Jefferson City churches sent prayers to Haiti from inside the state Capitol on Thursday night after last week's assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Mose.
Hope for Caribbean Kids Inc. invited local religious leaders to the Capitol to pray for Haiti's children and the speedy, peaceful recovery of the nation.
Mose was assassinated by a group of gunmen July 7 in his home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Hope for Caribbean Kids Inc. is a Christian nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of children in Haiti and promote evangelism, according to its website.
Iva Presberry, who founded the group in 2003 along with her husband, Richard, said Haiti is in shock and many of the services that keep communities running are out of sorts.
"These people are just coming to lift up prayer that the Haiti nation would find peace and find a solution to help their struggling people," Presberry said.
Pastors from Jefferson City's House of Refuge, Familia Christian International, First Presbyterian Church and Living Hope Church were joined by members of the First Assembly of God, Church of God in Christ and Guiding Light Baptist Church in leading prayers. Lorie Holt, executive director of Strong Tower Haiti in Sedalia, was also asked to lead prayers.
Wisny Exima, a pastor in the northern mountains of Haiti that helps carry out Hope for Caribbean Kids' programming and activities in the country, provided the opening greetings and prayer via phone call.
"Pray for our country; pray for peace," Exima told attendees.
Thirteen people took turns leading prayer for about an hour at the service. Common themes among the prayers were justice, strength, mercy, peace and harmony.
The leaders also specifically prayed in support of the Haitian government, the country's children and health care workers, and American aid to the nation.
Ronda Wohlt, seated in the front row at the prayer service, said she has a heart for the people in Haiti and Cuba who are struggling and hopes the situation gets better soon.
"I'm confident that our God is for us," Wohlt said.
Presberry said Hope for Caribbean Kids' six-member board met a couple of days after the assassination and decided it needed to do something.
"Well, you can always pray," Presberry said. "So that's what they said, 'Let's pray. Let's go to the Capitol to pray. Let's get the word out that people need to pray.'"
Presberry said one goal of the service was to engage with people outside of the organization to raise awareness for the situation in Haiti and the power of prayer. She said she hopes the prayer will inspire others to help in any way they can.
"There's just a great need, and we believe that prayer is a way to move things even when you're not sure how it's going to happen and it seems like it's not going to happen," Presberry said.
Hope for Caribbean Kids runs a school in the southern mountain region, Presberry said, where 325 children receive food and education. Teachers are paid by the organization.
The organization has also provided mattresses to Haitian children, built an additional school and were starting to build a kitchen before blocked roads caused complications in the last week. The group also typically hosts an annual fundraiser which is still being planned for October this year and runs a child sponsorship program.
Presberry said she and her husband once traveled to villages to spread evangelism, but that work is largely done by pastors at the two locations where the organization is based in Haiti.