Grandmother takes prayer requests online
Posted on September 20, 2003

Tia Owens Joyce E. Shafer sits with Jim Hurst in her home office, where she moderates pinevilleprayers.org, an online prayer list. Hurst set up the Web site to replace Shafer's e-mail prayer chain.

Thirty years ago, Joyce E. Shafer swore she never would have a computer.

Now - as moderator and editor of an online prayer request site -- the 75-year-old grandmother spends hours at a computer every day. That's quite a feat for someone with limited computer knowledge and a long-lasting aversion to the machines.

"I worked as an administrative assistant in a computer company in Los Angeles," Shafer explained. "The computers were always breaking down. I would not let them teach me anything about them.

"Finally, I let them teach me word processing."

Shafer eventually bought two word processors of her own for her poetry. "My daughter said, 'I don't know why you didn't get a computer,'" Shafer said.

In 2001, Shafer's family finally took matters into their own hands.

"It was just before Christmas," Shafer said. "I came home and saw cars all around. When I walked in the door, I saw my daughter with a big box and I didn't know what was happening. I thought they'd brought me an easy chair."

The box held a computer instead.

Shafer's grandson, who, coincidentally is majoring in computer engineering at Vanderbilt University, set everything up.

"I didn't know anything about computers at all," Shafer said.

Shafer's daughter explained the e-mail function. Soon after, Shafer met two men from Houston in the Rapides Regional Medical Center hallway. While chatting, Shafer found out the men worked in the computer industry.

So, she told them about her Christmas present and her involvement in a local telephone prayer chain through First United Methodist Church of Pineville.

"I asked if I could put his father's name on the prayer list," Shafer said. "He said I could, but asked why I didn't put my prayer list on the computer."

It was something Shafer had never considered. But, she soon gathered five pages of e-mail addresses and began e-mailing prayer requests to prayer chain members. Prayer chain members without computers still get telephone calls from Shafer.

One year later, Jim Hurst, owner of Turning Point Solutions Group and a member of the e-mail prayer chain, sent Shafer an e-mail.

In it, Hurst explained how he'd set up a Web site specifically for Shafer. The simple template includes a place to submit prayer requests, a military prayer list and a list of current requests. Requests cover everything from sick children, cancer and heart surgery patients and adoption proceedings.

"She edits them before she posts them," Hurst explained. "She rewords them. It keeps people from trashing the site and from blurting just anything out."

Shafer rewrites the requests into a short summary and includes updated information as well. Visitors to the site come from all over Louisiana, England, Russia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I don't put anything on the page unless I get permission from the family," Shafer said. "It may be something they don't want to share or don't want posted.

"Some people don't believe like we do and they might be offended. And there are some things people don't necessarily want to share. This is to help them, not to hurt them."

Shafer checks prayer submissions and updates the site two to three times a day. Each request stays on Shafer's site for two to three weeks. Once the request is removed, it can always be resubmitted.

"Sometimes I wonder if anybody is really looking at the list," Shafer said. Then, a thank you note or a short e-mail will appear.

"It's just so fantastic the response I get," Shafer said. "When I go in there and get on the computer, I forget about my own pain when I see all these other people in need."

Of course, Shafer includes them in her own prayers. And she'll continue this ministry, "As long as the Lord lets me."

Sarah Crooks, Features