The Arnold Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast will be held a week earlier than usual this year.
The event, sponsored by the Arnold Rotary Club, is set for 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, in the banquet center at the First Baptist Church of Arnold, 2012 Missouri State Road.
In the past, the prayer breakfast was held during Arnold Days, and this year the three-day festival is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Sept. 15-17.
“A lot of the people who come to the prayer breakfast are involved in a lot of other Arnold Days activities,” Rotary member Steve Smith said. “It was just better for us to go the week before to where we are not trying to have everything on one Saturday.”
Tickets for the prayer breakfast are available through the Arnold Rotary Club’s Facebook page. A table for eight costs $80, and an individual ticket costs $13 in advance. There may be limited tickets available the day of the event, and those cost $15.
For more information about tickets call 636-492-2772.
“I think it is a great tradition,” Arnold Mayor Ron Counts said of the prayer breakfast. “It is an opportunity for folks of all faiths to get together and have breakfast together. It is always a really good and relaxed time. It also has a good message.”
Monty Roark, the pastor of the Parkton Assembly of God Church in Barnhart, is the keynote speaker for this year’s breakfast.
“Monty goes back with Rotary a long time,” Counts said. “He has always been involved with the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast in some form or fashion. Monty is a terrific speaker. He is really down to earth. I think he will do a great job.”
Roark said he has been the paster at Parkton Assembly for 27 years, and he has been a member of the Arnold Rotary Club for 26 years.
He said he is honored to be the keynote speaker this year.
“It is an opportunity to share from the perspective of the Bible, God’s desire, as Daniel put it, to govern in the affairs of men,” Roark said. “It is an opportunity to speak to the people who are gathered there about the fact that God stands at the ready. Jesus said that God knows what we have need of before we even ask. As he anticipates us realizing the needs we have as individuals, as a city, state and nation, he stands at the ready for us to call on him and say, ‘We need your help, guidance and wisdom.’ Those are the things I will speak about.”
Roark, 64, of Imperial said he has been married to his wife, Glenda Roark, who is the church’s music director, for 46 years. He said they have a grown daughter and three granddaughters.
Roark said he enjoys being part of the prayer breakfast.
“The music is always good,” he said. “The fellowship is good. The people are friendly and welcoming. It is a good opportunity for people to come and be part of it.”
Smith said this is the second year the prayer breakfast will be held at the First Baptist Church of Arnold. Previously, it was held at Wesley Roger’s Steak and Buffett restaurant, which had been Ponderosa, but the attendance has outgrown that venue.
Smith said about 200 people attended last year’s prayer breakfast, but he does not expect that many people this year.
“Last year, we had the best turnout at a prayer breakfast,” Smith said. “A lot of that had to do with the 50th anniversary of Arnold. I think (the attendance) will be less than what we had last year because it is not the anniversary. I hope we have between 100 to 150.”