Midnight Moms: How Chicken Nuggets Built a 1.6M+ Community

Hi, I'm Michael Sherbet, the producer for GPS God People Stories. Before we start, we wanted to let you know that you're about to hear a reair of a listener favorite episode. In the episode, you'll hear Christy Ethridge, who's helped us over the years, co-hosting with Jim Kirkland. We hope you enjoy this revisit from our Christ to Their Community series from July 2022.

If you'd like to hear the rest of those episodes, we have links in the show notes. I sat there and watched it go viral and I called up Becky and I said, "Something's happening." And she said, "What?" And I said, "I don't know, but you need to get in here and see what's happening." >> Susan Pittz created a Facebook post about moms and chicken nuggets.

And it spread like wildfire. >> I think we got 200,000 new followers that week cuz we were getting 40,000 a day. And I said, "Becky, I think it's time to pay attention to this. God is shining a light on this and we cannot ignore this. >> Susan Pittz and her daughter Becky Thompson manage a Facebook group called Midnight Mom Devotional.

It is a community of over 1.6 million followers, mainly moms who pray for other moms. I'm Jim Kirkland >> and I'm Christy Ethridge. Welcome back to the Christ to their community series of GPS, God, People, Stories, an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. >> And on this episode, Becky and Susan share an amazing story of how Midnight Mom devotional began and what they've learned about the power of prayer through building that online community. >> But before you jump on your computer or open the Facebook app on your phone to look them up, we're talking about the specific group Midnight Mom Devotional.

There's another unrelated Facebook group with a similar name, but Midnight Mom Devotional is the group Becky and Susan started. >> So, the operative word Christie devotional. >> Devotional. >> Midnight Mom Devotional. Thank you very much for the clarification. And speaking on the power of prayer, you'll hear Billy Graham share some words on prayer as well.

There is one great lesson that Jesus would teach us, and that is the victorious assurance that God answers every true prayer. >> More from Billy Graham later on in this episode. And so you don't miss out on any new episodes, just make sure you're subscribed to GPS, God, People, Stories on your favorite podcasting app.

But right now, if you'd like to know more about what it means to become a follower of Jesus Christ, check out our website. It's available anytime at findpacewithgod.net. That'sind peacewithgod.net. GPS >> God >> people stories. >> We are a community that prays for moms as moms. Every night at 8:30 on Facebook, uh we post a very short but very specific prayer calling women to gather around one specific mama. >> Midnight Mom Devotional is a massive group on Facebook now, but it started with Becky just reaching out to connect with other moms.

As a mom of two very small children, um living in my husband's small town, I was isolated from so much of my community and really uh separated from a lot of who I had been in my life. So in a struggle to find identity and find community and find my place, I was awake at all hours of the night and I began to share just online on my personal Facebook account and then later in more of a public Facebook account what I was going through as a mom. >> Night after night, Becky was awake and checking in on Facebook to share her journey and let other moms know that they were being prayed for.

And she was getting a lot of responses >> in the middle of the night. these women would comment. But here's the thing. All of these people would say, "This is what I need God to do in the middle of the night." And I told my own mom, I said, "Listen, there are these women.

They're sharing their hearts. I can't have them feel like no one is seeing their comments. Will you come and pray with me nightly in the comment section? Will you help me pray for these women?" So many moms were commenting and responding. Becky needed backup. Together, Becky and her mom, Susan, teamed up to make sure each and every mom who needed prayer knew they were seen.

These women, they're out there. They're they they need support cuz the night is dark and lonely, but God's presence doesn't leave us just because everybody else goes to sleep. And so, we would spend hours, literal hours, praying through, you know, for the mom who was awake with a sick child, you know, just commenting back simply, "We're praying for you."

But it was more than that. It was pausing to sincerely pray. >> The big turning point for Midnight Mom devotional happened one night when Susan was taking the lead on the page while Becky had her hands full with a newborn. >> One night, I don't even remember why.

I just wrote a prayer about how uh the mom who was afraid she was ruining her kids because sometimes she serves them chicken nuggets or pizza instead of nutritious food or sometimes she, you know, lets them, I don't know, be on TV too much or something, you know, something simple and just said, "But, you know, Lord, you say she's a good mom, that she loves her babies."

And just posted it. Susan didn't realize it when she was writing that prayer, but it would end up being one of those moments where a simple prayer would end up resonating with moms everywhere. >> I sat there and watched it go viral. And I called up Becky and I said, "Something's happening."

And she said, "What?" And I said, "I don't know, but you need to get in here and see what's happening." I think we got 200,000 new followers that week cuz we were getting 40,000 a day. Officially, the Facebook group Midnight Mom Devotional went live in 2016. But Becky and Susan would be quick to tell you that it really began decades earlier. >> Yeah.

