At a small church between Aurelian Springs and Brinkleyville, big prayers went up for a little boy.

Will Hawkins remains at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville where he is on a ventilator after a tombstone fell and hit him on the head Sunday.

As word of the mishap spreads through social networking, the 7-year-old’s plight has reached across the country and to other parts of the world.

Tonight, friends, family and other supporters gathered at the boy’s home church — Mount Tabor United Methodist — for a prayer vigil.

(Regular updates on the boy’s condition may be found at this Facebook link)

The sanctuary was filled to capacity and speakers were set up in the back for the overflow audience to hear.

“It’s been a horrific nightmare,” said the boy’s aunt, Pam Ballew. “That little boy is with us tonight because you have prayed.”

Will’s brain was swelling and doctors removed pieces of his skull to reduce that swelling, she said.

A man wipes tears during a prayer.

Will, the son of Taylor and Doris Hawkins, has been through one surgery that lasted for hours. He is on a ventilator, Ballew said, “Because his doctors don’t want his body to anything more than it has to. He is not in a drug-induced coma. He is heavily sedated.”

Over the last three days he remains in critical condition, his aunt said. “We truly believe God’s going to heal him. Prayer has brought him here. He has had reaction to pinches.”

Ballew said her nephew’s optic nerves are intact and today he had a small pupil reaction to light. “He’s not regressing.”

The prayers for the boy have spread as far as China and Peru, Ballew said. “You think about all who he has touched and he’s just a little 7-year-old boy.”

The congregation prayers for each other.

David Shearin organized the prayer vigil. He said an account should be opened for Will at First Citizens by Monday and the Facebook page that keeps people updated on his condition is expected to include a link to a PayPal account for donations. “The immediate needs are for travel and expenses,” he said.

Sidney Collins, minister of the church, said, “I am blessed by this effort. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

Reading Psalms 84, Collins said, “The Psalmist tells us we will pass through valleys of weeping. There is no promise there will be one valley. In that valley God is with us and we feel the many this evening praying for Will.”

Collins said the prayer effort crosses denominations. “When God’s people pray, miracles happen. We’re going to pray and expect a miracle.”