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It's 1 p.m.—break time in plant No. 14 at Cardone Industries' automotive remanufacturing plant in Philadelphia. But instead of grabbing Cokes or swapping sports stories, 15 workers in the water pump division gather and sit on makeshift seats.

Participants hail from varied backgrounds, among them Haitian, Hispanic, and Ukrainian, many now living in the city's northeast Olney section. This rich ethnic mix unites around a common purpose: prayer.

The requests vary, some coming from a weekly list e-mailed to 250 employee intercessors by Paul Spuler Sr., vice president of spiritual life. One asks that God help officials manage inventory and cash flow. Another seeks help with "production efficiencies." Individuals pray for family members who need healing, financial relief, or salvation.

As the 10-minute session winds up, an Indian woman tells Spuler, "The company has blessed me with employment. The least I can do is pray for God's blessing on them."

Since February, workers inspired by Spuler have started daily prayer sessions at two other plants at the massive facility of 4,000 employees.

"My passion is to see as much prayer as possible get integrated into this business," said Spuler, a former Assemblies of God pastor.

Cardone Industries is hardly the only business hiring people to pray and organize prayer.

Since hiring his mother as a combination bookkeeper-intercessor in 1995, Victor Eagan said his business has prospered. The Detroit-area orthodontist said intercession also promotes a peaceful office atmosphere.

While he relies on volunteer intercessors, the founder of a Midwestern dental equipment manufacturing lab credits prayer meetings and a worldwide network of intercessors for the healthy boost to his bottom line since 1994.

Larry Ihle of Dexterity Dental Arts in Farmington, Minnesota, said many non-Christian employees have converted. Ihle said vendors and suppliers are receptive to prayers for their well-being.

"My point has never been to get wealth," Ihle said. "As I read God's Word, it said you have not because you ask not."

Despite his business shrinking from 50 employees to 10 amid Silicon Valley's dot-com bust, Gary Williams of Millennium Imaging in Menlo Park, California, keeps Doris Eska, a part-time intercessor, on the payroll.

Working from home, Eska visits twice a month to discuss personal needs of employees and tenants in the company's office building.

"The economy is horrible, but we're still profitable," Williams said. "I wouldn't dare be in business without her."

Chris Armstrong, managing editor of Christian History (a CT sister publication), said the idea of paying people to pray has deep roots in Christian History. "The landscape of medieval England was dotted with 'chantry chapels'—either attached to churches or freestanding nearby," Armstrong said. "Endowed by wealthy men, the chapels were staffed by a 'chantry priest,' whose primary responsibility was to sing or say Mass for the souls of the departed patron."

Unlike priests in medieval chantries, however, today's paid intercessors focus on the needs of the living.

Current demand is significant enough that last year a Dallas-based ministry turned its focus from supporting missionaries to training "marketplace intercessors." Though Beth Alves, president of Intercessors International, has prayed regularly for businesses since 1984, she said interest is growing.

Alves previously taught at the charismatic Christ for the Nations ministry in Dallas. She said the 9/11 terrorist attacks spawned a series of weeklong business prayer training sessions.

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July 2003, Vol. 47, No. 7