TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Around East Texas, numerous communities celebrated the National Day of Prayer. It gave places like Tyler, Longview, Lufkin and Gladewater a chance to show how passionate they are about their faith.  

Tyler held its 32nd annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast early Thursday morning. The mayor of Tyler Don Warren said they prayed for everyone.  

“We prayed for first responders, we prayed for young people, we prayed for hope and love,” said Warren. 

He added the whole point of these events is to bring people with different backgrounds together.  

“Here you have people from all walks of life to come into one room,” Warren added. “Different denominations [and] different ethnicities.”  

In Gladewater, an outside prayer service was held at the Veterans War Memorial.  

The mayor of Gladewater Scott E. Owens said there’s no better time than now to get together and pray.  

“If there’s ever time in history that we need a divine intervention in events whether it’s local, national, international, this is the time,” Owens said. 

Owens added the turnout for the prayer service is always great and gets better every year.  

The National Day of Prayer is held the first Thursday in May and has been observed across the country since 1952.