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Mayor clarifies community prayer tree; councilor frames it as inclusive witness
Summary
Mayor clarified a community prayer-tree project in a city park (not church property), explaining prayers will be collected and privately burned in January; Councilor Robert Freitas responded, urging love and inclusion and defending the project as community-oriented.
The mayor used part of the meeting to clarify language he had written in the city's "hometown highlights" distributed with water bills about a community prayer tree. He said the tree would be placed in a small city park near the First Baptist gym (used only as a visual landmark), not on church property, and would include a box with paper and pens so citizens could write prayers to hang on the tree.
The mayor explained that prayers would be left on the tree through the end of the year, then removed in January for a private burning ceremony led by a local Christian minister. He emphasized the event is intended as a "community prayer tree," not a church-sponsored or doctrinal activity. "This is not a Christian prayer tree or any religion or church prayer tree," he said, adding that the park is city property.
Councilor Robert Freitas (speaker 2) responded with remarks from a Christian theological perspective, defending the prayer tree as a public space that allows people to reflect and pray according to conscience. He urged Christians to show love and inclusion and said the project creates opportunity for outreach rather than diminishing Christian witness.
What happens next: Mayor and staff did not announce additional formal actions; the mayor said the two citizens spearheading the project (Jean Taylor and Janice Collins) will determine the January date for the private ceremony.
