Lifting Up The Community

The Lake Cities community — as a whole — was uplifted in prayer at the annual Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast held April 17, at The Olana in Hickory Creek. The sold-out event touted 150 community leaders joining voices in singing and petitions for the safety and encouragement of first responders, military, teachers, and government officials.

“We see them. We care and we want to encourage them and show how much we support them,” said Hickory Creek Mayor Lynn Clark. She said the prayer breakfast was born from her attending a similar gathering held several years ago by Lewisville and Highland Village officials. “I thought, why can’t we do one in Lake Cities?”

Last year was the first of the now annual event hosted by mayors Bill Heidemann of Corinth, Clark of Hickory Creek, Andi Nolan of Lake Dallas, and Cindy Aughinbaugh of Shady Shores. “We may be the honorary hosts, but it’s really about the community and how we can unite them and get everyone involved,” Mayor Clark said, noting the many participants who made it all happen.

Mayor Aughinbaugh gave the invocation, followed by Troop 60 Boy Scouts who led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American and Texas flags.

Mayor Heidemann prayed for all the First Responders and Military saying the cause is “very near and dear to my heart.” He recounted his service in the Marine Corp, when he took part in the First Amphibious Force landing in Vietnam in 1965. He also said his son recently retired from the San Diego County Probation office.

“A lot of times, people just take for granted that when they call 911, someone is going to show up in four to six minutes to take care of their emergency,” Mayor Heidemann said. “We want to support these men and women who are often exposed to traumatic situations as part of their daily job. We also want to pray for their family members, who often pay the price when their loved ones suffer from PTSD because of what their job entails. I love this venue where all four cities can come together and lift these members of the community up and recognize what they sacrifice for us.”

Mayor Nolan gave the Scripture reading taken from John 17:20-24, recognizing that Jesus also prayed for believers so they could be brought together in unity.

Author Alan Williams was the keynote speaker. His careers have been in commercial banking, commercial insurance brokerage, and as a Chick-fil-A operator for 20 years. He has volunteered, been appointed and elected to various church, school districts, city and community leadership roles and has authored four books.

Williams is no stranger when it comes to being a beneficiary of prayer having overcome heart bypass, stage 4 cancer and an extreme case of COVID — all by the Grace of God. His passion is “to be a spark that ignites and unites a nation under God.”

MPB Committee members were Mayor Clark, Lake Cities Chamber President Tina Henderson, Robert Goodwin of Huffines-Kia-Subaru, Dr. Chris Respass, and Pat Sherman.

Title Sponsor was Huffines Kia-Subaru, Corinth. Honorable guests included Commissioners Kevin Falconer and Bobbie Mitchell, Dr. Micah Caswell and Pastor Ben De Boef of Thousand Hills Church. Food was provided by Extreme Cuisine. Additional sponsors included Antioch Church, Thousand Hills Church, Bill Utter Ford, City of Corinth, DATCU, Town of Hickory Creek, City of Lake Dallas, National Title, Pointbank, Town of Shady Shores, James Wood-Guaranty Bank, Swag Angels Postal Center, Marquis Marketing, and The Olana.