EVERETT — For nearly 50 years, the power of prayer has helped bring together bikers and cops, teens and seniors, congressmen and their constituents.

Granted, the French toast and coffee also have helped get people in the door.

On March 21 — Good Friday — the Cascade Community Church youth choir cranked up the refrains of “How Great is Our God” for a diverse group of people at the Hansen Conference Center at the Everett Events Center during Snohomish County’s 48th annual prayer breakfast.

For an hour and a half, about 500 people enjoyed a nondenominational program of worship and inspiration led by Lloyd John Ogilvie, a “pastor’s pastor” who was the 61st person to serve as the chaplain of the United States Senate.

Two of the first to arrive at the breakfast were Dean Ekloff, senior pastor of Midnight Cry of Snohomish, a “biker’s church;” and Mark Byrd, its associate pastor. Both wore leather vests emblazoned with Crusaders for Christ emblems. They were attending their first prayer breakfast. Byrd, who retired the day before, said he wanted to start his retirement off on a good note.

Alexa Warnek, a sophomore at Jackson High School in Everett and a member of the Southeast Family YMCA board of directors, presented an invocation she wrote for the program.

Recognize “our diversity and to be thankful for all we have, to be a beacon of freedom and justice,” she told the group.

Ogilvie, the author of 53 books of faith, told Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick that he felt “confident” sitting at a table next to him. People need to find their passion for life to tackle the “soul-sized issues” in our communities, he said.

“Be thankful for the people who enforce our laws, for the firemen and leaders in our communities who protect and serve us,” Ogilvie said. “Pray for our leaders, who rely upon supernatural strength to do their jobs.”

Ogilvie called for each person to decide to address one unmet need in the community. He said the real meaning of passion, derived from the Greek, pathos, “is a gift from Christ, who died and rose and once we’ve experienced his power, we have a passion for living.”

Linnea Covington of Structural Design Associates of Everett, whose Rotary Club sponsored a table at the event, said Ogilvie’s description of Christ on the cross, suffering for those he loved, moved her and others to tears.

Mike Zubovic, vice president of finance for Aviation Technical Services at Paine Field in Everett, said Ogilvie’s talk was one of the best he had ever heard.

Ogilvie talked of linking arms to “share Christ’s love” to solve not only the everyday problems, but the “soul issues.” That description inspired Tony Czaban, supervisor of financial planning and analysis at Aviation Technical Services.

Dr. Leon Aller and his wife, Virginia, founding board members of Match 2 of Snohomish County, a program that links prison inmates with volunteers, came to their table with a walker and a wheelchair. The Allers, who founded the visitation and job therapy program in 1964, said they have attended nearly every prayer breakfast since its inception.

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, heard about the breakfast at his church. He said he was glad to spend Good Friday at his first Snohomish County prayer breakfast. His family was in Washington, D.C.

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said the event was “an incredible example of the great community we call Everett, to see friends, neighbors and people from all walks of life gathered together.”

Reporter Leita Crossfield: 425-339-3449 or lcrossfield@heraldnet.com.