POINT CLEAR — Sirhan Stacy delivered an impassioned testimony on the power of prayer Thursday, as the keynote speaker at the 26th Annual Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast.

“I am alive because of prayer,” said Stacy, a former University of Alabama running back and professional football player, referring to the coma he endured after the automobile accident that took the lives of his wife and four children in 2007.

“I am a living testimony,” Stacy said. “There is power in prayer. I’m not standing up here alone. I’m standing here because people prayed for me.’”

Only Stacy and his youngest daughter, Shelly, 3, survived the accident, when the van he was driving near his home in Newton, Ala., was struck by a drunken driver. After 10 days in a coma in a Birmingham hospital, Stacy awakened to learn what happened to his family.

“I went to a place I cannot describe,” said Stacy, before a quiet audience of more than 400 people at the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club and Spa in Point Clear. “I was filled with resentment, anger, despair and suicidal thoughts continually, when I learned that the only thing I had in this life was gone.”

On this first Thursday in May that has been observed by presidential proclamation as a National Day of Prayer since 1952, Stacy told of his journey out of those dark days in November two years ago.

“It’s like I was born again and woke up into a new world,” he said. “It is by God’s mercy that I am not suicidal any more.”

By the end of his address, the large dining hall at the Grand Hotel had the feel of a tent revival meeting, with the entire audience standing in prayer, many holding their hands in the air at Stacy’s urging. During his speech, he spoke candidly about his perspective on several social issues.

“I will not countenance the wicked ways of abortion, drunken driving and homosexuality,” he said. “I make no excuse for it. I’m not going to partner with homosexual pastors; that’s not the church I know. On the day of judgment you’ve got to account. What type of words are you speaking? Are you blessing someone, or are you cursing someone?”

This year’s prayer breakfast took place amid national controversy after a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled last month that the U.S. law directing the president to proclaim such a day violates the First Amendment, which prohibits government establishment of religion.

However, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said it was OK to proceed with the National Day of Prayer pending any appeals, which occurred on April 22 when the Obama administration appealed her decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Like last year, President Barack Obama did not hold an official prayer day observance, which differed from his predecessor, who always held an interfaith observance at the White House.

“I didn’t vote for the current president, but I feel like there’s got to be some good that’s going to come out of this White House,” Stacy said during his address.

The National Day of Prayer Task Force, a privately funded group whose chairwoman is Shirley Dobson, wife of James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, has opposed the federal court decision and demanded that Obama appeal the case. That group has helped organize numerous prayer day observances around the country.

Following the breakfast, a long line of audience members formed to meet with Stacy privately, many of whom he embraced, sometimes placing his hand on their foreheads and praying.