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Christian Leaders Network holds annual City Prayer Breakfast

Event on April 10 in Abbotsford supports first responders and city officials
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Tom Watson will be the keynote speaker at the 30th annual Abbotsford City Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday, April 10.

The Abbotsford Christian Leaders Network (ACLN) holds its annual City Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday, April 10.

The event begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Quality Hotel and Conference Centre (36035 North Parallel Rd.), and is a time to pray for Abbotsford’s municipal leaders, school trustees, independent schools and first responders.

The theme for this year’s event is Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart and is being presented by MEI Schools.

Besides breakfast and an opportunity for networking, the event features music by violinist Calvin Dyck and keynote speaker Tom Watson, a business leader, consultant, sought-after speaker, philanthropist and author of the book Man Shoes.

This is the 30th City Prayer Breakfast, and planning committee chair Andy Kwak – also the chaplain for the Abbotsford and Mission fire departments – recalls attending his first breakfast after he moved from Edmonton to Abbotsford in 2007.

At that time, it was held at a church with about 40 people.

Shortly after, Kwak shared with the ACLN executive that he had been involved with the Edmonton Evangelical Ministerial Association for several years, during which time their prayer breakfast grew exponentially.

RELATED: 2018 City Prayer Breakfast

The ACLN asked Kwak to become involved in organizing the next City Prayer Breakfast and, together with a small committee, the local event began to attract more interest each year, with more than 200 in 2018.

To accommodate more people, the decision was made several years ago to change the venue from a church to the conference centre at the Quality Inn.

“It is exciting that we see each year more and more community support for this event. It’s great to be able to pray collectively for our civic leaders,” Kwak said.

ACLN chair Tim MacIntosh – senior pastor at Heritage Alliance Church – said the event attracts people from all backgrounds, whether they are church-goers or not.

“At some level, everyone agrees that prayer is crucial for our city,” he said.

Kwak said the City Prayer Breakfast is a non-political event for people to show their appreciation and support to first responders and city government and school board officials, whose jobs carry huge responsibility and can create stress and/or distress.

MacIntosh adds: “This breakfast gives us the opportunity to focus on the city, to honour its leaders and to pray for God’s blessing on all that happens in this place.”

Tickets for the breakfast are $40 and are available online at eventbrite.ca or at the House of James in Abbotsford.