The 47th annual Chamber Prayer Breakfast was held Tuesday morning at the DeKalb County Community Center with this year’s theme being “Thankful, Grateful and Blessed.”

The keynote speaker was former Smithville resident Steven “Steve” Cantrell, director of the Civil Aviation Intelligence Analysis Center, Washington D.C., who spoke to a full house of guests, government officials, and members of the police, fire, EMT departments and even the Boy Scouts.

Following a welcome by County Mayor Tim Stribling and opening prayers and blessing by Chamber President Isaac Gray, the colors were presented by DeKalb County Boy Scout Troop 347.

Cantrell, who plans on moving back to Smithville sometime in the next two years, said the Washington, D.C. area where he lives now is a different kettle of fish than Smithville.

“It’s a strange area because we have so many people that live there,” he said. “One of the things that brings the community together there is the church, but it’s not like Smithville. I had the privilege of living here when my dad went to Korea for two years and I learned a lot of life’s lessons, like when you see someone in trouble you stop to render aid, something that’s not regularly seen in the Washington, D.C. area because you’re not really sure if the person that’s got their car stopped is setting you up for a robbery or something else.”

Cantrell spoke on the importance of prayer in his life and how it is a privilege through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross that we all have we can have an intimate conversation (with God) anytime you pray.

“It pleases God when we exercise this privilege,” Cantrell said, and recalled an experience he had in his home in Washington. In the urban areas, there is a ride program where people who need rides wait at designated bus stops and those who want to give rides can stop. This helps put more people in cars and allows the driver to use lanes restricted for more than one passenger in a win-win situation.

“For some reason one day on my way home I thought I needed to check at the bus stop where the people are that need a ride to the area of my home,” he said. “There were two people there, a man and a woman." 

"The man didn’t need a ride but the there was a woman who was bent over and I noticed she had tears in her eyes. I asked her if everything was OK and she said she had been praying for the last 10 minutes for God to help her because she missed the bus to get home and if she didn’t get home in time, she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to a family member who was leaving that very day.”

Cantrell gave the woman a ride home and she said she was very grateful for the help. Cantrell said there were stories in the Bible where prayers had been answered quickly and sometimes when they are not but that we should always have the confidence our prayers are heard no matter what, and sometimes there may be a reason why they are not answered in a manner we think they should but that God always hears our prayers and we shouldn’t stop praying.

During the breakfast, which was prepared by Jason Evins from The Inn at Evins Mill, guests were entertained by gospel songs sung by Suzanne Slager.

Also on hand to attest to the healing power of prayer was Chamber Director Suzanne Williams who had a brush with tragedy recently after a fall in Gatlinburg left her critically injured, requiring surgery and she was able to speak during the breakfast and thanked everyone in the community for the special prayer meeting downtown.

“I want to thank everyone for the prayers and all the cards and gifts,” Williams said. “I received a card every day and am still getting one each day.”

DeKalb Fire Chief Donnie Green said prayer for the military and emergency response personnel, Rita Bell from Haven of Hope said a special prayer for the children and families of DeKalb County, Nancy Trapp, manager of surgical services at St. Thomas DeKalb, said a prayer for the community and its leaders.

City Mayor Jimmy Poss read scripture and the Lord’s Prayer was said in unison led by Kathy Hendrixson.

Sponsors of the Chamber Prayer Breakfast include Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital, Caney Fork Electric Cooperative, DTC Communications, Liberty State Bank, Middle Tennessee Natural Gas, Pates Ford Marina and Fish Lipz Grill/Sligo Marina & Restaurant, Sunbelt Real Estate and Fast Pace Urgent Care.

In closing, the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce wanted everyone to know: “We are thankful for your presence today, grateful for our community and its leaders and may you feel blessed today and throughout the holiday season.