With heads bowed and hands uplifted, nearly 400 youths and their leaders gathered inside a school gymnasium to pray Wednesday night.

They asked for repentance and forgiveness, healing and help.

They offered simple prayers to a God who has "the only answers and the only hope" for the nation.

The youth prayer rally, organized by the area Youth Pastor Network, was a "prayer point" service leading up to today's observance of the National Day of Prayer. Other prayer events are planned at noon at City Hall and at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. The youths will gather for prayers before classes begin this morning at Central High School and Scott City High School.

The huge turnout surprised even the rally organizers, who spent about six weeks planning. Nearly every chair in the building at Eagle Ridge Christian School was pulled into the gym to accommodate the crowds.

Seeing hundreds of students, most of them clad in baseball caps, T-shirts and jeans, offering prayers and singing praises shows that they aren't ashamed to be Christians, said Cheryl Corn. Corn and her husband, Lynn, lead youths at First Baptist Church in Scott City.

"It's an indication that Jesus is really alive and living in the hearts of a lot of people," Lynn Corn said.

Praying with other believers was important for Amanda Eades of Scott City. She and other students at Scott City High School have been gathering around their campus flagpole each morning to pray and will continue to do so until the end of the school year.

During the 90-minute service, which mixed lively music and reverent choruses, the students observed a moment of silence for the shooting victims at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

"We know that the problem isn't guns or any weapons, but a loss and an emptiness in our hearts," said Shari Boxdorfer of La Croix United Methodist Church.

"We pray for the salvation of our schools," said the Rev. Philip Davidson, youth pastor at Lynwood Baptist Church. "These students that are joined together now know that denomination walls are dropped when they step onto that campus. They are united."

With all the things that are happening in schools, youths are facing difficult choices, said Tony Hammack, chaplain at Eagle Ridge Christian School. "But if there is going to be a change, it will be the young people who make it," he said. "And it's exciting to just be on the fringe of it."

People need to remember that not every young person is a killer, Hammack said.

Dan Ross, youth pastor at Bethel Assembly of God Church, said he sees something good coming out of the school violence epidemic.

"Columbine was horrible," he said. "But God can turn it around and get the focus on what the answer is."