Prayer is important to Barb and Bill Luebcke of Tinley Park, so it’s no surprise they are key components in a new prayer line that began two months ago at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tinley Park.
The church already had a prayer chain allowing members to ask for prayer via a box and an online submission to the church office, but they wanted to do more and allow prayer requests to be shared even when the secretary was out.
“With this new prayer line you can call that any time and it comes directly to me, so no middleman slowing it down,” said Barb, who’s been a Trinity Lutheran member for 43 years. “That was a nice feature.”
Bill, who’s been a church member for 38 years, said it allows the church to connect with more people, including those who watch its streaming worship services via Facebook and YouTube.
“We had been getting people from as far away as Kenya watching our services. It’s really hard to have any kind of relationship with them so far away,” he said. “We have other people who have moved down to Florida.”
He said the church decided to create a phone number for prayer. Anyone who needs a prayer is invited to call 708-532-7140 and leave a prayer request. Callers have the option to have the call returned.
The new role came naturally to Barb, who’s been involved with Trinity Lutheran’s prayer chain for nearly 42 years and is its chairman. She checks the prayer box on Sundays and looks at prayer needs in the bulletin.
“If I have a prayer request, I send an email to the people on the prayer chain. And in addition to that is a component of prayer,” she said. “We spend about 45 minutes a day praying for the needs of the congregation. That’s where the time comes in. Sometimes the Holy Spirit puts someone in your mind and you pray for that person.”
She said it’s worth her time to provide this service.
“I always feel like it’s a privilege to pray for people. They’ve been vulnerable enough to admit they have a need for prayer,” she shared. “Then it’s my responsibility and my privilege to be able to lift them up.”
The couple have been involved in churchwide prayer as well, praying during capital campaigns and as special needs have arisen.
The new phone line alerts Barb when a call has come in.
“It’s an app on my phone so it goes directly to that app,” she explained. “I get an email telling me I have a prayer coming in.”
Barb likened it to the early days of Christianity.
“They were known for the way they loved other people, so it’s another way Trinity can reach out to the community or whoever,” she said. “On the other hand, you can never put a value on the prayer you’re praying for people. … They may use it in the future if they see it on the other line.”
She said her husband was worried they would be inundated with calls, but so far not too many people have called.
“But you have to be willing to share something that’s very troubling to you. Whoever it is has to trust the organization that’s doing it,” she said. “Before, maybe the need would become so great that they would feel like they should call. That’s why the Holy Spirit will be using this, but we haven’t seen a lot so far.”
To keep things confidential, they only ask callers to leave their first name and their prayer request. That’s when things ramp up.
“When I get the prayer request, I send it to the chain like I do the requests that come in the prayer box, by email. It used to be by phone,” Barb explained. Twenty-three people on the prayer chain receive the request.
She said the volunteers are mainly older but include a variety of people: two men and the rest women, with some retired but some still working.
“Some are really involved on Sunday. Some I don’t see but I know they’re faithfully praying,” she said.
The Luebckes both believe prayer has an important role in their church life.
“Part of it plays in your faith by the way you see God is working. He is working all the time but you don’t often see it,” Barb said. “Once in a while you have a chance to see how God works in that place. That’s where the humility comes. Just because we ask, God gives.”
She said it’s just the trust that God is listening.
“I guess you could also say that prayer is one-third of what keeps your faith growing,” Bill shared. “Actually, you have prayer, which is you talking to God; scripture, which is God talking to you; and worship and fellowship with Christians, which gives you a more physical bonding that helps with faith. Prayer gives you a feeling of connection to God.”
Members can receive prayer through Prayer Inc. Bill said the “Inc” stands for “Interceding for the needs of the congregation.”
For that mission, which began about two years ago, volunteers try to call every church member three times per year.
“The frustrating part of it is many people don’t answer their phone,” Barb said. “Then we leave a message explaining who we are and that we are praying for them.”
She said prayers don’t always have to involve a crisis or sad situation.
“If they say everything is fine, we have a prayer of thanksgiving,” she said.
Bill said more people call back these days.
“As they see this number coming up, it clicks. We’ve had people call back and say ‘I didn’t answer the phone but now I have a prayer request.’”
When calls were first being made, Barb said people were surprised they would call back.
“So often I think sometimes people think the only calls you get from church are to volunteer or pay a tribute,” she said.
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
