The Kiwanis Club of Durant had its 42nd annual Durant Community Prayer Breakfast May 2 at Durant First United Methodist Church. The event is in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer.
Drew Beard, state director of the Oklahoma Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was the speaker. Beard is a former Southeastern football player and he graduated from SE in 2005. He was inducted into the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
Beard spoke of the importance of men and women of faith in the community, He encouraged them to keep going with their faithfulness.
“This is one of the standards for this community and I’m so honored to be a part of it,” Beard said.
He said there were many in the room, whether they realize it or not, who invested time in him and his family.
“You did something to help shape who I am today and I can give a lot of credit to the sports that I played here or the time that I have spent in the community,” Beard said. “Many of you took time to get to know me as a college student, as a college athlete, to ask me how I was doing and check in on me and my wife.
“You showed up to churches as you showed up to other places around the community and so I owe so much to the place that I really called God’s country. That’s where I found my calling in life from God. That’s where I was shaped and molded as a man of God and that’s where I found my beautiful wife … So I give a whole lot of credit and lot of esteem to this place that we call Durant, Oklahoma.”
He said he likes to challenge people and that he is also challenging himself when challenging others.
“I want to start this way with this little thought and it says that for the grace of God will not take me anywhere that the word of God has not informed me,” Beard said. “It could be said that our world is going to hell in a hand basket and I would say that can only be if we are the ones that actually prepare the handbag that could hold the hell that our world has gone to. Now don’t take that personal, but let this be an example: The grace of God will not take me anywhere that the word of God has not informed me.”
He said the world today may
be different than the one everyone grew up in, but excuses are the material that built the hand basket.
“Our excuses are a lack of effort to do the will of God and change the very foundation of the world that our young people are growing up in,” Beard said. “So yes, our world is different today. It’s actually very different, but the onus I believe is surely on us. We have an opportunity. Today, we gather under the belief and I believe this to be absolutely true and you’re going to see that as I see that we gather, we say prayer breakfast. Something of this nature might be used by God as
part of commitment that’s been needed in our world for a very long time now.
“We don’t gather just to pray and just to walk away. Our goal is to continue to pray and it’s so awesome to see so many people in the community show up early to pray.”
Beard said that as the truth is reestablished that all people are created sinful, it must also be acknowledged that most people of faith are more at home in this world than they should be.
“You see, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that this world is not our home, that we are just passing through and this reminds and ought to encourage us of the importance of the good news of Jesus Christ that we receive by God’s grace,” Beard said. “We don’t deserve it because by nature, we are children under wrath. Why have we forgotten this truth?”
Beard concluded his speech with a final challenge.
“Let’s live our lives in such an informed manner that we may help others navigate life and find truth in Jesus Christ,” he said. “You see, I don’t know what it is that you need today as a man or woman of faith but here’s what I do know: The people of this community need the men and women of faith now more than ever.”
