Laurens Countians plan to join statewide Bible reading effort July 14

The Statewide Bible Reading Project will bring the community together at the Laurens County Courthouse to read as other counties throughout the state will be reading different passages at the same time.

The event, which is being held here for a sixth year, will starts at 7:14 a.m. on Sunday, July 14. The Statewide Bible Reading is held on July 14 because of 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 

Local pastor Curt Lysaker explained, “Because of this passage of Scripture, it was thought that 7:14 a.m. would be a good time to do this. That’s before work or church. We just want Christians to come together. 

“One of the things that concerns me is that we can’t seem to get churches to work together. It seems like we’re almost in competition with each other. Pastors are afraid that someone may like another church better or think that they have a better program than we do. It should never be like that. If we are truly believers in Jesus, it should not be about the church or a particular pastor. It should be about the kingdom. We’re trying to get believers to come together just to read the Bible and pray.” 

According to Lysaker, Bleckley County will have 400 to 500 people attend similar events. He would like to see more at the event in Laurens County. Approximately 50 attended last year. Lysaker would like to see 50 more this year. And people do not have to worry about what they wear.

“We want people to come and be comfortable,” he said. “We just want them to come as they are because that is what Scripture teaches. If you have an encounter with Jesus, you’ll never leave the same. We are ambassadors for Jesus and we want people to hear the Gospel.” 

The Laurens County group is scheduled to read from Proverbs chapter 18 through 25. He is looking to have 20 different people read approximately 12 verses each.

“They can read whichever version they like to read from,” Lysaker said. “I’m hoping to have some kids read.”  

Many first responders and leaders have been invited to participate in this year’s event.

“We are hoping to have a large crowd,” Lysaker said. “We have 20 different states involved now. We are going to have someone in every time zone in the world who is participating. We want this to be more than just a Georgia state thing. We should get Christians to be able to work together from all over the place.” 

By the time the readings are completed, the whole Bible would have been read at the same time throughout Georgia.

“We’ll also pray for not just our leaders but our nation as well,” Lysaker said. “We should be praying for our local leaders like our mayor, sheriff, police department, fire department and commissioners. 

“If they want to participate, they can call or reach out to me as well.”  

For those wanting to participate in this event, please contact Lysaker at (478) 290-7586 or email him at revcurtlysaker@aol.com.