They came from as far away as Tennessee, North Carolina and Texas to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mt. Lebanon Wednesday Morning Prayer Group, which has been a major influence in the lives of Christians in the South Hills since the 1950s.

It has been a part of my life for 40 years," said Bert Thomas, 77, of Mt. Lebanon. "I call it my midweek pickup."

"It helps your faith to grow. And boy, in this world, you need that," said Wilma Haines, 79, of Peters, another 40-year member.

The Rev. Jeffrey Johnson, chief evangelist for American Baptist Churches USA, based in Valley Forge, said the group had a major impact on his life when he was brought to a prayer service 25 years ago as a young man.

"I had grown up in a good church that taught me the Bible," Johnson said. "This group taught me what was inside."

"This was a place where I not only knew God, but saw God work," he said yesterday as he offered testimony about the power of the group.

The group, which meets at 10 a.m. each Wednesday morning at the Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church, celebrated its golden anniversary yesterday with a rousing service attended by more than 170 people, followed by a luncheon.

This is no ordinary prayer group, said Carol Nomides, of Dormont, its leader.

"If we started to tell what the Lord has done, it would take more than a day or a week," she told the crowd, many whom offered personal testimonials.

It started in 1955 in a small Mt. Lebanon duplex, the home of the late Elizabeth "Tibb" Gethin, who was compelled to start it after witnessing her sister-in-law's healing at a prayer service held by the late Kathryn Kuhlman, a nationally known healing evangelist who had ties to the Pittsburgh area. She died in 1976.

At different times in its history, as many as 450 people attended its Wednesday sessions.

"Things happen in this prayer group," Nomides said in an earlier interview. "People are raising their hands in praise of the Lord. Sometimes, someone will fall to the floor as they are being prayed for."

Norma Bixler, who co-founded the Cornerstone TeleVision Network with her late husband, Russell, credits Gethin with leading her to Jesus and to a profound vision that led to the establishment of the Christian television station in Pittsburgh.

"Tibb was there to encourage us and pray for us. She and the Wednesday Prayer Group prayed us through the 10-year struggle to get the Lord's signal on the air," Bixler wrote in the foreword of a book about the group, "The House on McCully Street," by Gladys Blews Wilson.

Nomides attended her first prayer group in 1965, when people crowded into Gethin's duplex on McCully Street in Mt. Lebanon each Wednesday.

Gethin, a wife, mother and nurse, felt that God had rescued her from the mediocrity and skepticism of a lukewarm faith by allowing her to witness the hearing.

She called the experience her "baptism of love from the Holy Spirit" and heard an inner voice telling her to "go and tell this story."

"Tibb started with six women," Nomides said. They would come to her small duplex to pray and hear a message.

Within five years, the core group expanded to people of various economic levels, church affiliations and ethnic backgrounds.

"Within about 15 years, it got into hundreds," Nomides said.

The group gained additional recognition in 1968, when Gethin served as prayer chairwoman for the Billy Graham Crusade, helping many churches set up home prayer meetings.

In 1972, the group moved from the house on McCully Street to the sanctuary of the Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church.

The group has no official affiliation with the church, which provides space for the meetings.

The Rev. Patrick Albright, retired pastor of the Methodist Church, credited the prayer group with being instrumental in his decision to leave Erie to accept the assignment at the Mt. Lebanon church.

"I began to feel that any church that is an integral part of a group like this is a special church," Albright told the crowd. "There is no other group like it."

Even in today's world, usually 50 or more people show up for the prayer service at the Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church.

They include men and women who come from many denominations, but all share a belief in Jesus Christ.

"There are Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Assembly of God and quite a few Catholics," Nomides said.

"We call it our midweek feast, a good time for praising God and fellowship," she said.

Nomides, who has been leading the group since 1995, said everyone was welcome.

She said the group opens with a hymn, the 23rd Psalm and the Lord's Prayer, followed by a speaker who could be a pastor or layperson.

At the end of the service, they write prayer requests which are put into a gold box which has been part of the group since its beginning. One member lays hands on the box and prays.

She said two rules which have stayed in place throughout its history are these:

There shall be no criticism of any branch of religion, and no one is told in advance who will be speaking.

"We just love the Lord," Thomas said, explaining the ecumenical style of the group. "If every church were like this, the world would be a better place."