Our History
Our Prayer Breakfast Roots:
The origin of the many a Prayer Breakfast is traced back to prayer groups with business and civic leaders in Seattle, organized by Abraham Vereide in the 1930s. When he moved to Washington, DC, he established similar groups with members of Congress. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower attended a meeting by invitation of Congressmen, Vereide, and Billy Graham. Vereide's successor Douglas Coe and Rev. Richard C. Halverson have also carried leadership roles in organizing the event.
Initially called the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, the name was changed in 1970 to the National Prayer Breakfast. Every American president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has participated in the annual event.
How a national event came to Hillsboro, OR
In 1985 Doug Coe invited Frank Carpenter to attend the Presidential Prayer Breakfast.after corresponding for several years. Since Douglas Coe also had roots in Oregon as a Youth for Christ leader in Salem, Oregon was among the first states to model the National Prayer Breakfast event calling it the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. Frank served on this committee for about 3 years. The success of the event prompted him to see if they could develop a Prayer Breakfast in Hillsboro. Frank approached current Mayor Shirley Huffman about the Breakfast, and she immediately gave her blessing to plan such the event. One of the first persons approached to help with leadership of our Prayer Breakfast was John Meek, who was very excited about the event. Pastor Rich Jones, and Charles Starr also provided invaluable help. The Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast ran for three years from 1986-1988.
A revival and the Lord’s blessings.
After the third Breakfast in 1998, the planning for the event was stopped, until in 2000 when Frank received a call from the Kiwanis Club of Hillsboro asking if it would be alright for them to revive and host the Prayer Breakfast. Susan Swanson of Hutchins TV & Appliance was the chairman of the Kiwanis Spiritual Aims Committee and coordinated with the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce and former city mayor Shirley Huffman about reviving the event. She reached out to the former event committee members, including Frank Carpenter and Rich Jones, plus Jerry Willey. Susan gathered the rest of her committee from the Kiwanis Club members included Ron Powne, Kas Kachmarek, and Larry Aldridge.
With the consent and encouragement of the current Mayor at that time, Tom Hughes, the ‘Hillsboro Mayor's Prayer Breakfast’ was launched in 2000. The event name was changed to ‘Kiwanis Hillsboro Prayer Breakfast,’ and in January 2018 become a separate public service tax exempt non-profit registered as the ’Hillsboro Prayer Breakfast.’ We continue hosting and planning the event, and are excited to see where God takes us next.