Saturday, July 19, 1997

Church prayer volunteers answer calls for help around the clock

By JIM JONES / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH, Texas - When another late-night asthma attack hit, Bettie Bigham didn't call her doctor. She called Calvary Cathedral's "power tower," and said her prayers were answered.

Phones at the tower, where volunteers pray 24 hours a day, are answered around the clock. From her bedroom in east Fort Worth, Bigham joined in prayer with a volunteer high in the golden beige tower of Calvary Cathedral, and said her breathing improved soon after.

"It's so comforting that you can call someone at 3 in the morning," Bigham said. "And you don't get a machine. You get a live voice that will talk to you and pray with you. It's wonderful to know someone cares."

Halfway up the 150-foot tower in a carpeted prayer room, people kneel, sit, stand or lie prostrate on the floor as they engage in constant prayer.

Frantic mothers and fathers call asking for prayers for missing children. Families seek prayers for loved ones who are sick or have been in accidents. Still others ask divine assistance in finding lost pets or passing final exams.

Every request matters.

"We get prayer requests from around the nation," said the Rev. Bob Nichols, pastor of Calvary Cathedral. He said that 66,000 prayer requests have come in since the prayer tower began two years ago. "There are a lot of hurting people out there, and this is the way we try to help."

More than 300 volunteers work in two-hour shifts to staff the tower, which started under the leadership of Nichols and Calvary Cathedral evangelist Dale Gentry, who has helped several hundred churches begin early morning prayer programs.

The church tower seemed an appropriate location for the ambitious effort because four women, including Joy Nichols, wife of the pastor, had been using it on occasion as an isolated place for prayer.

On a recent afternoon, the four women earnestly prayed for people whose petitions were recorded on pink prayer request forms.

One caller asked for help for her adulterous husband. Another sought relief of pain caused by an illness. A vacationer asked for "traveling mercies." Still another asked for help in keeping his job.

Inside the prayer room, volunteers prayed beneath a black and white drawing of a man kneeling in intense prayer. Underneath are the words from James 5:16: "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

Sometimes, the requests are emergencies.

"A lady called threatening to commit suicide," said Connie Witte, who with her husband, evangelist Chris Witte, supervises the prayer initiative.

A volunteer prayed with the woman and calmed her fears. Later, she called back and said she was no longer thinking about taking her life.

"We pray for repentance, personally and as a nation," Connie Witte said. "We pray for our pastor and for our elected representatives and for all those who made personal requests for prayer."

The prayers can be for anything, Bigham said, because God cares about people.

"My son and daughter-in-law were devastated when their dog disappeared," Bigham said. "They called the power tower for prayers, and the little dog was found the next day on the other side of town."

Sherry Starr, who recently received a bachelor's degree in sociology and psychology at Texas Wesleyan University, said she often called the power tower to ask for prayers before major tests.

"One time, when my friends and I hadn't had time to study for a really hard test, we called the power tower and asked for prayers," Starr said. "We all aced the test."

The ancient practice of praying is made a little easier by modern technology.

Prayer requests are received in the tower by phone and fax and also are received from around the world through the Internet. E-mail came in last week from missionaries in North Africa.

Below the prayer room, in another part of the tower, Nancy Usher and Debbie Leatherwood, both of Aledo, waited their turn to pray beneath a sign that said, "Prayers Please Sign In."

Usher and Leatherwood said praying for others has enriched their lives.

"I feel like it has given me a closer relationship with the Lord," Usher said. "I love to help people. And this really helps people."

Chris Witte said many religious groups around the nation have been focusing on prayer in recent years.

Many churches don't have the volunteers to pray 24 hours a day, he said, but they offer prayers for specific problems during Wednesday night prayer services and on other occasions.

The power tower, Nichols said, symbolizes his 2,000-member congregation's commitment to helping people in all situations. Down the street from the church, a newly renovated building has been named "Compassion House." Food, clothing and other items are dispensed to the needy from there.

Also, the church has an "Operation Stitches" program for young people. Staff members and volunteers go into the Diamond Hill and Como neighborhoods, the Butler and Ripley Arnold housing areas near downtown and a section of south Fort Worth.

Youth leaders entertain, hand out prizes and preach against gangs, drugs and violence. Last year, the church gave out 1,000 new backpacks, and it plans to go into more neighborhoods this year.

The multiracial congregation - about a fourth of the 2,000 members are Hispanic or African-American - also has a day-care facility and a Christian academy for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Besides the tower, the church holds a 6 a.m. prayer service open to everyone on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The service draws several hundred on occasion.

Chris Witte said that since the prayer project started, powerful lights have been burning in a windowed area near the top of the church tower.

"In the darkness of night you can see the tower glowing from many parts of the city," he said. "We hope it can be a beacon of hope to a lot of people."

The E-mail address is powertower(at)kingdom.net.

The prayer phone number is 817-332-4284 and the fax number is 817-332-4285.

Distributed by The Associated Press