Our History
It started with two pie tins, a little soil, and a handful of bean seeds. Rev. Dr. Karl Goodfellow, pastor of rural United Methodist churches, conducted a prayer experiment with the children of the church. One pie tin of the planted seeds was prayed over; the other was not.
When the blessed seeds grew twice as high as the unblessed seeds, the congregation was amazed. The children seemed to accept the results as the way prayer is supposed to work, but many of the adults wrestled with the discipline of prayer and how it would affect their lives.
Goodfellow and church members started praying for plants and seeds for gardens and cornfields. At harvest, gardeners and farmers reported higher yields. Even those who had been skeptical admitted their crops did better. When farmers saw the idea worked, they sat up and took notice. The project caught the attention of the media as well, and Goodfellow’s experiments were featured in national publications. He was also invited to speak on a talk show.
But Goodfellow wanted to do more than bring prayer out of the closet. Living in Rural America and watching farmers struggle to make a living, Goodfellow wrestled with how prayer could make a difference for them. After researching prayer for his doctoral project, he concluded that those who pray for others tend to reach out to them. He wondered if the idea could be expanded to include people praying and caring for farmers.
In 1995, Dr. Goodfellow launched a Safety Net Prayer project to link intercessors to pray for farmers by name through the harvest season. That fall, 1200 people prayed for 12,000 farm families in Northeast Iowa to have a safe and bountiful harvest.
Each participant was given a list of ten farmers and God’s Harvest, God’s People, a devotional book with Bible readings and meditations on rural life. Intercessors also received ideas for outreach to farm families.
Soon letters and phone calls came, relating the expression of goodwill given and received. People became aware of the struggles farmers face, while farmers felt less isolated and their occupations appreciated. Some said their stress levels lowered and accidents were prevented. Whether through God’s intervention or a caring human hand, miracles happened.
The response was so overwhelming that Goodfellow and the Safety Net Prayer Team expanded the project across the state. Last fall, 5,000 people volunteered to pray for 50,000 farmers in Iowa. Some churches called and said they would cover a whole county in prayer. Other participants prayed on an individual basis.
The Safety Net Prayer project not only spread throughout the state, but across denominations as well. Members from Baptist, Catholic, Christian Science, Lutheran, Mennonite, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, United Methodist, and other inter-denominational groups have participated in extending goodwill to the farmers.
Fascinated by the concern of ordinary heroes, the media featured the project on radio and TV stations, in local, state, and national newspapers and magazines, and in Dr. Larry Dossey’s latest book, Prayer is Good Medicine. People across the country were reading about prayer and wanted to become involved in the project.
Those pray-ers included Ohio school children. Diane Lichtney, a seventh grade teacher at Regina Coeli Catholic School in Ohio, had read an article about the Safety Net Prayer for Iowa farmers. Twenty-three students read a daily devotion and prayed silently for the farmers around the Holy Cross area. For Thanksgiving, the seventh graders sent cards to the farmers, saying they prayed for their safety and hoped their harvest went well. The farmers were thrilled to think young people from another stated cared to pray for their safety. Several farm families have continued corresponding with the school kids from Ohio.
Youth at the St. Joseph’s Church in Garnavillo also participated in the Safety Net Prayer program. Darlene Wille, the instructor of religious education, divided the list of local farmers so kids would be praying for their aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, or neighbors. Prayer, for them, became love in action. Participants were grateful for the privilege to pray for farmers, and farmers appreciated the caring of “intercessing angels.”
The effects of the ministry hit home when Rev. Goodfellow visited the farm of his brother-in-law, Frank Livingood, near Postville shortly after the prayer project began. Not overly religious, Goodfellow’s in-laws only tolerated his profession and laughed at the notion of praying for farmers. When Goodfellow stop by their place, Livingood had been unloading a grain wagon, but shut down the machinery to talk.
Earlier that day, he had hauled in a load of corn with his three boys riding on top. Livingood pulled the wagon near the auger by the grain bin and began to unload the corn. His three boys were playing around in the wagon, when one of them was sucked down into the flow of corn discharging from the bottom.
When Livingood realized what had happened, he shut off the augers, tried to open the chute further, but it was stuck, and unloaded the corn as quickly as possible. Chances of him coming out alive were slim. Two minutes later, the boy emerged head-first, his mouth and nose clogged with kernels. He was shaken, but all right. After the accident, Livingood admitted someone had been watching over them.
The Safety Net Prayer project touches the hearts of people. The deep well of concern for farmers has always been there, but rarely finds a means of expression. The Safety Net Prayer gives people that opportunity. Whether people send a letter, provide food or child care on a busy day, or elect to host a harvest celebration, the effort is building stronger communities in faith and love.