National Prayer Breakfast splits from longtime organizer

This year’s National Prayer Breakfast will be hosted by a new congressional foundation led by former Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat from Arkansas. The annual event was organized and run by The International Foundation, also known as “The Family,” for decades as part of the organization’s multi-day convention. The newly formed National Prayer Breakfast Foundation will host 200 to 300 attendees, including President Joe Biden, for a simplified event where Pryor says Congress members will pray for the president, government, and world. The Family will host its own gathering simultaneously.

What is the history of the breakfast? In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to speak at a prayer breakfast at the Capitol after being invited by evangelist Billy Graham. The gathering is held every year on the first Thursday of February, and every American president has spoken at the meeting since Eisenhower began the tradition.

Dig deeper: Listen to commentator Cal Thomas on The World and Everything in It podcast discuss partisanship and prayer after the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast.