Dozens gather at Fountain Park in Rock Hill to pray for nation

Cynda Hunter remembers the dream clearly.

As people arrived to downtown Rock Hill’s Fountain Park to join hands in prayer Sunday afternoon, Hunter recalled the dream she had two weeks ago.

“God said, ‘Meet me at the fountain,’ ” she said. “I said, ‘Nobody’s going to meet me.’ He said, ‘I’m not talking about you; I’m talking about me.’ ”

God told Hunter to pray for the nation. The next day, she received an email from Catherine Wactlar, who oversees the prayer ministry at Cynda Hunter Ministries. The email said “Pray for the nation.”

“I hadn’t told anybody,” Hunter said. “It was not even 12 hours later.”

That was all Hunter needed to organize Sunday’s prayer circle at Fountain Park. About 50 people of different ages, races and denominations joined hands in a circle to pray for a nation they say has turned away from God because of divisive issues.

“This is about binding us together as a city,” Hunter said. “It doesn’t matter what denomination you are, ’cause God don’t care. He doesn’t care where you’re from.”

Some of the national issues that Hunter says prompted her dream have to deal with religion and faith.

“God doesn’t see things like we do,” she said. “He loves people. And here we are – we judge people so quickly. God loves everybody.”

For about 15 minutes, everyone in the circle prayed out loud for whatever was on their hearts or minds. Many wore blue rubber bracelets handed out Sunday that said, “Beauty for ashes.”

Sheila Tadlock, a minister at Cynda Hunter Ministries, said that was the theme of their conference last year.

“We believe when you give Christ your ugliness,” she said, “he’ll give you something beautiful.”

Several members of The Way: Followers of Christ, a Christian motorcycle ministry, wore matching black T-shirts to Sunday’s circle, which they heard about through Facebook.

“(We came) to give God all the honor and glory, and pray for our nation,” Tony “Slinky” McDermott said. “It’s important that we get God back in our nation.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2015 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Dozens gather at Fountain Park in Rock Hill to pray for nation."