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Florida man works to start Hispanic prayer line

>Sep. 16, 2008

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>A UMNS Report By Jenna De Marco*

Leland McKeown says he can't help but look for ways to help people in  need.

A United Methodist from Florida, his latest mission is to establish a  denominational toll-free telephone prayer line for the Hispanic  community-similar to an English-language prayer line already available  24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the Upper Room Living Prayer  Center in Nashville, Tenn.

McKeown, who serves as chairman of ministries and missions for the  Florida Conference United Methodist Men, shared his vision last March in  Nashville at a meeting of the United Methodist Men Conference Presidents  and Prayer Advocates.

"It would be a national prayer line (like) the Upper Room prayer line  (but) for Spanish-speaking people, and it would cover the United States  and Canada and the Caribbean," he said.

In a subsequent letter to local churches in Florida, McKeown outlined  three key steps to make the vision a reality.

"First, the United Methodist Men's Foundation would set up a special  account for this purpose that would have to accumulate a minimum of  $300,000 to fund the program. This was started with a free-will offering  that raised the first $1,000," he said. "Secondly, we would need to  establish as many remote units as possible that could take calls and  pray with people in Spanish. Third, we would need to set up a number of  covenant prayer groups to pray over the requests."

McKeown said all United Methodist churches and conferences can  contribute to the startup ministry, although it is his prayer "that the  membership of the Florida Conference will lead the way to attain the  three basic needs it will take to fulfill this mission."

More than 175 Christian volunteers staff the English-language prayer  line, which averages about 30,000 toll-free telephone prayer requests  and 7,000 e-mail requests each month, in addition to many written  requests. More than 300 groups pray for the requests.

Migdiel Pérez, manager of the Upper Room Living Prayer Center, sees a  need for a Hispanic prayer line. He cites denominational statistics that  people of Hispanic/Latino descent make up 51,871 of the church's  members, 357 congregations, 506 clergy and three bishops. At the same  time, U.S. Census information indicates Hispanics accounted for half of  the U.S. population growth-1.4 million people out of a total 2.9  million-from July 2005 through July 2006. California, Texas and Florida  have the largest populations of Hispanics.

"We are a diverse community with many needs and gifts," said Pérez,  himself from Puerto Rico. "Despite a common language and shared cultural  values and practices, it manifests rich variations of linguistic and  cultural expression that reflect regional and national origin  differences. Taking all of this into consideration, the staff of Upper  Room Living Prayer Center feel that God is leading us to work with this  growing community by making our prayer ministry available in Spanish,  their heart language."

The $300,000 goal is a benchmark that would allow the ministry to be  fully funded for at least two years. In the meantime, Hispanic people  can e-mail prayer requests on the Upper Room Prayer Center's Web site  (http://www.upperroom.org/Prayer_Center/enespanol/).

"We do have the Web site, and they can go in and actually read the  magazine, the meditation and (make) the prayer requests," Pérez said.

Pérez gives written Spanish prayer requests to several of his staff  members who are Hispanic, who take them home or to their churches for  prayer.

United Methodists can support the birth of the Hispanic prayer line  several ways. Pérez suggests praying for the people who will be a part  of it, as well as for the lives that will be touched by it. He also  requests help from annual conferences and local churches in promoting  this ministry and in forming covenant groups that will be praying for  the requests.

Anyone who wants to contribute financially or learn more about forming a  covenant group should contact Pérez at (877) 899-2780, ext. 7215, or  through the Upper Room Living Prayer Center  (http://www.upperroom.org/prayer_center).

*De Marco is a freelance writer based in Nashville, Tenn. This story  appeared initially in e-Review, an online publication of the Florida  Annual Conference.

News media contact: Marta Aldrich, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or  newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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