BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — For 46 years, the city of Bakersfield has held its annual Prayer Breakfast, bringing together leaders, community members, and residents from all walks of life.
Doug Carter, chairman of the Bakersfield Prayer Breakfast, says, “We say we're non-denominational. This is not church-based. This is people gathering in the name of Jesus, and if you recognize the name of Jesus, you are welcome. Even those who don't recognize his name are welcome.”
This year, about 1,000 people attended an event that originally started in 1975 at the Bakersfield Inn, which organizers say the breakfast quickly outgrew. After a short hiatus, the city picked the event back up again in the 1980s, and it has been a mainstay in Bakersfield’s calendar ever since.
Gilbert Laroque, an attendee, and he shares, “I think the breakfast has gotten bigger. It's gotten much more open to lots of different people being able to come and celebrate goodness, and I think that's changed through the years I've been here.”
Laroque has been coming to the Prayer Breakfast since he moved to Bakersfield in 2010. He says it’s more than just believing in a higher power it’s the simple acts of wanting good for our community.
Over the decades, the event has grown into the second-largest city-based Prayer Breakfast in the nation, just behind the National Prayer Breakfast. “It was started in 1953 under President Eisenhower. He made the statement that the White House is the loneliest house he'd ever lived in, so a group of businessmen and supporters and the whole cabinet gathered, and a month later they had the first prayer breakfast.” Carter said.
Both Laroque and Carter say that even though the event has changed with the times, its purpose remains the same to reflect, give thanks, and pray for the city and its people.
Attendees say that even with change and growth over time, they look forward to continuing this tradition and praying for our community.
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