Mothers band together to pray for kids, schools By Jennifer Kabbany| North County Times   Friday, April 24, 2009 POWAY ---- In 1984, when Fern Nichols' sons entered middle school, she was apprehensive and nervous about the negative peer influences, temptations and troubles they might encounter on campus. Nichols said she asked God to help her find another mother who would pray with her for the safety and protection of her sons, their school and its teachers and administrators. God answered her prayers ---- and then some. The small group of mothers Nichols put together more than two decades ago ultimately spawned a global ministry named Moms In Touch International, which organizes and supports clusters of mothers who meet weekly to pray for their children, teachers and schools. This year, the Poway-based ministry marks its 25th anniversary. Nichols, its founder and president, said the number of prayer groups joining the cause continues to grow, with some 18,000 chapters worldwide. "Wherever a child goes to school, they need prayer," said Nichols, 63. "We are raising our children in very precarious times. For moms to know there is a community of praying moms that will lift up their child's name in faith is bringing great hope to many fearful moms." Oceanside resident Jan Peck said her ongoing involvement with Moms In Touch has been one of the best decisions of her life. Peck prayed for students, schools and teachers for 20 years as her three sons went through the Vista Unified School District. "There are a lot of wonderful things we can do for our kids," Peck said. "We give them karate and baseball lessons, and music, and on and on. But praying for our kids is the greatest gift we can give them. Of all the things that I didn't do right as a parent, praying for my kids is something I am grateful that I did." Nichols stresses that the groups are not designed for moms to simply get together and chit-chat over coffee, then say some sort of general prayer. The prayers are structured and specific, and take up the entire hour of the weekly meetings, she said. Often the mothers obtain yearbooks, class lists, staff directories and other information about students and teachers and pray for everyone by name. "It's not like, 'Oh God, bless them all, make them all be good, save them all,' " Nichols said. "We bring those names individually before the Lord." What's more, the prayer format is structured, starting with praise, then confession, then thanksgiving, and lastly intercession. That structure often parlays into the women's private prayer lives, and has been anecdotally helpful is saving marriages and helping them battle other life challenges, Nichols said. "This ministry is about praying for our children in schools, but what has been so precious to see is that moms are being changed as they pray together," she said. "They are releasing their fears and trusting in God. They are not so isolated in raising their child ---- they have support, and a group who carries the burden with them." The weekly prayers are taken very seriously, she added. In addition to the obvious problems kids face in schools ---- bullying, peer pressure, immoral temptations ---- there is also a spiritual battle being waged by unseen forces over the children's souls, she said. "This is serious stuff," Nichols said. "This is the lives of our kids that we are fighting for. We don't want to scare people, but this is an insidious war that slowly can destroy a child if we are not standing in the gaps crying out to God for their very lives." Teachers and principals are also the focus of prayer, she said. "Teachers are discouraged and worn out in light of the economic times �- and they have a lot of children in the classroom that are just emotionally needy," she said. "Teachers need a lot of prayer." All levels from preschools to colleges are prayed for by the groups, which meet at private residences and typically focus on one particular school, its students and employees. There are even Grandmas In Touch chapters. Nichols said North San Diego County and Southwest Riverside County are hubs of activity, with nearly every school in Escondido and Poway, and many in Vista, Oceanside and Temecula, having their own Moms In Touch group praying for them. Rancho Penasquitos resident Cathi Armitage, 44, has been involved with Moms In Touch for 15 years, and currently leads a prayer group for Sunset Hills Elementary and co-leads a prayer group for Mt. Carmel High. "The effectiveness is different year to year, and group to group, but what really happens is we get moms who gather together with this common vision and purpose, and over the years we've seen many, many answered prayers," Armitage said. "We've seen so many things happen ---- the good, the bad and the ugly. We have wrestled through together in prayer as moms." Nichols credits much of the early growth of her ministry to an appearance in 1988 on the popular Christian radio show Focus on the Family, prompting tens of thousands of responses from across the nation and jumpstarting many chapters, she said. The organization's Web site, momsintouch.org, continues to be a recruitment tool and resource for the group and its chapters. To mark its 25th anniversary, the ministry is planning an international day of prayer Nov. 14, in which all of its chapters will pray from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., creating a cascading wave of prayer across the globe. The event has been dubbed "Arise, Cry Out," which is taken from the group's hallmark biblical verse, Lamentations 2:19 ---- "Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin." "It is a war," Nichols said. "We are asking that Jesus, who is the light, will penetrate into the darkness, and will bring hope and salvation and peace and purpose."