Pastor says prayer team sent Isaac away from RNC

A Tampa Bay pastor told the Christian Broadcasting Network her team prayed Tropical Storm Isaac away from the Republican National Convention.

Forecasts for severe weather associated with the storm forced convention officials, in consultation with local and state emergency management officials, to call off the first day of the convention in Tampa, Fla.

Then Isaac mostly proved to be a non-event in the Tampa Bay area as the storm took a northwesterly track in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tampa Bay saw some strong wind and rain, minor flooding in roads, beach erosion and surfing waves, as Isaac threatened the northern Gulf coast, developing into a hurricane on track for New Orleans.

As the tropical storm warnings were lifted in Tampa on Aug. 27, the Rev. Jesten Peters of Keys of Authority Ministries told the Christian Broadcasting Network, “We have had lots and lots of people praying around the clock that it would move, and after you watch from the very beginning where they were saying it was coming and now where they say it is going, then it has really moved out of the way for us and we appreciate God doing that and moving it for us.”

Right Wing Watch posted the video of Peters, who said she was leading one of the teams praying for the RNC, which concludes Aug. 30 with the nomination of Mitt Romney for president.

The CBN interview posted online didn’t contain any follow up about Isaac’s threat to New Orleans and other U.S. locations.

The RNC opened on Aug. 27 and then was recessed until today (Aug. 28), with a program that begins at 2 p.m. at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

The weather delay allowed delegates plenty of time to get to events outside of the convention on Aug. 27, including a party hosted by the Log Cabin Republicans, a national LGBT group; a prayer rally hosted by Focus on the Family, a national Christian right organization. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann spoke at the Focus rally of a spiritual hurricane and called on people to suit up and pour it out “for Him.”

On the Web: www.rightwingwatch.org