As the prospect of war in Iraq loomed, PPT's leadership believed that if they were to support and pray for the Commander-in-Chief of our nation then they must support and pray for his troops. Convening a special advisory panel, including a retired four-star General, a military chaplain and a young Air Force cadet, advice was sought on how to best accomplish the goal. The Adopt Our Troops initiative was launched on February 8, 2003, swelling the membership to over two million and causing so much activity on the website that the server crashed on March 19—the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom—when it hosted more than 9.8 million hits.
Responding to the wildly popular Adopt Our Troops effort, hundreds of thousands of new members swelled the ranks of the team. On May 1, 2003, the 2.8 million participant mark was reached—just 600 days after the PPT's beginning.
As the nation continued to reach for strength and hope through prayer, The Presidential Prayer Team created an inspirational, patriotic CD, with the title song, Somebody's Praying Me Through which quickly soared to #1.
The influx of new members was a welcome addition, but the expense of distributing membership materials to so many in such a short time created financial hardship for the team. In September of 2003, the Board of Directors decided to bring all of the ministry's efforts in house. A new office was opened and many of the original staff joined the new team.
After a period of transition, PPT's goals of stability and growth were quickly realized as on February 16, Presidents Day 2004, the first ever Virtual Prayer Rally was held. More than 37,000 people committed to pray for a half-hour or more by virtue of the Internet. Downloadable materials were offered, and the site experienced a huge number of visits.
On the first anniversary of Adopt Our Troops, a great variety of new features was added to the AOT web pages giving a means by which updates on registered troops could be logged and then viewed by intercessors.
In May 2004, The Presidential Prayer Team launched Pray the VoteTM to stimulate prayer for the presidential elections on November 2. Believing that the prayers of nation would open a window for God to work in our country as never before, tens of thousands of Americans joined in this unprecedented prayer movement. They participated in two Virtual Prayer Rallies, dozens of Prayer Parties in which members invited family and friends into their homes to pray for the upcoming elections and many simply prayed daily, faithfully anticipating the fulfillment of God's promise to bless the nation that calls on Him. Through the efforts of Pray the VoteTM along with a number of other initiatives, the presidential elections of November 2004 may possibly have been the most prayed-for elections in our nation's history.
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