On Sunday, April 15, at 4 p.m., each of Holston's 12 districts will hold a special service that will unite church members in praying for the future.

Prayer locations by district:

Abingdon: Pleasant View
Big Stone Gap: Trinity
Chattanooga: Red Bank
Cleveland: Keith Memorial
Johnson City: Wesley Memorial
Kingsport: Crossroads
Knoxville: Second
Maryville: St. John
Morristown: Trinity, Morristown
Oak Ridge: St. Mark, Clinton
Tazewell: Ebenezer
Wytheville: Dublin

The Rev. David Graves said the purpose of the simultaneous prayer services is to "pray for our work on the Call to Action, for General Conference, and for our own Annual Conference."

"We believe that every church in Holston is a vital congregation, and we want to come together to pray," said Graves, dean of the Cabinet and a member of Bishop Swanson's Blue Ribbon Team.

Although held at 12 different churches within each district, every service will be similar in format, with a video introduction from Bishop James Swanson, Graves said.

"We've talked about how bad things are. Now we want to focus on the 'Bright Spots,'" Graves said, referring to a term from the book, "Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard."

"We want to bathe our efforts in prayer and encourage each other so we can begin to turn the corner," he said.

Holston members are also encouraged to participate in a denomination-wide prayer campaign, "The Upper Room's 50 Days of Prayer Before and During General Conference 2012," beginning March 16.

General Conference will convene April 24 through May 4 in Tampa, Fla. Holston Annual Conference is scheduled for June 10-13 in Lake Junaluska, N.C.