June 11, 2001
BGCT offers resources for teaching children about prayer
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___EL PASO--Prayer intimidated Terry Gooding as a child. Now she is helping children learn what prayer is all about so they will not have the same fears.
___Gooding led Vista del Sol Baptist Church in El Paso in launching a children's prayer workshop last year. Soon afterward, the church held a second one for younger children. Then other churches in El Paso Baptist Association requested that she lead a workshop.
___Now, the material Gooding wrote is being packaged for distribution statewide later this year, said Ted Elmore, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas office of prayer and spiritual development.
Selina Gurrola prays with a child near the end of the workshop at Vista del Sol Baptist Church.
___"I was very shy, very intimidated by prayer" as a child, Gooding said. Praying in public proved especially difficult. "I understand how hard it is to pray with others."
___As an adult, however, she learned about prayer, and the intimidation of her childhood passed away. "I've been raised up out of the mud," Gooding said. "I'm still really amazed that I would be in this place."
___Gooding is prayer coordinator for Vista del Sol Baptist Church and for El Paso Baptist Association. She prepared the material that formed the heart of the children's workshops, and now she is helping to prepare the statewide version.
___"The material is just very, very basic; and yet God is using it," Gooding said. "It works. It's very effective." It provides an "opportunity to plant some truths in their life about their relationship with the Lord."
Terry and Dana Gooding lead a small-group session during a children's prayer workshop in El Paso.
___Elmore heard about the workshops, then asked Gooding to present the material before a select group of children's ministers. "They thought it was just outstanding," he said. "They just loved it, and that was enough for me."
___Workshop materials should be available statewide by this summer, Elmore said. They will be priced on a cost-recovery basis.
___The workshop deals with the scriptural basis of prayer, practical how-to matters and ways to pray for others.
___Initially, the workshop included four content sessions separated by fun activities and lunch. Gooding added three new sessions this year when it was repeated at Vista del Sol so that children who had been involved the previous year would be able to explore some new areas about prayer.
___The sessions are titled "What is Prayer?" "Praying for Others," "Writing a Prayer Journal," "Praying for People in Authority," "Praying for Missionaries," "Prayer Walking" and "Hearing God."
___Cheryl Reed, children's minister at Vista del Sol, noted her own children have attended the workshop and it "made them feel like leaders."
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