I’ve been a part of Ethos Church since I moved to Nashville in 2014, and have had the pleasure of photographing a lot of our events and celebrations. At the end of January, I was able to photograph the kickoff to Awaken Nashville, a month of prayer and fasting for our city and our neighbors. The event was hosted by Ethos and Crosspoint, and worship leaders from both churches joined on the stage and led two full audiences of people from over 500 churches in the Nashville area. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the evening!

Nashville is a very unique place. It has all of the charm of a southern city, but is becoming increasingly more diverse as communities of refugees and missionaries from other countries come and call this place their home. The heart behind Awaken is praying and fasting for the people in our lives and our communities who don’t know Jesus. I could tell the story of how Awaken began, or even the story of the first year that Ethos fasted and prayed together, but I would most certainly miss some of the most important details. I can, however, share my own experience over the past couple of years.

Each of the years that we’ve fasted and prayed as a church family, I’ve started off the month in unexpected ways. The first two years I lost people who were very close to my family, and the third year, my bedroom / office flooded and thrust me into a nearly four-month period of couch surfing, and here we are beginning the fourth year relatively smoothly, which I am thankful for. While I haven’t seen writing in the sky to answer any of my prayers these past few years, I can point very clearly to each of these months of prayer and fasting as some of the places where my faith was tested and was strengthened. God reminded me of my identity when I questioned my worth, and He reminded me that He is my rock in the years of instability. Every year I found myself worried about something to do with the future, and here I am in a job that I love but would have never expected, living with people whom I only recently met and who are so wonderful. What a gift.

This year, 2020, I’ve started off the month without any tragedy or floods. I suited up with my cameras and headed to the Ryman to begin this season in celebration of all that God has done, and with expectation of what he’s going to do. 2019 was so crazy for so many reasons, but it was also the first year that I was able to focus all of my work on weddings, which is such a huge gift! It was a year that I released a song that’s very dear to me, and a year that I wrote more songs that I hope to share one day soon. I have a lot of hopes and dreams for my photography this year, and for my personal life and my music. I’m continually learning more about running a business and about giving that business over for God to use. My prayer is that He will make me into a peacemaker. I have the great honor and joy of capturing moments like this event at the Ryman, and truly there is no telling what all He is doing in the hearts of each person pictured or not pictured; and while I capture these moments, like any moment at a wedding or in a newborn baby’s bedroom or after a new engagement, I pray that I am someone who carries an unexplainable peace with me.

I am excited to hear how God moves through our city and our state this month, as thousands of people dedicate more of their time and their energy to praying for our neighbors. Want to hear more? Awakennashville.com.

Questions about anything I’ve share at all or about photographing your own event?? jamieprattphotos@gmail.com.