Nearly two dozen people came to the Capitol Rotunda Sunday to pray at the monthly Community Call to Prayer for America.
"I believe in prayer. I believe that prayer is what's going to change our nation, our region, our city," said Doug Lopez, who helps with the event. "It's prayer that actually generates and gets the spiritual power of God moving. Nothing happens without prayer. So this is where it starts."
It was the 53rd monthly event. Bad weather caused the event to be canceled last month. It was the first time the monthly event didn't occur since it started.
Lopez, who has worked for years as a missionary in China, has been praying at the Capitol since the late 1970s, when he and others came there to pray at a New Year's Eve service.
"One thing that will affect politics is our prayers," he said.
It's important to pray particularly at the Capitol, he said, because that's where decisions are made that affects people's lives. "We're praying for our government leaders, praying for legislation, praying for the people who are involved that they'll make the right decisions," he said.
He was at the Capitol recently for a pro-life rally, he said.
Lois Hogan, a prayer leader with the group, led the community in prayer on the abortion issue Sunday.
Hogen said her daughter-in-law recently was pregnant with her grandson, "who has since gone to be with the Lord. So we know that every life is precious in the sight of God," she said. "And that's what we want our nation and our legislators to know as well, so let's press them on this."
Biblical verses were read during the abortion segment, such as "So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Matthew 18:14 ESV.
They also sang together, as some in the audience raised their arms or clapped their hands.
One of the group leaders was Noah Angel, the pastor of Familia Cristiana Internacional, a multicultural ministry of First Baptist Church.
"We may have different choices in music or the way we express or worship God, and different doctrine principals, but it's so great we are able to get together and pray to the same God," he said. "At the end, we realize that we are all believers and followers of Jesus Christ and worship the same God.