COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting Jan. 2 will begin with an invocation for the first time in nearly nine months.

Randy Priebe with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is scheduled to offer the opening prayer at the 6 p.m. meeting.

The city filled 22 of the 24 time slots through a registration system that assigned dates by lottery.

Some of the organizations and churches slated to give invocations at City Council meetings include Ignite World Ministries, Love in the Name of Christ, North Idaho Unitarian Universalists, Community of the Holy Spirit, the Salvation Army and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council on Aug. 16, 2022, voted unanimously to open invocations before meetings to any “nonprofit, faith-based organization within the city of Coeur d’Alene.”

The change started with the new fiscal year Oct. 1.

The decision ended a long-running practice of having Christian pastors provide the opening prayers, as scheduled by the Kootenai County Ministerial Association.

No one is signed up to give invocations Dec. 3 and Dec. 17, but the city hopes to fill those when someone can’t make their assigned date.

Invocation guidelines per the city's website, include: No more than three minutes long; it should not seek to convert others; it should not be political or disparage other faiths; should not threaten those with different beliefs "with hell, damnation or other punishment;" and should address "universal values such as peace, wisdom, and justice."