Florida man works to start Hispanic prayer line

Hispanic Methodists hold hands in prayer during an August meeting in Newark, N.J. A UMNS photo by Corey Daniel Godbey.

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."

Leland McKeown, an officer of United Methodist Men in Florida, is championing an effort to launch a Spanish-language prayer line. A UMNS photo courtesy of Leland McKeown.

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.