August 2004

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For three years now, the Presidential Prayer Team (PPT), an Internet-driven effort launched a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has been enlisting an estimated 3 million people to pray for President George W. Bush. The PPT also counts more than 520,000 intercessors praying for the 151,000 troops in Iraq.

On June 21, the Phoenix-based organization launched its latest initiative, "Pray the Vote." Offering resources through its website, organizers urge supporters to host regular prayer parties, concluding on election eve.

Another prayer ministry, Pray Across America, is scheduled to start on September 11. Organizers hope to hold prayer services for the nation's leaders and other issues in every state capital through September 11, 2005.

The PPT was funded initially by a wealthy backer identified by Time magazine as Arizona Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo. But PPT President John Lind says small donors sustain its $1.5 million budget. The PPT has nine staffers and a network of consultants.

Since June 2002, John Moyer, who works at Pennsylvania's Army National Guard headquarters, has handed out more than 500 PPT decals and coffee mugs to deploying soldiers. He dismissed concerns that the PPT is a partisan effort to support the Republican President, a self-confessed born-again Christian who frequently mentions his gratitude for prayers.

"I think it's very appropriate," said Moyer, a chaplain's assistant on weekend training missions. "I think we need to be praying for the election. We could assume [God] wants President Bush re-elected-and I hope he would-but it may not be God's plan."

Critics, however, suspect an endeavor motivated by politics. A recent poll by George Barna said that 86 percent of evangelicals plan to vote for ...