Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley prays to open the U.S. Senate session on July 9, 2025. (BP screen capture)
WASHINGTON (BP) – Colossians 1:9, Ephesians 4:1 and Micah 6:8 were among the Scripture passages touched on in a prayer offered at the opening of the U.S. Senate this morning (July 9) by SBC President Clint Pressley.
“Fill us with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and understanding, that we might walk in a manner worthy of being called your people,” Pressley prayed.
“… You have told us what is good: to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with you, our God.”
Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., was invited to offer the opening prayer by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).
“My goal was to present a clear, Gospel-saturated prayer to the One True God and to ask Him to strengthen and protect our country,” Pressley told Baptist Press after the prayer.
He prayed for God to make the nation “a righteous people – joyful in adversity, hopeful in struggle and just in our dealings” and for Americans to be “a prosperous and happy people.”
Pressley is not the first SBC officeholder to be invited to open a congressional session in prayer. J.D. Greear did so in the U.S. House in 2019 as did Ronnie Floyd in 2014, among others. Oklahoma pastor Brad Graves opened a Senate session in prayer earlier this year while he was still serving as SBC first vice president.
Pressley, in his second term as SBC president, expressed gratitude for today’s opportunity.
“The experience was a tangible reminder of how good it is to live in America. I stood and prayed in the well of the Senate today, by invitation. That is a good and remarkable thing. It was an honor.”
The full text of Pressley’s prayer is below:
“Father in Heaven,
We come to you in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, seeking your blessings on this deliberative body. We thank you for your constant grace, your providing hand and your guiding Word.
Fill us with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and understanding, that we might walk in a manner worthy of being called your people.
Father, we ask that you make us a righteous people – joyful in adversity, hopeful in struggle and just in our dealings. We pray that you would make us a prosperous and happy people.
You have told us what is good: to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with you, our God. May we flourish in kindness and strive for goodness under your gracious and sovereign hand.
We confess how good it is to live in this country, and we pray that you would continually empower us to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Help us, bless us and be honored through us. We ask this in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
