"It was the summer of '96, and I was on my knees complaining to the Lord about two teachers my children had," recalled Henry Morgan, a Dallas insurance salesman and father of four. He says he got a direct answer from God: "You can complain or you can do something to change the hearts of those teachers by impacting them for me."

Thus, Families For Educators (FFE) was born. "Families For Educators is an organization of Christian families dedicated to pray for educators and their public school system and to carry out activities that will point them to the Lord Jesus Christ," Morgan said.

Only a year old, the Dallas-based ministry has successfully targeted over 600 educators in Morgan's school district by providing them encouraging literature, connecting them with a family who will pray for them and holding an educators' appreciation banquet at the end of the year. The ministry includes anyone working for schools, such as teachers, janitors, cafeteria workers, and administrative officials, said Morgan, explaining that a child spends more hours at school with these people than he does at home.

"If, on the average, an educator works for 10 years and has an influence on 100 students per year," Morgan said, "With 625 educators over a 10-year period of time, this effort of presenting our Lord to the educators can influence as many as 625,000 students and the countless lives these students touch in their lifetime."

After spending time in prayer and holding a brainstorming session in his living room with school representatives, Morgan and his wife, Cheri, began their strategy for reaching educators for Christ. First, they distributed Focus on the Family's Molder of Dreams video to 625 educators. The video features the 1986 National Teacher of the Year, Dr. Guy Doud, who shares how his Christianity enabled him to minister to his students.

"I watched the video and I loved it because I completely identified with it," said Liza Ellis, a 26- year-old teacher, who directly applied Doud's advice to her teaching perspective. For instance, Doud shared how he stands over the desk of problem students before they come to school and prays for them. Ellis immediately began praying over a 10-year-old boy who had presented a challenge for her since the first day of school.

"He was tough to get along with," she said. "He was constantly late, he never brought his homework and, basically, he was doing everything you didn't want him to do."

After she began praying for him, Ellis noticed immediate changes. He began bringing his homework, responding to her and even began dressing differently. "He brought me a little present one day--a stuffed animal. I really feel that it was the prayer that did it," she said.

In addition to the video, Morgan sought to encourage educators through a special end-of-the-year banquet that featured Doud as the keynote speaker. The Morgans were thrilled to host almost 600 attendants. Each educator at the banquet received a free one-year subscription to Focus's Teacher in Focus magazine and copy of a pamphlet called "Is Jesus God?" that explains Christian apologetics.

"I can remember a teacher stopping us at the banquet and saying, 'You know, I've been here for 33 years and nothing like this has ever happened. I have never felt so appreciated in my life.' She just went on and on, and I kind of started crying," Morgan said.

The next step of the FFE program was to find families who would commit to pray for each educator. With the help of 16 volunteer coordinators, the Morgans were able to establish 500 families who committed to pray for an educator.

Senior high school English teacher Mary Dillard was one of the teachers adopted by a praying family. "Even though I have taught school for 39 years, I still get anxious," she said. "I want so desperately to meet all the needs of all my students. It provides a sense of well-being knowing that while I am standing there teaching, someone is bringing my name before the throne of God. It's just an incredible source of encouragement."

The Morgans have since fine-tuned their program to become more focused on the educators' relationship with the families who are praying for them. "The families agree to pray for an educator, send them a card of encouragement and to contact them one time during the year to remind them that they are praying for them and to see if they have any prayer requests," Morgan said. This year, all gifts given to the educators such as videos and literature will come directly from the praying families. The Morgans also have held follow-up Bible studies and dinners for educators.

"The Bible studies gave me encouragement and made me feel part of a group that really helped me spiritually," said elementary music teacher Neila Hook. "Educators need prayer to help keep our minds clear and our tongues careful," she said, explaining the difficulties of being a believer in the public school system.

Cheri Morgan agreed with the teachers' expressed need for prayer, pointing out that there are several Christian educators who are "lone voices" in the public school system. "Those lone voices need to know that there are Christian parents out there who would back them up if they chose to take a stand for the Lord," she said.

"We would like to see other Christians take hold of this and adopt it in other school districts," added her husband, explaining that he has already talked to several parents in other Texas school districts and even in other states.

"The real key to this ministry centers around Christians carrying out I Peter 2:9," said Morgan. "As Christian, I think we forget that we are ministers. It's not just the guy that preaches in the pulpit every week, but we are the ministers that God ordained. The FFE ministry allows families to fulfill their role as ministers."

"If we can get Christian brothers and sisters and families throughout America to positively influence public education, hopefully we can actually change the education situation in the United States," he said.

Based on his passion for encouraging others to become ministers in their areas of expertise, Morgan has also helped found other professional groups in his church called Medical Professionals for Christ and Legal Professionals for Christ.

Photo 1: Dallas educators enjoy an appreciation dinner hosted by Families For Educators.

Photo 2: Henry and Cheri Morgan display the gifts given to district educators by Families For Educators.

Copyright © 1998 Families For Educators