HOUSTON — Thousands of men, women and children listened to Christian-themed singers and music groups at Reliant Stadium here Saturday morning, shortly before a controversial prayer rally sponsored by Gov. Rick Perry was to begin.
At about 9 a.m., an hour before the program was scheduled to start, the stadium, with a seating capacity of 71,500, had tens of thousands of empty seats, particularly in the upper decks. By 10 a.m, organizers estimated that about 20,000 people were in attendance.
The event, a day of prayer and fasting called “The Response,” was created and promoted by Mr. Perry. He said that he wanted people of all faiths to attend, but Christianity dominated the tone of the prayer service and the religious affiliations of the crowd. The event is shaping up to be one of the biggest tests of Mr. Perry’s political career, coming on the cusp of his decision about whether to seek the Republican nomination for president.
At about 10 a.m., Luis Cataldo took the stage to give opening remarks.
“I wish you could see what I see here,” said Mr. Cataldo, a leader of the International House of Prayer, a Christian ministry in Kansas City, Mo. “This is the body of Christ.”
Mr. Cataldo said that there would be no long speeches, no banners and no signs. “You didn’t come here to listen to people preach,” he told the crowd. “You came to pray, and Jesus wants to hear your voice.”
Outside the stadium, more than 150 people gathered in small groups along the sidewalks to protest Mr. Perry’s involvement in the event and his support of the American Family Association, the primary organizer behind the prayer rally. The association is a conservative evangelical group based in Mississippi that condemns homosexuality and is listed as an antigay hate group by the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center.
Mr. Perry was scheduled to give a reading from the Bible and to deliver a prayer from the stage at about 11:30 a.m. In addition, several influential Christian conservatives were scheduled to either lead prayers or read from the Bible, including Dr. James C. Dobson, a psychologist who founded Focus on the Family; Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council in Washington; and Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Mr. Perry came up with the idea for the event in December but did not make an announcement about it until June. In letters to his fellow governors and in other statements, Mr. Perry used Bible verses to describe the rally’s purpose: He wanted to humbly ask God to intervene on behalf of the troubled nation, to provide spiritual solutions to the country’s problems and to bless and transform the lives of Americans. The governor repeatedly stressed that the gathering would be apolitical and “open to any member of the public who wants to join with us in prayer,” as his letter to Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama stated.