Prayer is important to Barb and Bill Luebcke of Tinley Park, so it’s no surprise they are key parts of a new prayer line that started two months ago at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tinley Park.
The church already had a prayer chain where members could request prayers through a box and online submission to the church office, but they wanted to do more and allow prayer requests to be shared even when the secretary was away.
“With this new prayer line, you can call it anytime and it comes right to my house, so there’s no middleman slowing down the process,” said Barb, who has been a member of Trinity Lutheran for 43 years. “It was a nice feature.”
Bill, who has been a member of the church for 38 years, said it allows the church to connect with more people, including those who stream its worship services through Facebook and YouTube.
“We’ve had people come from as far away as Kenya to watch our shows. It’s really hard to have any kind of relationship with them that far away,” he said. “We have other people who have moved to Florida.”
He said the church has decided to create a prayer phone number. Anyone in need of prayer is asked to call 708-532-7140 and leave a prayer request. Callers have the option to request a call back.
This new role came naturally to Barb, who has been involved in Trinity Lutheran’s prayer chain for nearly 42 years and serves as its chair. She checks the prayer box on Sundays and reviews prayer needs in the bulletin.
“If I have a prayer request, I send an email to the people in the prayer chain. And on top of that, there’s a prayer component,” 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 head and you pray for that person.”
She said it was worth the time spent providing this service.
“I’ve always felt like it’s a privilege to pray for people. They’ve been vulnerable enough to admit that they need prayer,” she said. “So it’s my responsibility and my privilege to be able to help them.”
The couple also became involved in church-wide prayer, praying during fundraisers and when special needs arose.
The new phone line alerts Barb when a call comes in.
“It’s an app on my phone, so I log right into that app,” she explained. “I get an email saying I have a prayer coming up.”
Barb compared it to the early days of Christianity.
“They were known for their love for others, so this is another way that Trinity can reach out to the community or to anyone,” she said. “On the other hand, you can never put a value on the prayer you say for people. … They might use it in the future if they see it on the other end of the line.”
She said her husband was worried about being inundated with calls, but so far few people have called.
“But you have to be willing to share something that is very upsetting to you. The person asking has to trust the organization that is doing it,” she said. “Before, the need may have been so great that they would have wanted to call. That’s why the Holy Spirit will use that, but we haven’t seen many cases so far.”
To maintain confidentiality, they only ask callers to leave their first name and prayer request. That’s where things speed up.
“When I get a prayer request, I send it to the chain like I do requests that come into the prayer box, by email. It used to be by phone,” Barb says. Twenty-three people in the prayer chain receive the request.
She said the volunteers are mostly elderly, but include a variety of people: two men and the rest women, some retired but others still active.
“Some are really involved on Sundays. There are others I don’t see, but I know they are praying faithfully,” she said.
The Luebckes both believe that prayer plays an important role in the life of their church.
“Part of it is your faith, how you see God at work. He’s at work all the time, but you don’t see Him often,” Barb said. “Every once in a while, you get a chance to see how God is working in a certain place. That’s where humility comes from. It’s only because we ask that God gives.”
She said it’s simply trust that God is listening.
“I guess you could also say that prayer is a third of what grows your faith,” Bill explained. “You basically have prayer, which is talking to God; Scripture, which is God talking to you; and worship and fellowship with Christians, which gives you a more physical connection that helps with faith. Prayer gives you a sense of connection with God.”
Members can receive prayers through Prayer Inc. Bill said “Inc” stands for “Interceding for the Needs of the Congregation.”
For this mission, which began about two years ago, volunteers try to call every church member three times a year.
“What’s frustrating is that a lot of people don’t answer their phones,” Barb said. “So we leave a message explaining who we are and that we’re praying for them.”
She said prayers don’t always have to involve a crisis or a sad situation.
“If they say everything is fine, we say a prayer of thanksgiving,” she said.
Bill said more and more people are calling back these days.
“When they see that number come in, it clicks. Some of them call us back and say, ‘I didn’t answer the phone, but now I have a prayer request.’”
When the first calls were made, Barb said people were surprised to see that they were calling back.
“I think sometimes people think the only callings they get from the church are to volunteer or pay tribute,” she said.
Melinda Moore is a freelance journalist for the Daily Southtown.
