Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare wants Christians to know “that it’s OK that the government stands up and honors God.”
That’s why he invited city officials, pastors, laity and community leaders to come together in downtown Fort Worth on Thursday for an afternoon of prayer and worship at the Tarrant County National Day of Prayer Luncheon.
About 700 people gathered at The Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel on May 1 to participate in the National Day of Prayer, an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May.
“This event is about honoring God,” O’Hare told attendees. “We’re going to continue to do that as long as I have the fortune to be here.”
Former President Harry S. Truman established the National Day of Prayer observance in 1952, according to the holiday’s website, which is run by a privately funded task force. The task force describes itself as a “Judeo-Christian expression of national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.”
The day exists to “communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America’s leaders and its families,” according to the website.
In Tarrant County, Christians of both nondenominational and denominational backgrounds gathered to pray for three different groups: family and churches, government and military, and business.
Having a space where Tarrant County Christians could pray together for the national holiday was “very important,” said Scott Coburn, chief marketing officer for Christian cell phone company Patriot Mobile. The company has earned headlines for its financial backing of conservative candidates, particularly in Tarrant County school board races.
“The fact that you’re here in this room leads me to believe that you believe in things like faith, family and freedom,” Coburn said. “You believe in things like prayer in our schools, and that we should be able to express our faith in and through our businesses in the marketplace.”
Sponsors of Thursday’s event included Patriot Mobile, Daystar Television Network and Tarrant churches like Birchman Baptist, Gateway and Mercy Culture Church.
The 2025 beneficiaries for the luncheon, which charged $40 for tickets, was the faith-based nonprofit 6 Stones. The organization recently finished repairing its 900th home, O’Hare said, through its Community Powered Revitalization program.
The second beneficiary was The Justice Reform, a nonprofit and “housed vision” of Mercy Culture Church that is breaking ground on its 100-bed human trafficking shelter for survivors May 9. The shelter, to be called The Justice Residences, faced opposition from hundreds of northeast Fort Worth residents before it was approved by a majority of Fort Worth City Council members last December.
The inaugural Tarrant County event grew in attendance from its first iteration in 2024, O’Hare told the audience. He’s anticipating next year’s luncheon to be at a venue that can hold 800 people, O’Hare said. “So we’ll see what happens,” he added.
“We place our hope in you and ask you to continue to guide our nation, our state and Tarrant County,” O’Hare said in prayer toward the end of the luncheon. “Please shine your face on this county. Give us the conviction and strength to follow you over anything and everything else. May we honor you in all that we do. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.”
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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