Founded in the Tradition of the National Prayer Breakfast
17 Feb 1966, Washington, DC, USA — 2/17/1966-Washington, DC- President Johnson attends the “14th Annual Presidental Prayer Breakfast” at the Shoreham Hotel today together with more than 1,000 leaders from government, business and labor. Left to right: Evangelist Billy Graham; the President; Senator Frank Carlson, R-KS; and Dr. Richard C. Halverson, offering a prayer for national leaders. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
The National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) started with the actions of a small group of our nation’s leaders. During the height of World War II several United States Senators and Representatives began to meet informally for prayer. The nature of the time was not so much a religious exercise as it was a spontaneous response to a need for divine help and intervention in the nation’s affairs.
The group developed basic agreements to guide their time together. First, the meeting was limited to their colleagues in the Senate and House. To foster openness among the legislators, no staff members were invited. Second, the meeting was strictly off the record. Nothing shared left the room. Third, the focus was on prayer and fellowship, in the spirit of Christ, not issues. This emphasis allowed for broad participation across political, ideological, racial and religious lines.
During his administration, President Dwight Eisenhower and representatives of all branches of the federal government were invited to join the group. This occasion marked the first National Prayer Breakfast. Except for only one or two years since, the National Prayer Breakfast is held annually in Washington, D.C. and each succeeding president has attended.
The National Prayer Breakfast has grown over the years. Representatives of foreign countries now participate also, and attendance numbers in the thousands. With growth, the logistics of this annual event became an enormous challenge for the congressional sponsors. An informal support group of volunteers, recognizing their need, grew to meet the challenges of organizing a prayer breakfast of such enormous proportions. This support group and their actions are informally called the National Prayer Breakfast movement.
United States Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, as chairman of the 1992 National Prayer Breakfast, invited members from every state legislature in the United States to attend. Many state legislators attended, and several of them returned to their home states with a vision for replicating the prayer breakfast practice within their own legislative bodies.
United States Senator Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho and Mrs. Patricia Kempthorne, following the precedent set by Senator Stevens, have hosted special gatherings of state legislators at each subsequent National Prayer Breakfast through 1998. In 1999 Sen. Kempthorne was inaugurated as Governor of Idaho and Mrs. Kempthorne continued in this capacity through 2001. A committed group of state legislators builds on this effort by organizing prayer breakfasts in their home states and by personally encouraging legislators from around the country to participate in these gatherings. State Senator David Nething of North Dakota has been an active member of this group since its inception.
The National Prayer Breakfast is held in February when most state legislators attend their legislative sessions in their home state capitols. Many legislators, unable to come to Washington in February, asked for the messages of prayer breakfasts and times of fellowship to come to them to fit their schedules. Consistent with the support concept of the National Prayer Breakfast movement, a small group of volunteers formed to serve the needs of these events and their legislator organizers. This group, together with their actions, is known informally as the State and Local Leaders Prayer Fellowship movement.