Faith and Action Head Challenges Fellow Ministries to Get Personal with Supporters -- Says Praying Aloud for Donors by Name is Good Start
WASHINGTON, March 30 /
Christian Newswire/ --The Rev. Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), founder of the Washington, DC based Christian outreach to Capitol Hill leaders, Faith and Action, returned this weekend from a private three-day prayer and fasting retreat during which he prayed aloud for nearly 60,000 of the organization's Internet supporters.
"It was a daunting challenge," said Schenck. "But I wasn't content relating to these good people as computer file numbers. For too many ministries like ours the Internet has been a mixed blessing. We meet wonderful people, but there is rarely personal contact. On the whole, most donors to Christian ministries end up as code numbers, not real people. The best way for me to overcome that was to pray for each of our supporters by name aloud. There's something transformational about speaking someone's name. People turn from numbers into individuals. They come alive to you."
Schenck had also invited specific prayer requests by E-mail, praying for over 1000 of them during his stay at a ministry supporter's private retreat on Louisiana's gulf coast. He maintained a water-only fast to help focus his heart, mind and body on the formidable task of reading aloud the long list of names and contact information he brought in a file on his laptop.
"Praying alone is demanding," Schenck said. "And 60,000 names, some difficult to pronounce, is a real workout for your voice, mouth muscles and body posture, but the spiritual reward and bond with the people you are praying for is well worth it. I challenge other ministry executives to do this. I think both they and their supporters will get a lot from it."
Rev. Schenck said he plans to schedule regular prayer and fasting retreats in the future so he can stay on top of new supporters and reduce the stress of dealing with so many names at once. To catch up, though, his next retreat will focus on more than 50,000 conventional mail-in financial supporters and the pastors and leaders of several hundred supporting churches.
Rev. Rob Schenck is available for further comment by contacting Peggy Birchfield-Nienaber at 202-546-8329, ext 104.
