Christians Pray Over Grounds Before Pagan Unity Festival Held at Chickasaw
Churches from Henderson, Jackson, Lexington, Trenton, Bolivar, and Toone came together at Camp LaJoie at Chickasaw State Park on Monday, May 26, 2025, for prayer in response to the Pagan Unity Festival, which is being held at the campgrounds through Sunday, June 1, 2025. About 50 Christians gathered to pray at the site where the Hardeman County Baptist Association will hold its children’s camp in July.
According to a post on the Hardeman County Baptist Association Facebook page, the purpose of the gathering was “to pray against the forces of darkness who will be present at the pagan festival.”
Matt Boatwright, pastor of Parrans Chapel Baptist Church, shared some of the concerns, which he believes should be of importance to the Christian community.
“There are several concerns that the Christian community should have about a group like this meeting in our area. Our primary concern is that Lake LaJoie is a shared space and our children’s camp is held there. As we read the scriptures, we can clearly see that angels and demons are real. The pagans promise to ‘worship’ what we know to be false gods. They plan to practice magic as well as set up altars around the camp. We believe that these actions will invite unhealthy and unholy things into this campground,” said Pastor Boatwright, who shared his hope for those attending the festival. “We also have a strong desire to see these people repent of idol worship and turn to Jesus Christ in faith. The bible is clear that anyone who worships false gods and refuses Jesus Christ will be separated from God forever. We want to see all people everywhere turn to Jesus.”
Camp LaJoie at Chickasaw State Park is a public location and used throughout the year by people of all religious and non-religious backgrounds. Those who came to pray understood that fact.
“We believe that all Americans have a fundamental right to use public facilities within legal bounds and while this may be very concerning for us as followers of Christ, we want these people to be able to assemble and use the campgrounds as they see fit. Having said that, we know that what they are doing is fundamentally evil and must be prayed against in the strongest measures,” said Pastor Boatwright.
During the gathering, there was a short message, some singing, but mostly individual prayer around the campgrounds. Pastor Boatwright shared those in attendance were confident in every way their honest appeal to God to protect the campground and drive away any evil spirits or demons would be more than effective.
“I would call all believers everywhere to pray for soft hearts toward the gospel or good news of Jesus Christ. These neighbors of ours are clearly seeking spiritual truth and we pray they find it in Jesus Christ,” said Pastor Boatwright. “The Lord has already won the battle and defeated Satan when Christ died on the cross and rose again.”
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