28 July 2011
Doug Stringer, founder and president of Somebody Cares America, said he would not be involved with The Response if it were a partisan affair. The Aug. 6 day of prayer is intended to be a sincere gathering of people focused on honoring God, he said.
Courtesy Photo/
Somebody Cares America
By Raymond Billy | ResonateNews.com
What started as the efforts of a man frustrated with “nominal” Christianity has blossomed into an interracial, interdenominational, interstate and international movement to empower benevolence ministries. Now Doug Stringer, founder and president of Somebody Cares America, is using his mediatory abilities to get Christians to heed The Response, the Aug. 6 day of prayer initiated by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Houston's Reliant Stadium and simulcast at many churches throughout Texas and the United States.
Stringer, 55, is part of The Response's 13-person leadership team. His role is to marshal churches and ministries across the country to take part in the event. The Houston resident said early reservations he had about participating in the event have been allayed.
"When I was approached about the possibility of joining the leadership of this gathering, I needed to know 'Is it going to be an authentic day of prayer and fasting, or is it going to be political?'” Stringer told ResonateNews.com on Monday. Stringer said he was first contacted about The Response by Luis and Jill Cataldo of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. “After speaking with event organizers, I became confident that on Aug. 6, we will join together in Houston in a posture of sincere prayer and humility before the Lord.”
Stringer said he respects that Perry wants the American church to seek Christ to help the country overcome myriad challenges.
“Governor Perry has acknowledged that there are some things beyond government's ability to remedy. We've been faced with natural disasters, societal unrest and economic collapse all at once. We are in great need of direction from God at this time in our country's history.”
“There's a lot of suffering in the country right now. So, we can argue until we're blue in the face over whether this is the proper thing to do, or we can pray,” Stringer said. “I believe that ultimately, the Christian opponents and the atheists will benefit from what happens in our country as a result of our prayers,” he said, noting that a positive outcome would benefit the entire nation and all of its citizens.
Stringer said he would not be a part of The Response if it were a partisan affair. He has spent most of his life at the center of conciliatory enterprises through Somebody Cares America and its international arm. The organization is an affiliate of Turning Point Ministries International, which started modestly in a Houston fitness center in the early 1980s. Stringer said his ministry career was born out of a prayer of repentance.
“I was a so-called Christian living a compromised life and I decided almost 30 years ago that I wanted to bring a smile to God's face for a change,” Stringer recalled. “I asked God to use me anyway he saw fit. He worked on my heart and I began to notice the disaffected members of society — the addicts, the homeless, the prostitutes — and started ministering to them,” he said.
Stringer took to the streets along with other evangelism-minded Christians and began sharing the Gospel with people on the fringes of Houston society. The group soon began housing homeless people in their own apartments and linking them with other residents or ministries willing to take them in. By 1983, Stringer's fitness studio had become Turning Point Studio — a Christian Activities and Fellowship Center.
By the early 1990s, Somebody Cares was formed as the outreach arm of Turning Point. Its mission is to use its human and financial resources to help existing humanitarian organizations meet the needs of the communities they serve. Somebody Cares has played a role in the recovery efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, in Haiti after last year's earthquake and in Japan in the wake of numerous natural disasters there this year, among many other projects.
A central component of the organization's work is fostering cooperation among disparate factions in pursuit of mutually shared goals — namely spreading the love of Christ through humanitarianism and verbalizing the Gospel. Stringer said he's certain The Response won't compromise his role as a unifier.
“I have a diverse network of friends and associates within the Christian community. I want to be a bridge-builder,” Stringer said. “I wouldn't want to be involved in something that could reasonably be construed as divisive.”
Stringer said the Aug. 6 prayer gathering is intended to be anything but polarizing.
“I know some of my friends have a problem with this because of Gov. Perry's involvement. But, it doesn't matter who called for it. He's saying we need prayer.”
“Prayer preaching” — statements intended to usher listeners toward the speaker's opinions, rather than into the presence of God — will not be allowed, Stringer said. He said he is among the leaders with authority to disrupt such incidents. But, he said, even if some untoward behavior takes place during The Response, it would not discredit the entire event.
“If I can see 75 percent of the day be an authentic and pure outpouring of repentance and worship, I think God will be pleased,” he said.
