in 40,000 different locations to pray for the nation and for their local leaders.

Shirley Dobson is National Day of Prayer chairwoman. She said in a statement on the Web site that the day of prayer is a way to remember our freedom.

“We have lost many of our freedoms in America because we have been asleep,” Dobson said.

“I feel if we do not become involved and support the annual National Day of Prayer, we could end up forfeiting this freedom, too.”