President's Call for Remembrance of Storm Victims Spurs PPT's Online Prayer Rally
by Allie Martin
September 15, 2005
(AgapePress) - The Presidential Prayer Team (PPT), a grassroots prayer movement with more than two million members, is organizing a massive online Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi Gulf Coast region hurricane victims. The group is encouraging Christians everywhere to join in its "Virtual Prayer Rally," which is set to take place on Friday. Last week, President George W. Bush proclaimed September 16 as a national day of prayer in the wake of the devastation and loss of lives caused by Hurricane Katrina. John Lind, president and CEO of the Presidential Prayer Team, says the Virtual Prayer Rally is a way for Christians to come together in a concentrated effort to respond to the disaster. "I think we're trying to rally the people together to answer the question, 'What can we do?'" he says.
According to Lind, the answer to that question is fundamental: "We can pray," he says. "Prayer is our front line of defense. God calls us to pray for our leaders, and God calls us to pray for our country -- in this particular case, the people that have been affected [by the hurricane]."
The PPT spokesman says the purpose of the online event is to "harness the power of the Internet to be able to utilize this tool to get people to come to our website, sign up for a time, and have people from all over the world participate in our prayer rally on a virtual basis." People can come to the website at Presidential Prayer Team.org, he explains, "and just click on the icon that says 'register for the Virtual Prayer Rally.'"
Those registering will come to a page where they can put in their first and last name, e-mail address, what state they're from, and what one-hour time block they'd like to select," Lind says. And if they continue through the process, he notes, "we have some resources there. We have a prayer guide that they can utilize during that hour and 200 scripture verses that they could utilize. We have a lot of tools on there for those people that have dedicated that time for prayer."
The Virtual Prayer Rally will last through the entire day on Friday, Lind adds. He believes the Day of Prayer could become the starting point for a renewed focus on prayer and repentance across America.
