Movement Harnesses the Power of Mass Prayer

With two sons overseas in the Marines during wartime, Diane and David Harris of Sierra Madre asked friends and church members to pray for the safety of the young men. But the Harris family had no idea how far that request would reach.

Someone had registered the names of Todd and Trevor Harris with the Adopt Our Troops campaign of the Presidential Prayer Team, a nondenominational Christian prayer group on the Internet. Soon, hundreds of thousands of strangers across the country were praying for the brothers.

They are among the 140,000 troops “adopted” for daily prayers by the Presidential Prayer Team. With a reported 1.6 million daily hits, the Web site is one of the biggest efforts merging technology with traditional prayer, religion experts say.

David Harris, a retired Pasadena police captain, and his wife, Diane, an office manager at a Pasadena law firm, say the family needed the prayers even before one of their sons was wounded in Iraq.

“It’s awesome,” Diane Harris said of the Internet effort. “I am grateful.”

Todd Harris, 23, a corporal, was sent to Kuwait in January, then to Iraq three months later for the start of the war. Meanwhile, Trevor, 26, was stationed in Okinawa.

In early April, Todd’s left hand was shattered in an accidental explosion while his unit was collecting munitions left behind in Baghdad by Saddam Hussein’s forces. After four surgeries in Kuwait and Spain, Todd returned home in a few weeks, on Good Friday, and now is back at work at Camp Pendleton. He lost two fingers

“By the grace of God, he was not more seriously injured,” said Diane Harris. “When your son goes to war, you have to say, ‘Lord, he is in your hands’ and continue to let go, and say ‘Whatever is your will, help me to accept it.’ ”

In response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, retired Baptist minister Cornell Haan and businessman Bill Hunter, both from the Scottsdale, Ariz., area, founded the Presidential Prayer Team as an Internet venue to pray for the president, his Cabinet and the nation. Since then, it has broadened its focus to the military and their families as well as members of Congress and other issues.

The group says it is not affiliated with the Bush administration or any political party.

The nonprofit Web site -- presidentialprayerteam.org -- is one of the busiest religious Web sites, according to John Lind, its president. Membership is free, but it contains commercial links.

Experts say such efforts on the Internet have given religious people a powerful tool to reach others around the world.

“Many of us have experienced the Internet as a wonderful means of connecting with distant family members and friends on a daily basis,” said Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, who writes a religion column on the Internet. “The same holds for people of faith. To be able to share prayer concerns with people around the world, encouraging each other in our efforts to serve the Lord -- this allows many of us to experience the community of believers in unprecedented ways.”

The Rev. Ross Parsley, an associate pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, one of the nation’s fastest-growing nondenominational churches, said Christians have a long history of using various ways to spread the Gospel and harness the power of prayer. “This is just the newest in a long line of different methods that believers have used,” he said.

On the Web site, members can find prayer updates, inspirational quotes and verses. Every Thursday night, a prayer update e-mail is sent to more than 3 million members, giving them current information and a one-page summary of people and issues to be prayed for.

Relatives, friends and military chaplains submit the names of military personnel for prayers. Web site members can choose any number of names from posted lists, which sometimes include photos of the soldiers and their families. However, for security reasons, the members are not told the soldiers’ hometowns and military assignments.

In the latest mailing, the prayer requests also included the victims of Hurricane Isabel, the homeless, people on drugs and children of prisoners.

Gail McFarland, an executive assistant at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, joined the Presidential Prayer Team shortly after 9/11. She says the group has been a “huge help” in her prayers for the nation, its leaders and its military. In addition to the Harrises -- the Marines from Sierra Madre whom she knows from her church -- she also prays for an “adopted soldier,” his wife and their children.

The Web site makes it “so easy for me,” she said. “I have a heart to pray, but I don’t have the time to do the research to get what needs to be prayed for. They’re telling me what needs prayer. And, I take it to God with a whole bunch of other people.”

McFarland keeps her weekly prayer list on her office computer. Whenever she has a moment to spare during her busy day, she refers to it and prays.

“Now that the fighting is over, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that our guys are still putting their lives on the line, and they are still dying,” McFarland said.

Meagan Gillan, editor of the Web page, hears from people all over the world.

A mother named Becky wrote that her 5-year-old daughter, Rachel, is participating with her in the Adopt Our Troops program, and has been praying for a soldier named Bruce Crabtree for the last eight months.

“I received word that he has returned safely home from Iraq,” Becky wrote. “When I shared this news with Rachel, she said: ‘God hears my prayers!’ It is awesome to see God’s faithfulness made real for my 5-year-old.”

Suzanne Keller, a 23-year-old Marine lance corporal from Chicago stationed in Kuwait, is a recipient of the group’s prayers. Her name was given to the Internet prayer list by friends of her sister, congregants of the Church on the Way in Van Nuys who are active in the Presidential Prayer Team.

Keller’s Marine communications unit, based in Kuwait, was deployed to Iraq temporarily before the war started, said her sister Kristina Keller, a Los Angeles attorney. The Marine often has 12-hour workdays in extreme heat and has had to contend with chemical warfare alerts, sandstorms, rats, snakes and scorpions, Kristina said.

But, it helps Suzanne to know that she has a legion of people -- most of them strangers -- praying for her.

Last Sunday the sisters talked by phone -- their second phone call in six months. “Suzy told me how privileged she felt for being prayed for by so many people,” Kristina reported. “Suzy said, ‘When I feel lonely, it’s nice to know that so many people care and are praying for me. I feel so privileged and protected because of their prayers.’ ”