Can Facebook Prayer Groups Save Lives?

If you type the word “prayer” into your Facebook search engine, it’ll come up with hundreds of people, pages, groups, events and even apps.

Indeed, prayer is a hot topic on the global social network. There are pages for spiritual warfare, small groups committed to meeting at specific times each week and apps that let you tell people they are in your prayers.

The question is, are these Facebook warriors making a kingdom impact? At a time when some pastors are calling their congregations to shun Facebook, one recent example would suggest the answer is yes.

Donald Michael Black, otherwise known as “The Bean,” lost control of his car while driving to Orlando, Fla. on May 21, and suffered a serious brain trauma. When he went into a coma his family decided to launch a global prayer campaign on Facebook to generate prayer without ceasing.

Of course it doesn’t take an army of prayer warriors to make a difference; two can put 10,000 to flight. But “The Beans Recovery Group” on Facebook has assembled a sizeable army of 167 members actively engaging in prayer and intercession for Black.

The family is already reporting miraculous results. Not only has he emerged from the coma, he is off the ventilator and expressing plenty of emotion just 10 days after the brain trauma.

“Today I walked into The Bean’s room and they had him sitting up in a reclined chair. What was exciting was that both eyes were wide open and you could tell he was [angry]. His fever is very high today,” writes Bernadette Orr Coleman, a group moderator. “That may be because he is agitated and because of the pneumonia. I wiped off his face and he immediately raised his hand to push mine away. This is a good sign. He is aware of discomfort and reaching.”

Black may have a long road to recovery ahead, but with prayer warriors standing in faith there could be plenty more miracles that glorify Jesus before this story is over.

Have you launched prayer initiatives on Facebook? Have you seen results?