Group joins in prayer to begin school year

By NOREEN HYSLOP ~ Dexter Daily Statesman

DEXTER, Mo. -- In the wake of the shooting tragedy at New Town, Conn., in December 2012, and the continuing threats to the safety of students in a school setting, a woman took on the task this month to protect her children and the children who attend Dexter Schools by doing something she and her family believe is the best way to secure their safety -- she decided to pray -- and to invite others to do the same on the evening before the start of the school year in Dexter.

"It came about in my quiet time one day," she explained. "I thought, 'We can do this.' We can go around to the different campuses and pray not only for the students' safety, but also for them to be bold in their faith," explained the Prayer Walk organizer, Roxanne McGhee.

McGhee used social media to spread the word about the walk. At 6 p.m. Aug. 15, several dozen people gathered in front of the Southwest Elementary campus where heads bowed in prayer as McGhee, and her husband, Greg, led a group prayer before the crowd dispersed to various locations throughout the school campuses.

Families gathered around flagpoles, around playground equipment, at the front doors, at the windows of classrooms of all four campuses -- asking that God watch over their children and guide them in the school months ahead.

At the Bearcat Event Center, where bleachers soon will be filled with first volleyball and then basketball fans and players, there was prayer. At the goal posts of Charles Bland Stadium, parents of athletes who will soon don the Bearcat red and black, prayed.

There were parents and grandparents, student athletes, teachers and bus drivers. They prayed that Christian students be strengthened in their faith and confidence in Christ, and that they might serve as campus missionaries. They prayed that students with emotional, physical or family needs be ministered to by their fellow Christians. They prayed for God's blessings on ministries and clubs at the schools, and they prayed for the safety of their children.

For the teachers and administrators of Dexter Schools, the cooks in the kitchen, the support staff, they prayed for wisdom, patience, direction, and that all would be encouraged in their work and would experience the love and concern of Christians in the coming school year and beyond.

Families and friends and total strangers gathered in circles across the school grounds, joined hands and hearts and prayed -- some silently and some in unison -- all for a common purpose in the hope that the 2013-14 school year will be a blessed and safe one for Dexter students.