Adams County gathers in West Union for National Day of Prayer

Residents from across Adams County filled the courthouse square in West Union on the evening of May 7, turning the county seat into a public place for worship, reflection and fellowship as the 2026 National Day of Prayer observance began at 6 p.m. Lawn chairs lined the square, neighbors visited before the program started, and the gathering pulled together people from different churches and backgrounds around a shared countywide ritual.

Connor Darnell served as keynote speaker, while Commissioner Kelly Jones and Pastor Boyd Young of Life Church Adams were among the local voices who addressed the crowd. Other pastors, church leaders and community members also helped lead the evening, keeping the program moving between prayers, remarks and worship music. The group Satisfied provided music and led several songs, giving the observance a reflective tone as attendees sang along and stayed engaged throughout the evening.

The prayers reached beyond the square and into the concerns shaping daily life in Adams County and across the country. Requests were offered for the nation, elected officials, first responders, schools, churches, military personnel, families and the Adams County community itself. That mix of civic and spiritual concerns underscored why the courthouse square has remained a meaningful setting for the observance, placing faith expression in the center of public life rather than inside a church building alone.

The National Day of Prayer has a formal federal history that reaches back to 1952, when Congress established the annual observance. Congress later set the first Thursday in May as the fixed date in Public Law 100-307, approved May 5, 1988, and federal law directs the president to issue a yearly proclamation designating that day. The modern observance is also traced to Rev. Billy Graham’s 1952 call for a national day of prayer, a history that gives the Adams County gathering a larger national context even as it stays rooted in West Union.

Adams County has marked the day locally before. Commissioners signed a proclamation in 2025 recognizing May 1, 2025, as the National Day of Prayer in Adams County, and the county held that year’s observance at 6 p.m. on the courthouse square. In 2020, commissioners Ty Pell, Diane Ward and Barbara Moore signed a declaration designating May 7 as the National Day of Prayer in Adams County. In West Union this year, the turnout showed the observance remains both a faith event and a civic gathering that still draws a broad cross-section of the county.