By Staff
PROCLAMATION FOR PRAYER Margaret Clark, a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Meridian, looks over a proclamation signed by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove setting Sunday as Mississippi's Statewide Day of Prayer. Photo by Penny Randall / The Meridian Star
By Penny Randall/staff writer
Jan. 2, 2001
Margaret Clark believes all things are possible through prayer something that helped her in her efforts to establish a "Day of Prayer" in Mississippi.
After eight months of work, Clark's efforts paid off. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove issued a proclamation last month declaring Sunday as Mississippi's Statewide Day of Prayer.
Clark got the idea after studying a Billy Graham sermon, "America's Great Crises." Clark gave the sermon in some of the six Bible classes she teaches each month.
She, her husband and members of her church, First Presbyterian Church in Meridian, then began to contact every church in the state. They reached 3,800 and told them the idea.
So in April, Clark and her husband traveled to Jackson to see the governor.
Four months later, in August, Clark was at the library and a friend asked if she had heard anything from the governor. She hadn't.
Her friend suggested that she contact William J. Young, director of Mississippi Prayer and Reconciliation Network. But the two were unable to meet; Young lives in Corinth.
Young had connections in the governor's office and gave Clark the names of people she needed to contact. That led to the governor's proclamation, which pleased Clark.
After all, Clark said, she already had written and addressed 6,000 letters to churches in Mississippi informing them about the Day of Prayer.