Press Release

NEW YORK, N.Y. – August 7, 2008--- Thousands of people of all ages, races cultures and backgrounds, representing churches of every denomination, are coming together in Times Square, where the ball drops, to pray for one hour for our nation. The one-hour event, to be held from 3:00pm to 4:00pm on Broadway and 44th Street, drew an estimated 10,000 people in 2007.

“We believe these are critical times for our nation. There is a growing uncertainty about the future and many are losing hope,” states Carter Conlon, Senior Pastor, Times Square Church. “We are coming together for Prayer in the Square to put our hope in God for the future, safety and well-being of our nation. We are simply gathering as the church of Jesus Christ, in humility and unity, saying 'Lord, our nation needs you to come down and help us again',” adds Reverend Conlon.

A 180-voice gospel choir will sing between intervals of prayer. Twelve individuals, including church leaders, a single mom, a college student, a war veteran and a police officer, will pray for three minutes each. The event will be broadcast live on STAR 99.1 FM (New York), WEVA 105.1 (Washington DC), XM Radio, Channel 170 (Satellite radio). Churches in 20 countries around the world, including The Netherlands, Colombia, Fiji, UK, Russia, Romania, Australia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Peru, India, Italy, Ghana, South Africa, Ireland, Zambia, and Guatemala, will be are gathering to pray via a live webcast at nycprayer.org. Churches around the world, including Holland, South Africa, Ireland, Zambia, and Guatemala, will be joining to pray via a live webcast on the event website at www.nycprayer.org.

The event is open to the public and to churches of all denominations. Mayor Bloomberg has issued a Mayoral Proclamation declaring September 7 Prayer in the Square day.

“I am going to Prayer in the Square because there is power in gathering together to pray,” explains Mac Pier, President of Concerts of Prayer of Greater New York. “It creates a hope that God is ready to do something very powerful in our midst because we’ve called him to do something together. In the Bible as well as in church history, when Christians come together in visible union and explicit agreement there is a powerful outpouring of God’s spirit, not just within the church, but across an entire nation.”

Times Square Church is an inter-denominational, multinational congregation, located in the heart of Times Square at 51st Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, founded by the Rev. David Wilkerson, renowned author of the best-selling book The Cross and the Switchblade.