SANTA CLARITA RESIDENTS PRAY AT ANNUAL EVENT.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - They came from across the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. on Thursday to pray, asking God for guidance in local government and the community. Santa Clarita City Council members joined other members of the community including business people, ministers and their congregants to pray and sing together at the inaugural Santa Clarita Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, planned as an annual event. ``A deep part of God's purpose is the bringing together of people in unity,'' said the Rev. Phillip Pump, pastor of The Gateway Church in Saugus and a coordinator of the prayer breakfast. The event was the local celebration of the 49th National Day of Prayer. It brought Christian ministers and about 150 others to the Valencia Hyatt. The theme of the gathering was one of unity, working together as a team. ``We have come together to pray - to pray for grace and wisdom to help all of us work as a community,'' Pump said. Calling the crowd ``my people, my friends, my sisters and brothers,'' Mayor Jo Anne Darcy cited - as benefits of community teamwork - the construction of Santa Clarita Central Park and Jan Heidt Metrolink Station in Newhall. The park was a joint effort of the city and the landowner, the Castaic Lake Castaic Lake is a lake on Castaic Creek formed by Castaic Dam, in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, near the town of Castaic. The 323,700 acre foot lake (399,000,000 m³) is the terminus of the West Branch of the California Aqueduct, though some comes from the 154 mi² Water Agency. The train station was built with the cooperation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Teamwork also built the new Wiley Canyon-Via Princessa bridge and supports the local Foundation for Children's Dental Health for children from low-income families, Darcy said. Those present at the breakfast offered blessings upon the council and other government leaders, praying to God to guide them to wise and just decisions. The Rev. Jeff Steele of the Cornerstone Church Cornerstone Church was founded by Pastor John C. Hagee in San Antonio, Texas, as a non-denominational evangelical church with more than 18,000 active members. History Cornerstone Church was founded by Pastor Hagee in May of 1975. , also in Saugus, asked that City Council members be guided into making righteous decisions rather than deciding issues based on political expediency ex·pe·di·en·cy n. pl. ex·pe·di·en·cies 1. Appropriateness to the purpose at hand; fitness. 2. Adherence to self-serving means: . ``It takes courage, because right isn't always popular,'' Steele said. The practice of officials encouraging the populace to pray is older than the nation. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress designated a time for Britain's colonists to pray for guidance in forming a new nation. President Abraham Lincoln asked for public assistance in a prayer following the Union's devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. defeat in the battle of Fredericksburg. He asked the Senate to designate April 30 as a ``day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer'' to seek heaven's intervention in the Civil War. ``Intoxicated in·tox·i·cate v. in·tox·i·cat·ed, in·tox·i·cat·ing, in·tox·i·cates v.tr. 1. To stupefy or excite by the action of a chemical substance such as alcohol. 2. with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us,'' Lincoln wrote. President Franklin Roosevelt asked people to pray for the Allied armies swarming swarming 1. a phenomenon observed in cultures of Proteus spp. on solid media in which there is progressive surface spreading from the parent colony. 2. the periodic bee migration of the old queen and accompanying workers and drones from a full original hive which is onto the Normandy beaches in 1944 to assail as·sail tr.v. as·sailed, as·sail·ing, as·sails 1. To attack with or as if with violent blows; assault. 2. To attack verbally, as with ridicule or censure. See Synonyms at attack. 3. Hitler's ``Fortress Europe.'' But it wasn't until President Harry Truman signed a bill in 1952 that the National Day of Prayer was established as an annual event. President Ronald Reagan signed legislation in 1988 designating the formal day of prayer as the first Thursday in May. This week's National Day of Prayer will be the 49th since the concept was codified cod·i·fy tr.v. cod·i·fied, cod·i·fy·ing, cod·i·fies 1. To reduce to a code: codify laws. 2. To arrange or systematize. by Congress. Daily News wires services contributed to this story. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Attendees pray at the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast held Thursday in Santa Clarita. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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