The Fountain Hills Christian Ministerial Association will host the fifth annual Fountain Hills National Day of Prayer Thursday, May 5, at the Fountain Park amphitheater.

Representatives from numerous churches are working together to plan the gathering.

The Fountain Hills NDOP planning committee has created a plan to involve all churches in a common prayer focus throughout the year and not just on one day of the year.

People are asked to pray for seven institutions that have great influence in the country. They are government, military, media, business, education, church and family.

The committee is asking individuals and church congregations to participate in praying for one of these institutions each month. During the month of November, the military is the focus of prayer.

Committee members request that individuals ask God to keep all the men and women of the armed forces at home and abroad in His care, to defend them day by day, strengthen them in their trials and temptations, give them courage to face the perils which beset them, and grant them a sense of His abiding presence.

This year is the 65th annual NDOP nationwide.

People from all states will be participating around the country on that day. For more information about the National Day of Prayer, go to www.nationaldayofprayer.org.