Christian Church of Brownsburg

The Story Behind the Military Support Prayer Coin

My son, Sgt. Morgan Strader, USMC, was killed inFallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. When his belongings were returned to me I found a coin in his pocket that I didn't recognize. I later found out that it was his unit's "challenge coin." The idea was interesting, and I stored that knowledge away in memory for later use.

In late 2005 several friends had sons who were soon leaving for Iraq. I wanted to remember to pray for them, and I tried, but I found that many days I'd forget. I needed something to help me remember. And then I thought of Morgan's challenge coin. I thought if I had something like that to carry, I would be reminded to pray for our Armed Forces every time I reached into my pocket and felt the coin. So I began designing a coin and the result is what you have received. I told our Military Support Group about the idea and they were excited. Initially, we hoped we could persuade 300 people from our church to carry the coin and pray for the military. 300 isn't that many, we thought, but look what Gideon did with 300. That's all we were after. A "Gideon's Army" of prayer warriors willing to pray regularly for our Marines, our soldiers, our sailors and our airmen.

We've been greatly surprised. So far we've distributed over 2,000 coins and now you are part of our growing "Gideon's Army." Please carry your coin with you in pocket or purse and use it to remind you to pray for those serving for us.