webmaster posted on January 05, 2010 12:58
It's just a small room -- the size of perhaps an infant's nursery - but healing prayers are sent out for dozens of people from the Prayer Tower at First Baptist Church in North Platte every week.
Sometimes 20 people or more fill weekly time slots to spend time in the tower quietly meditating and praying for those who have indicated a need.
The idea was proposed about 18 months ago by Pastor Tom Wiles, to encourage the congregation to develop a more intentional prayer life.
"He envisioned this as a place where members of the congregation would pray for each other as well as other prayer concerns that would come to us," said Margene Phares, who heads up the ministry.
Requests may be about finances, health, a need for housing, loss of employment or help in making a difficult decision.
There is one main difference between a prayer chain request and the Prayer Partners requests. As Phares explains, in a prayer chain, a prayer request begins with one person who passes it on to another person on down a list of names, or through an automated system where the call goes out from the church to all on the prayer chain. Those prayer requests are sent out one time, but not repeated. The requests sent to the Prayer Partners, however, remain on the list until there is notification of some resolution to the request.
The Prayer Partners' system is organized into several sections. A card is prepared for each prayer request and filed under the appropriate heading-- new, recent, ongoing and visitors - In an accordian folder, each person who comes to pray will pick two or three of the cards in each section and pray for those individuals. They will mark on each card their name and the date they prayed for this request. A post card may be sent to the person for whom they prayed, sometimes with a personal note of encouragement and other times just their signature. Each card carries a preprinted short message and Scripture.
The most meaningful part of the project, Phares explained, is hearing from the people for whom the Prayer Partners have been praying.
"One I took up to the Prayer Tower recently was an e-mail from someone who had cancer of the tongue," Phares said. "He was told that he was cancer-free by his physician and he was thanking us for our prayers. We have also heard from families where their loved one passed away, but they thanked us for the prayer support that gave them strength as they walked that difficult journey."
"We've heard from people we didn't know who told us how much they appreciated the prayers. The mother of a young woman who had had a double lung transplant came up to me at a wedding reception and told me how meaningful the prayers were for her daughter, who is now doing well," Prayer Partner Gene Stadler said.
"I always just feel very near to God when I am sitting in the prayer tower and spending time with him in his house praying for the needs of others," Partner Kathy Adkisson said.
In 2008, Nebraska ABC presented an award to the church for initiating a new program that was touching lives. Still in its infancy, the Prayer Partners team continues to stay faithful in prayer, praying for more people to join the team and for more prayer requests.
Patricia Dannatt
First Baptist Church, North Platte