National Day of Prayer celebrated at county courthouse

PHILIPSBURG – The National Day of Prayer was celebrated around the country Thursday, with Granite County Christians gathering at the courthouse in Philipsburg in honor of the event.

Nearly 50 people attended the gathering, practicing social distancing as they sang and prayed for various components of the county ranging from families and business to schools and local government.

Smaller groups had gathered to pray for the event in the past. Drummond’s Crystal Langton stumbled upon the Montana National Day or Prayer page on Facebook looking for a place to participate, but was quickly contacted by the statewide organizer Scott Darling.

“I was just looking to participate because that’s what I’ve done all my life,” said Langton, organizer of the event. “I clicked on the page to show I was interested and Scott Darling contacted me and said, ‘We don’t have anything in your area. Want to organize it?’

“I said yes,” she stated, with a long pause before the affirmative answer.

Langton said she knew of people in the media, the county attorney’s office and such who she could ask to participate, each praying over their particular area of expertise. Nine different prayers were said over a variety of areas.

Music was also presented by Lee Skaw, Lynn Murphy and Colt Parsons. Parsons also opened the event by playing the national anthem on his electric guitar. Video of Parson’s anthem and one of the songs presented are included in the video below.

The 90-minute prayer sessions began with a ‘Circle of Good News’ Bible reading. Each participant was given a scripture and read it for 10 minutes aloud, filling the air with the word of God.