Saturday, November 22, 1997

Mothers pray for children, schools, teachers, administrators

By LORETTA FULTON Senior Staff Writer

A number of Abilene moms are doing more than packing a lunch and sending their children off to school with a hug and a kiss.

They're doing that, too, but these moms are enlisting the aid of a higher power in seeing their children through their formative years.

They're called Moms In Touch, and they meet weekly in groups all over town to pray for school children, the schools they attend, their teachers and administrators.

Although it's impossible to know what "benefit" has come through the prayers, one mom put the endeavor into perspective.

"Many things have probably not happened - who knows what our children have been spared," said Jo Carol Spurlock, who started a group locally eight years ago when her oldest daughter was in third grade and served as the first area coordinator.

Since then, the program has grown to groups representing between one-third and one-half of the schools in town, Spurlock said. A citywide coffee to introduce the program to all interested moms will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 8. The location will be announced later.

Spurlock became interested in Moms In Touch when she heard about it on the Focus on the Family radio program. The founder of the international organization, Fern Nichols, told of how it worked and why she started it in Canada in 1984 and later took it to her new home in California.

"The minute I heard about it, it was like 'that's what I want to do.'<n>" Spurlock said.

Like many other parents, Spurlock already was praying for her children and others, but this was different.

"It was the assurance of knowing that not only was I praying, but other people were praying consistently also," she said.

In fact, moms in every state and in 66 countries are united in the same prayers for their children and schools.

Like most other Moms In Touch groups, Spurlock's began when her children were in public school. That poses no problem, because the mothers meet off campus and do not talk about religious activity at school.

Spurlock's children now attend Abilene Christian Schools, but many other groups meet locally that are associated with public schools.

Brenda Greer has been a part of Moms In Touch about seven or eight years. Her group meets in a parent's home once a week.

"We are moms who pray <I>for<I> the school, not <I>in<I> the school," Greer said.

Sometimes the prayers are for something specific, from requests or from a need that a teacher has mentioned.

The requests and prayers are strictly confidential. Nothing leaves the prayer room.

The founder of Moms In Touch International, Fern Nichols, felt the need for such a group when she and her husband could no longer send their children to a parochial school. She started the prayer groups to fill the void.

But today, Moms In Touch are also active at church schools as well as public schools. Both Abilene Christian Schools and St. John's Episcopal School have Moms In Touch programs.

At Abilene Christian Schools, moms meet each Monday at 8:15 a.m. to "pray specifically for the school, for wisdom and for the leadership," said Terri Woods, one of the group leaders.

The St. John's mothers meet each Tuesday in the school's chapel rather than in homes.

"It makes it seem more open," said Susan Pigeon. Usually three or four moms gather for 45 minutes to an hour to pray over the requests that have been dropped in a box.

A typical session for all groups includes "praying in one accord," and the Four Steps of Prayer - praise, silent confession, thanksgiving and intercession as outlined in the Moms In Touch instruction guide.

The booklet provides specific scriptures to use in the prayers.

"There is instruction all the way through the Bible on how to pray for our children," said Brenda Greer, who along with Linda Hoeffer hosts groups from public schools.

Greer, too, said it is hard to judge what comes of the prayer sessions but has no doubt about their need.

"God just calls us to pray. He doesn't always show us something," she said.

For information on joining or starting a Moms In Touch group, please contact Greer at 698-5637 or Spurlock at 676-2930.