Prayer Partners are great because…
1) They act as a confidante for the mentor. Someone who can be trusted to keep confidential information confidential, but with whom the mentor can share their thoughts.
2) They are intentional. Prayer partners are specific as they pray for their mentoring match.
3) They encourage mentors to be faithful. They ensure their mentor sticks with it, even when their student won’t talk to them for months.
4) They can be great listeners. When a mentor shares their student’s struggles with inattentiveness and the mentor’s own frustrations with how to reach the student through it, the prayer partner still listens.
5) They are selfless; meeting for coffee, answering phone calls, and responding to their mentors needs and prayer requests.
6) They celebrate with you! Even the littlest things matter to them; Johnny couldn’t sit still at all, but now he can sit still for 2 minutes is a huge deal!
7) They change constantly so their prayers reflect the needs of a little girl or boy who may be struggling to find friends or who has a math test tomorrow.
8) They are like a secret friend. The student may not even know they are there or exist, but they feel the comfort and peace that only comes when someone is praying specifically for you.
9) They pray. Even when it seems like no progress is being made and their student is still going to the principal’s office every a week.
10) They are or become great friends – the kind that will stick by your side no matter what – like Frodo and Sam.
11) Their prayers can be all-encompassing. Not only do they pray for their KHUSA student, but also for the school, church, and community as well.
12) They care enough. Even though they’ve never met the child, they care enough to spend at least an hour – usually more – praying and thinking about this little person.
13) They help make miracles happen. Every week they drop everything they are doing to cover a specific child and mentor in prayer.
14) They can provide wise counsel to the mentor when it is needed.
15) They can embrace the child’s reality without having to fix everything – knowing they are still being heard.
16) They are able to respond quickly to a mentor. They are always just an email or phone call away.
17) They are able to see the bigger picture. Not just what happens during the hour, but the story of a child’s life as it unfolds.
18) They are another advocate for the child; someone else who provides support in an unseen way.
19) They are humble. Their stories aren’t often shared, but most mentors would tell you, it wasn’t just them that had an impact on their student’s life.
20) Their role can last a lifetime. Even after the student graduates out of Kids Hope USA, the prayer partner can still be praying – and many do.
