People gather, pray over Old Hickory Boulevard

The morning was a perfect time for a walk.

Fortunately for Garry Martin and Brooks Shaw, about 100 supporters and friends had gathered to join them.

The pair coordinated the third annual Clark Shaw Memorial Prayer Walk on Old Hickory Boulevard from Barton’s Surplus toward the west around Hartland Apartments and other areas of that neighborhood.

“This area was always important to my dad,” said Shaw, Clark Shaw’s son. “It’s close to the Old Country Store and Casey Jones Village, and he really had a heart for the area and the people in it to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ.”

Martin, who coordinated the inaugural prayer walk with Clark Shaw before he died in 2020 from COVID-19, led the crowd in worship with the song “I Love You Lord” and then said a few words about the gathering.

“This area was Clark’s neighborhood,” said Martin, who pastors Jackson First Assembly Church. “The church I pastor is a couple miles from here, but this is my neighborhood.

“This is all of your neighborhood. This is our neighborhood, and we’re called this morning to be a light for Jesus in this neighborhood as we cover it in prayer.”

The morning was capped with a cookout put together by members of Jackson Police and Jackson Fire Department at Hartland Apartments, complete with bouncy houses for the children to play in for a fun morning with local first responders.

“We wanted to pray over them and feed any of the people here spiritually who might let us know they need it, and then I appreciate police and firefighters coming out and feeding them physically,” Brooks Shaw said. “This is something that my dad wanted to do and only got to do one time before he died and then we brought it back last year.

“I believe he’d be proud of what we did and happy with how we put it together.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news