This Sunday, schools across Butler County will be filled with parents, teachers, administrators and students alike for the annual Prayer Walk.

Sponsored by the Butler County Ministerial Association, the countywide gathering aims to gather the entire community together to pray for a successful school year, both inside and outside the classroom. The groups gather at the front of the schools and begin with a prayer for the entire school building, students and faculty. After the first prayer, the group then travels around the campus offering specific prayers for different areas of the school such as the lunchroom, classrooms and gyms.

Simultaneous prayer walks will be held across several sites, including Georgiana School, McKenzie School, W.O. Parmer Elementary School, Greenville Elementary School, Greenville Middle School, Greenville High School, Bright Beginnings and the Butler County Board of Education Office. Fort Dale Academy held its prayer walk event last Sunday and Georgiana School will hold its this Sunday at 2 p.m. The other prayer walks will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday.

“I think the most important thing we can do is pray for our schools today,” said Butler County Ministerial Association president Allen Stephenson. “We thought that if we could come together and involve the parents, teachers, administrators and the children themselves praying for the schools that we could make a difference.”

Conducting multiple prayer walks at the same time across the entire county can prove a challenging task, but the Butler County Ministerial Association has taken a divide and conquer approach to ensure things run smoothly at each site. Everyone in the county is welcomed to attend the events, and a member of the Butler County Ministerial Association will be on site to lead those gathered in prayer.

“The education system is such an important part of our community and we want to seek God in all that we do. We feel like that’s the best way to start off the year by praying here and asking for his guidance and protection for the students and the teachers involved,” said Margie Kennedy, secretary of the Butler County Ministerial Association and participator in the Prayer Walk for the past 10 years.

The group wants to pray for the students, teachers and all those involved in making school possible. According to Stephenson, this includes the administrators, coaches, aids, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and everyone who has an impact on the school day. The group believes that an impact can be made through this process and is excited to welcome everyone to these events.