On May 18, at Festival Park in downtown Fayetteville, thousands of people will gather with a unified purpose: to pray for our city. This year is the 11th AsONE Prayer Walk, a day when Christians from every background, every denomination, and every theological ideology unite to pray together.
Over 11 years ago, faith leaders in our community, including Anthony O’Neil, Leo Bryan, Craig Morrison, Josh Goodman, Michael Swindon, Jeremy Wright and others, came together to create an event of unity, prayer and fellowship.
They took cues from similar events in larger cities, such as God Belongs in My City in New York. In 2013, the first AsOne Prayer Walk kicked off in downtown Fayetteville. In the intervening years, the event only grew.
Many of the past years’ Prayer Walks included concerts and other events throughout the week leading up to the prayer walk through downtown. As with many other events that involve large groups of people gathering, the pandemic lockdown in 2020 disrupted the momentum that had been growing since 2013.
The theme for this year’s event is “Calling All Prayer Warriors to The Place Warriors Are Trained to Fight Everyday.” The Prayer Walk in 2024 will be a “back-to-basics” event, according to Jeremy Wright. The 2-mile walking route will be the same as past years; it starts and ends in Festival Park and will include stops for participants to pray for specific people in our community, our state, our country and our world.
Each stop will have a specific prayer focus, seeking to cover our community and those in it with prayer:
• Airborne and Special Operations Museum: pray for military service members and their families, and for veterans.
• City Hall: pray for local, state, and federal government.
• Detention Center: pray for law enforcement, victims of crime, and those incarcerated.
• Market House: pray for unity and reconciliation.
• Headquarters Library: pray for children, families, for educators; also, pray for our city’s homeless population, many of whom find refuge in the library.
• Festival Park: pray for pastors/spiritual leadership.
One difference between this year’s event and those in years past is that churches from across North Carolina have been invited to attend and join the prayer. The organizers hope that this inclusion of people from outside of Fayetteville will only grow, turning the AsONE Prayer Walk into a day of unified prayer for all of North Carolina.
The organizers of AsONE Prayer Walk have big plans for 2025. The goal is to gather 25,000 people onto the streets of downtown Fayetteville for the express purpose of praying for our community and our people.
There are also plans in the works to return to the pre-pandemic unity week: an entire week prior to the Prayer Walk that will unify Christ-followers from all around our city and our state.
Some of the events during that week in May will include: pulpit swaps (preachers from different denominations speaking at each other’s churches); service-oriented events to help organizations such as the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity; other events aimed at bringing together the people of Christ to serve and pray together.
Additionally, organizers aim to sell 100,000 AsONE t-shirts to people all over North Carolina. That way, even those who can’t come to Fayetteville and walk in person, can still show solidarity and unity in purpose. The shirt bears the logo “Pray Serve Love Carolina.”
Although organizers have big plans for next year, this year’s event is the most immediate focus. Anyone interested in participating in this year’s Prayer Walk can register at www.asoneprayerwalk.org.
It is completely free to participate, but organizers ask that participants register so they can keep an accurate count of those walking. Participants can purchase the AsONE t-shirt, with the “Pray Serve Love Carolina” logo, though a t-shirt is not required for those walking. Come join thousands of other people of faith to cover our city in prayer. For more information, visit www.asoneprayerwalk.org.

(Photo: Attendees to the 2022 AsONE Paryer Work journey around downtown Fayetteville praying over the city.  Photo courtesy of AsONE Prayer Walk's Facebook page.)