Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

by Jo Ann Roth
Ten years ago, nine women brought their scraps of fabric to the Lower Youth Center Building at Forest Lake Church, Apopka, Fla. Those women began a quilting ministry that would eventually have a global effect with approximately 2,700 quilts sent to 43 states and 33 countries.
From the beginning, this organization was to be a teaching ministry as well as a giving ministry. The first project was a baby quilt. Since then, every baby dedicated to Jesus at Forest Lake Church receives a quilt signifying the church family is praying for them.
After research, members decided to model the ministry according to the Prayers and Squares quilting program begun in California. Thus began a program of the prayer quilts. Each quilt is 50 x 60 inches, beautifully pieced and quilted. Sixty ties are then placed on the quilt representing 60 prayers said for the recipient.
This quilting ministry was designed to reach members of the church and community alike who are experiencing crisis in their lives or in the lives of people they know. The ministry’s mission is to present Jesus as one who cares when we go through hard times. Participants’ prayer journals are full of names gathered through the ten year history. God has responded to each according to His will.