With the start of school right around the corner, the Black Belt Ministerial Association has planned a community worship service for Sunday night.

The service will be held at 6 p.m. at Demopolis First Baptist Church with the Rev. DeAyrus Smith from St. Paul’s Baptist Church delivering the message. First Baptist’s Minister of Music Tim Hall and Fairhaven’s Minister of Music Andrew Lowe will provide music for the service.

Carl Williams, pastor of Demopolis First Baptist Church, said community services are usually held on the fifth Sunday of the month, when they occur.

“We decided to move this one up for a couple reasons,” Williams said. “First, we wanted to do it before school starts and make it into a prayer service for the upcoming school year. Plus, if we had left it on the last Sunday, it would have been the day before Labor Day, and many people would be out of town.”

Williams said they will pray for the schools, administrators, teachers and students as they head to school the next day.

“We want to encourage parents to bring their children,” Williams said. “We’ll have some activities in our gymnasium for them, and our nursery will also be open for younger children. We also want teachers to come out to the service as well.”

Earlier in the day Sunday, principals at the four Demopolis schools will open their hallways for a prayer walk, which is sponsored by Demopolis First Baptist. The prayer walk will begin at 3 p.m.

“The prayer walk is something we try to do every year,” Williams said. “The people in the community will be able to walk through the schools and pray. It’s a good opportunity to go to your child’s classroom and say a prayer for them and their teacher for the upcoming school year.”