Southern Baptist Chaplain Calls for Prayer as Iraqi Elections Draw Near

''Your prayer support and God's intervention are needed to safeguard our soldiers and give democracy a chance in the war-torn country.''

By Kenneth Chan, Tuesday, January 25, 2005

With less than a week before the Jan. 30 voting to elect the 275-member assembly that will appoint a government and draft a constitution, a Southern Baptist chaplain stationed in the war-torn nation has requested special prayer for U.S. troops involved in the historic elections.

"Our troops will be delivering the voting machines and ballots to villages and cities throughout Iraq and are prime targets for the insurgents. Encourage your friends and family members and those within our churches to pray specifically for our soldiers and the electoral process," wrote Capt. Lyle Schackelford in an e-mail from Iraq.

"The insurgents do not want Iraqi citizens to vote, so they do not want the equipment to arrive at the polling stations," Schackelford wrote, as reported by the Baptist Press. "Timely delivery must occur so that the elections occur. Freedom will not ring throughout this country if the voting process fails."

Two weeks ago, on Jan. 11, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said some areas of Iraq would probably be too unsafe to take part in the nation’s first democratic elections, in his first acknowledgment of limited voting.

"Hostile forces are trying to hamper this event and to inflict damage and harm on the march and the guarantee for the participation of all in the elections," Allawi said in a news conference according to the Associated Press. "Certainly, there will be some pockets that will not be able to participate in the elections for these reasons, but we think that it will not widespread."

During the news conference, Allawi promised to increase the size of the army in the face of the rampant insurgency, whose latest victims include at least 11 Iraqi policemen who were killed in fierce clashes Tuesday in eastern Baghdad.

Shackelford, one of more than 1,000 Southern Baptist-endorsed chaplains serving in the U.S. military said, "Your prayer support and God's intervention are needed to safeguard our soldiers and give democracy a chance in the war-torn country."

Nearly 2,400 Southern Baptist-endorsed chaplains serve across the country and around the world in the military, hospitals, prisons and other institutions and businesses.

With Sunday's elections widely expected to be marred by bloodshed and violence, and with insurgent groups threatening voters with death, hospitals have drawn up plans to cope with a flood of casualties, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Allawi said he expects an escalation of attacks by Iraqi fighters in Iraq before and after the historic elections.