The Star Palos Area 09-12-2004

The Rev. Phil Epperson planned his cross-country prayer trip the night he was jolted out of a deep sleep by a message from God, asking him to pray for America.

Epperson believes God can speak to him and through him. Epperson believes, deeply and certainly, that if he does as God asks, God will protect him and his country.

The trip was God's idea, he said. Go to every state, and pray for America.

Epperson's wife insisted on the RV.

"This is not the way I would have planned a trip," Vicki Epperson said resignedly, gesturing toward a stack of atlases, cartons of batteries, cables for a digital camera, the very magnitude of the planning exhausting her. "It's a lot to do."

This is the practical side of carrying out a prophecy: You put thumbtacks in a map of the United States to mark your destinations, and when you're not looking, the grandkids pull them out.

Three and a half years ago, Epperson, the retired pastor of Stone Park Assemblies of God Church in Palos Heights, felt "called" to pray across America.

There was no booming voice, no parting of clouds, just a realization that came to him, which he believes was God's. It was, he said, similar to the "call" he felt when he became a pastor, the sudden and overwhelming feeling that this was something he needed to do.

The next three years were devoted to planning a journey of 20,000 miles, to the capitals of the states because they are the seats of government, Epperson said. They'll travel to Austin, Texas, to Montpelier, Vermont, to Sacramento, Calif., to Montgomery, Ala. They'll fly to Honolulu from Phoenix, Epperson said.

The trip was scheduled to begin yesterday - Sept. 11 - in Springfield and end a year later in Washington, D.C.

They'll tow a small car behind the RV. Vicki's been calling state capital police officials, securing permits to speak on state property.

"In some states, it's fine. You just need to fax something," she said. "In Phoenix, we had to get liability insurance. In Texas, it cost $250 for the permit. Every state is different."

Vicki said when Epperson announced his plan, she at first thought of how much work it would be. But as they began mapping out routes and she began telling friends who approved of the idea, excitement began to grow.

And, she said, she always trusted her husband, and her husband's faith had not yet led them astray.

"He's the big vision," she said. "I'm the detail person. I found it all very threatening at first. It's a lot to do."

The couple, and whoever they can get to come out to meet them, will recite seven prayers, including the Lord's Prayer. They'll play taps and honor military veterans. They'll blow a shofar, a horn used in the Jewish faith to mark times of repentance.

In some states, they'll draw a crowd, Epperson said. They've attracted attention from conservative and religious organizations like the National Day of Prayer and the Concerned Women for America, which is now an official sponsor of the trip.

While some of Epperson's goals might dovetail with political parties, his prayer tour maintains a strict electoral neutrality, he said. He admitted voting for and praying for politicians of both parties.

"I think I probably prayed more for Bill Clinton than I have for George W. Bush," Epperson said. "Just because I thought perhaps Bill Clinton didn't have that many people praying for him."

Epperson and his wife are advocating that everyone in the country recognize the God in which Epperson believes, and begin to pray.

"Everyone sins; we're not excluding ourselves there," Epperson said. "People sin when they cheat and steal, when they are unfaithful to their wives or their husbands. Children who are disobedient to their parents sin. Parents who beat their children sin. America needs a lot of forgiveness."

Born on a poor Missouri farm, Epperson began his career as a teacher. A prediction from his parents' friends that he would become a preacher fell by the wayside while he counseled junior high and high school kids.

Asked how he decided to become a pastor, Epperson gently corrects his questioner, "I didn't decide, I was called." He had always liked talking people through their problems and helping them find solutions, he said, so when God called him, he felt he already had some skills he could put to use.

He met Vicki in college, and they married in 1966. They had four children, the last born shortly after they moved to Illinois and Epperson began pastoring.

He was senior pastor at Stone Church from 1980 to 2000, and was a well-regarded preacher and administrator, according to Ken Darnell, current principal of the Stone Church Christian Academy.

"He started the school and the child care here at the church," Darnell said. "He had a good sense of the heart of people, how to shepherd them and take care of them."

Prayer Across America, Epperson hopes, will inspire legislators to live according to "Christian principles" and "the law of the Bible."

Epperson said he's not asking for action on any specific legislation, or praying for any one party to increase its power in the fall elections.

He has a computer presentation he gives when he travels to other churches to speak. The presentation quotes various Founding Fathers on God and faith, and shows paintings of prayer meetings among members of Congress.

"We're not trying to be controversial, but we do want America to accept the lord Jesus," Epperson said. "I really believe that if the churches in this country awaken to a new life in prayer, if Catholics and Protestants and all denominations pray to God and trust him, he will protect us."

Epperson, raised in the Assemblies of God church by devout parents, has believed all his life that God protects the righteous. But, he said, not all churches emphasize prayer as much as they can, or ask their members to pray as often as they can.

Epperson was relieved when the plan to pray across America came to him. Now, he said, he knew what to do to help his country. The United States needs protection now, he said, citing the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. If he asks God to shield this country, if enough people just ask for it and behave righteously, God will answer those prayers.

He believes this, deeply and certainly.

"Terrible things have been done in the name of God by all faiths. Just look at the Crusades, which were horribly destructive," Epperson said. "We are a country of many sins. We cannot expect God's protection unless we repent those sins, and change."