Posted on 12/18/2012 6:27:38 PM PST by Gamecock
DES MOINES — Last month, Lori Danes, 43, called the prayer line of a major television ministry and requested prayer for her mother’s persistent ulcers. But her prayer representative, who called himself “Darren,” prayed in a strong Indian accent that “all the gods would bless her mightily.”
“I was stunned,” Danes says. “It was like I’d called a demon prayer line.”
The manager of India Prayer Solutions, located in Mumbai, India, apologized for the incident and fired the employee who, he said, had not been properly trained. But dozens of similar incidents have rattled U.S. callers since major ministries began outsourcing their prayer lines to India. The ministries insist they are overwhelmed by the growing number of calls for prayer.
“There aren’t enough Americans willing to sit in the prayer tower and take calls anymore,” says a prayer coordinator at a major ministry which jobbed out its prayer lines last year.
But the interactions have left many callers baffled.
Rich Douglas of Orem, Utah, called a prayer line for the first time this month, requesting prayer for his wife’s cancer. His prayer partner, “Stephanie,” took him through a series of prayers that felt “pretty clinical,” says Douglas. “I definitely didn’t sense the Spirit. It sounded like she was reading from a script.”
“Stephanie,” whose real name is Reha Jain, is a Hindu woman who works at a call center in Mumbai and has prayed with “many satisfied prayer customers,” she says. “It’s like my old job at a Microsoft call center. The caller is happy if you deliver quality customer service.”
Her fellow worker Rajneesh Tuwalla likewise had never heard of a single U.S. ministry, but was “sick of working at the Sprint call center,” he says. “The customers always got angry about their bill.”
Tuwalla landed a job at a prayer center and learned to pray “Christian prayers” by watching Kenneth Copeland.
“All the TV preachers pray good, but Copeland prays the best,” says Tuwalla, who mimics Copeland’s style on the phone with callers.
Like many service reps, he uses an American name while on the job. In Copeland’s honor, Tuwalla calls himself “Ken.”
Tuwalla has heard the rumors that U.S. ministries may repatriate their call centers. He hopes it isn’t true. At his Sprint job he would have to “run around the block and maybe pull the head off a stray chicken” to settle down every night because of the stress he felt serving demanding U.S. customers. But the prayer center job is more relaxed.
“The callers are very nice,” he says. “I like my life again.”•
Pinged an earlier posting, thanks.
If the lady doesn’t have enough discernment to figure out what Kenneth Copeland is all about, I’m surprised the Indian call center raised an alarm.
A minute (or so) ago I called the suicide line. The recorded message told me to call tomorrow as it was open during business hours.
Tuwalla, you’re supposed to choke the chicken, not pull its head off!
No wonder you’re stressed!
they asked me if I knew how to walk in to a crowed public space and push a button..
Not sure what that was all about.
UHHH, why would one want to call a prayer call center anyway.
“My” God says it is fine if I sit someplace and pray to him day or night. Yes, he would probably prefer I attend Mass now and then, but ‘direct prayer’ has been in vogue for years. Now people are ‘paying’ for the privilege to ‘pray, on the phone’ in India....
We have come a long way baby, just not quite sure we are heading in the right direction.
“UHHH, why would one want to call a prayer call center anyway.”
Pay attention to me!!!
LOL! Why not?
Don’t you mean the na’an ping list?
They are trying to curry favor with God.
First, I laughed until my sides ached. Then, I tried to be sad, but I couldn’t keep a straight face.
“A demon prayer line” ...
OMG. I’m crying I’m laughing so hard ... but it really isn’t funny.
We have a winner!
Are you trying to curry favor?
If you’ve ever had to snap the head off a stray chicken to settle down at night ... you might be an Indian call-center representative.
Bwahahahaha!
This is one of the most twisted, evil things I’ve read today. Deceiptful faith robbers. Good grief!
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