7A
Starting a Hispanic prayer line
mote units as possible that could Taking all of this into consideration,
B Y J ENNA D E M ARCO
take calls and pray with people in the staff of Upper Room Living Prayer
Special Contributor
Spanish. Third, we would need to Center feel that God is leading us to
set up a number of covenant prayer work with this growing community
As chairman of ministries and groups to pray over the requests.” by making our prayer ministry avail-
missions for United Methodist Men Mr. McKeown says all United able in Spanish, their heart language.”
in the Florida Conference, Leland Methodist churches and confer- The $300,000 goal was estab-
McKeown says he can’t help but be ences can contribute to the start-up, lished as a benchmark that will
on the lookout for ways to help peo- although it is his “prayer that the allow the program to be fully
ple in need. membership of the Florida Confer- funded for at least two years. Until
Right now, his mission is making ence will lead the way to attain the that time, the Hispanic community
a toll-free prayer telephone line avail- three basic needs it will take to ful- may make e-mail prayer requests
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE PHOTO BY MIKE DUBOSE
able for the Hispanic community. fill this mission.” on the Upper Room Prayer Center’s
At a February/March 2008 meet- More than 175 volunteers staff Web site, although there are no
Jennifer Briggs and Meredith Carlson prepare food for American
ing of the United Methodist Men the current English prayer line and, Spanish speaking volunteers cur-
Red Cross volunteers staying at Broadmoor United Methodist
Conference Presidents and Prayer Ad- each month the Living Prayer Cen- rently answering telephone lines.
Church in Baton Rouge, La.
vocates in Nashville, Tenn., Mr. McKe- ter averages about 30,000 toll-free “We do have the Web site, and
own shared his vision and hope for telephone prayer requests, 7,000 e- they can go in and actually read the
the prayer line, and asked what would mail requests and many written re- magazine, the meditation and
be needed to make it happen. quests. More than 300 groups pray [make] the prayer requests,” Mr.
An English prayer line is already for the requests. Pérez said.
Louisiana church
available 24 hours a day, seven days Migdiel Pérez, manager of the Mr. Pérez gives the Spanish
a week through the Upper Room Upper Room Living Prayer Center, prayer requests to several of his His-
Living Prayer Center in Nashville. sees a need for the Hispanic prayer panic staff members, who take them
“It would be a national prayer line, citing United Methodist Church home or to their churches for prayer.
houses volunteers
line [like] the Upper Room prayer statistics on people of Hispanic/ He offers several ways United
line [but] for Spanish-speaking Latino descent: there are 51,871 Methodists may support the birth
history of hospitality during emergen-
people, and it would cover the members, 357 congregations, 506 of the Hispanic prayer line, such as B Y B ETTY BACKSTROM AND
cies and times of need, according to
United States and Canada and the clergy and three bishops. Meanwhile, praying for the people who will be a K ATHY L. GILBERT
Michael Cockrell, the church’s business
Caribbean,” Mr. McKeown said. U.S. Census information shows that part of it, as well as for the lives that
United Methodist News Service
administrator. It is the full-time home
Mr. McKeown learned three key Hispanics comprised half the popu- will be touched by it. Mr. Pérez also
of an ecumenical assistance and food
steps are needed to establish a lation growth—1.4 million people requests help from annual confer-
BATON ROUGE, La.—Experi- program called Southeast Ministries.
Spanish prayer line. out of a total 2.9 million—from July ences and local churches in promot-
enced Red Cross volunteers from all “After Katrina, we were able to help
“The answer was basically three 2005 through July 2006. California, ing this ministry and in forming the
over the United States know that the a lot of families that relocated from
things,” Mr. McKeown said in a let- Texas and Florida have the largest covenant groups that will be pray-
“Broadmoor Hilton” is the place to New Orleans. The church has regular
ter to local churches. “First, the populations of Hispanics. ing for the requests.
stay in southern Louisiana. food drives that keep our pantries
United Methodist Men’s Foundation “We are a diverse community with To contribute to the ministry or
Broadmoor United Methodist stocked,” Mr. Cockrell said.
would set up a special account for many needs and gifts,” said Mr. Pérez, learn more about forming a covenant
Church earned the nickname because He is certain the ministry will
this purpose that would have to ac- who hails from Puerto Rico. “Despite group, contact Mr. Pérez at (877)
of its Christian hospitality after hous- reach out to those affected by Hurri-
cumulate a minimum of $300,000 a common language and shared cul- 899-2780, ext. 7215, or visit
ing disaster relief workers for the cane Gustav, too. “We’ve gotten pretty
to fund the program. This was tural values and practices, it mani- upperroom.org/prayer_center.
American Red Cross following Hurri- good at hosting dinners for hundreds
started with a free-will offering that fests rich variations of linguistic and
cane Katrina three years ago. who are looking for a hot meal at
raised the first $1,000. Secondly, we cultural expression that reflect re-
This story originally appeared in
The Baton Rouge church is located Thanksgiving,” he said.
would need to establish as many re- gional and national origin differences. the Florida Conference e-Review.
in one of the many areas damaged by Red Cross volunteer Brian Flynn
Hurricane Gustav. The Category 2 hurri- from Columbus, Ohio, calls the people
Leland
cane ripped through the city with gusts of Broadmoor United Methodist
McKeown of up to 91 miles per hour on Labor Day. Church the “most hospitable host
looks at a The church started preparing for group that he has ever worked with” in
New the volunteers four days before the his role as shelter coordinator.
Testament storm hit and more than 170 cots
“When they landed at the Baton
that has been
lined the gym. Like most of the rest of Rouge airport, the experienced volun-
signed by
the city, Broadmoor was without teers all wanted to come to the Broad-
about 100
power on the day after the hurricane, moor Hilton,” Ms. Simpson said with a
men’s retreat
but church and Red Cross volunteers laugh.
speakers,
managed to keep the kitchen operat- The church’s second-mile hospital-
including
ing to feed volunteers, thanks to gas ity is not only helpful and practical, it
several
stoves and generators. is spiritually meaningful to the volun-
bishops. He
Mary Grace Simpson, hospitality teers, said Ms. Simpson, who remem-
has attended
chairperson for the shelter, said mem- bers what one volunteer wrote on a
men’s
retreats
bers of Broadmoor are always eager to paper banner that hung in the church
continuously
support Red Cross volunteers. following Katrina: “Church members
since 1973.
“One Sunday morning after Kat- taking our clothes home to wash re-
rina, they announced from the pulpit minded me of Jesus washing the disci-
PHOTO COURTESY OF
LELAND MCKEOWN that volunteers were needed to wash ples’ feet.”
towels that had been used by the Red “It makes me cry every time I
Cross workers,” said Ms. Simpson. think about that,” Ms. Simpson said.
After the service, members lined up to
receive bags filled with dirty towels to
Ms. Backstrom is editor of
wash, dry and return to the church.
Louisiana Now!, the newspaper of
The church has a long-standing the Louisiana Conference.
U NITED M ETHODIST R EPORTER | S EPTEMBER 26, 2008
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