Pray-with-Pastor Day a Success

By: Jaehun Chung

Published 11/7/13- 8:45 pm
LOS ANGELES, CA (LA TIMES)- Hundreds of people lined up outside their local
church last Sunday with their urgent and important prayers. Last Sunday was Pray-withPastor Day, which occurs on the first Sunday of November. It is a fairly new event that is
gaining popularity throughout the United States and other Christian nations. Many
churches celebrate this event regardless of what branch of Christianity. More and more
Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians are all beginning to celebrate this event. On Praywith Pastor Day, people pray with their pastor individually and generally pray for what is
most important to them at the time.
There have been studies made at Harvard University on the answer rate of prayers. Their
statistics show that prayers are 50% more likely to be answered on Pray-with-Pastor Day
(75% prayers answered) than any other Day (25% prayers answered). These statistics
come from a survey of the members of 500 churches within the United States.
Crosstown Catholic Church in Los Angeles is one church of many that participates in
Pray-with-Pastor Day. Crosstown is a suburb located fifteen miles north of downtown
Los Angeles. Reverend Richard Smith of Crosstown Catholic Church and four
participants were kind enough to allow recordings of their prayers.
Rev. Smith said, Today (Pray-with-Pastor Day) is a great time for people to come to
pastors and receive guidance in praying for what they urgently need. I am happy to help
everyone build their faith in God.
The first man Rev. Smith saw was James Silkman. James had just lost his iPhone and has
been restless and fretting for the past week. With Rev. Smith, James prayed for a
couple minutes that he would find his iPhone soon. James said, Reverend Smith really
helped me boost my confidence in my prayers.
Next was a young teenager named Sally Tristen. Sally said she is in love with a boy
named Mark, but he is already dating another girl, Zoey. With the help of Rev. Smith,
Sally sent a strong prayer to God, asking for Mark and Zoeys relationship to fall apart.
Sally said, Today was a great experience and Reverend Smith helped strengthen my
belief that God cares for the things that I love.
After Sally was Eric Goldstein. Eric, an longtime fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, prayed
for an Eagles victory against the Chicago Bears in their game on the following Thursday.
Pray-with-Pastor Day is a terrific idea and I feel very hopeful in a good way. With God
on our side, Chicago wont stand a chance were the words of Goldstein after his prayer.
The last prayer came from a young couple, Kenneth and Sara Patterson. Their infant son
Christian was born with a complex heart defect and would soon be entering surgery. The

Pattersons and Rev. Smith prayed for a successful operation on Christians heart. The
Pattersons thanked the Reverend but respectfully declined to comment.
All four participants agreed to email the Los Angeles Times whether or not their prayers
were answered.
Sally Tristen commented, I am very glad that my prayer was answered. My love and
faith for God has grown exponentially. I think everyone should pray to God if they need
something; God will answer.
James Silkman also commented, I now know that God is looking after me and I can
count on him through prayer for any dilemma I face in the future.
Eric Goldstein said, Very happy that my Eagles won. I know that my faith and the
players faith in Him led to the victory. I know that without God, no matter how athletic
or talented the Eagles are, they cannot win. I realize this also applies to all aspects of life.
I would like to thank Rev. Smith again.
Out of the four prayers from Pray-with-Pastor Day, the only one not answered was the
Pattersons. Their son passed away last Tuesday from a heart defect. The Pattersons
declined to comment.
75% (3/4) of the prayers were answered, which is much higher than the reported 25%
answer rate of any other day. This correlates with 50% increase in prayers answered
shown by the study at Harvard. This years data suggests that Pray-with-Pastor Day does
lead to more prayers being answered. It can be concluded that this years Pray-withPastor Day was a success. Peoples faith in God has dramatically increased and will
continue to increase in the future.