Susan recalls her early days of motherhood and what she would do while up late at night caring for baby Becky. We used to live kind of out in the country. Oklahoma City wasn't grown as as far out as it was at the time. And I could see that hospital out the back door of my house, even though it was like seven or eight miles away.

And it had a cross on it, a white cross. So every night late when you're up with a newborn, mamas know that you're up late. Anyway, every night I would stand at the back door and look at that cross and pray for the mamas. Every night for years, Susan also journaled her prayers.

One prayer journal entry from when Susan was pregnant with Becky resurfaced decades later with a remarkable connection to this new Facebook group they were managing. So my mom sent me a photograph. The Midnight Mom devotional community was just beginning and the photograph was a page of her journal and in her cursive handwriting was written.

I pray for the new baby that he or she would be a testimony to your love and power to sustain parents, especially moms, through hard times and trials. I remember praying that um this baby would be a blessing to moms and parents and would minister to the needs of moms and parents who were a difficult places.

And I actually found that prayer and I cut it out of the journal and I mailed it to her and I said, "Honey, the Lord knew you were going to minister to to parents and especially to moms. He knew this was a call on your life and that he would always be there with you taking you through this journey of ministering to other moms."

These days, Becky and Susan both play an intricral role in the Midnight Mom community. >> Mom and I co-write these prayers together because more than anything, we want these women to be seen, know they're seen by God, but also let them know that there are other women going through similar things, even if it's not the exact story of their life. and we just go back and forth and we craft the prayer in such a way that we feel like it best reflects, you know, that prolonged praying period that we have um outside of what's posted there on the page that women can connect with and and share among their communities. >> In addition to co-writing the prayers, Susan has a very hands-on role with the community.

I am really like the mama bear for the page because we don't allow any of the vitriol, you know, the ugliness to come in. We will hold your hand and walk with you through tremendous pain, but we will not allow someone to come in and to diminish that for you or to diminish your story.

So, I probably spend hours every evening making sure that people have a voice, but that they have a kind voice and that women can come there and feel safe and know that they're going to be okay. I feel like it's important to have created this community where women can feel seen and heard and appreciated and loved.

That's my job. Both Becky and Susan are able to stand firm in the power of prayer because they each have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ, which for both of them began early on in their lives. This is how Susan's journey began. I was about oh, I think maybe 8 years old and Billy Graham came on TV.

I was so young and he presented the gospel in a way I had never heard about the Lord before. and in my living room in that little house. I just prayed and asked the Lord to come into my heart and um he did and my life has literally never been the same.

And I was 8 years old and it changed everything. Just everything. We had no idea that Susan came to know Jesus Christ through the ministry of Billy Graham when we first spoke with her. Becky's journey to faith began through her parents. >> You know, I like to say that Jesus lived in the house with us.

I mean, that's really how we grew up. I mean, he wasn't somebody waiting for us on the other side of eternity. We talked to him regularly. We talked about him regularly. We invited the Holy Spirit to move in and through our home. And so, it was almost as if God was just a member of our family and we were a member of his.

And so, when people say, "Well, how did you come to know him?" I'm like, "Well, how did I come to know my parents? He's just a part of my life." And so because that was the foundation of what I believed to be true and came to know for myself, it wasn't more about coming to know him later on in life or, you know, really awakening to what that means later.

It was just a steady, deeper walk into this uh lifelong relationship with the Lord. Becky and Susan have been used by the Lord to pour into the lives of so many moms, but their own faith has also been shaped by the interactions they've had with the Midnight Mom devotional Facebook group. >> I'm so glad that prayer has been a part of my personal life.

But I'm also feel like, okay, in Oklahoma we have the oil derks, you know, and they they pump the oil out of the earth and it's you have to go down really deep sometimes. I mean, sometimes it just feels like in prayer it's like that. You have to really go deep to get into into the Lord and into his heart and into the word and to pray scripture and to not trust your own mind. >> After 6 years and countless lives impacted by their online community, Becky and Susan reflect on their journey so far. >> It's been a journey for me to trust him, not just with my own life, but with the lives of, you know, the millions that he's he's brought to us.

The point of that is that is just God. Like this is what he does. This is all him. He has done all of this. All we've done is try to be a good steward of what he's given to us. It has reminded me that even the simplest whispers of our heart to God can be the most effective to change lives.

All you have to say is the name of the Lord and he comes. All you have to whisper is your heart and he's already there with everything you need because when he comes he brings his strength and he brings everything that he is when you ask for any part of him. >> Sometimes the topics they address change as their online community grows and in response to what's happening in the world at the time. >> Events like the shooting in Yaldi, Texas and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

But no matter what may be happening at any given time, Becky and Susan are quick to remain focused on their mission. >> We always say that our mission is to support mamas in their journey of motherhood through prayer. That's our mission. But we look at everything from the position of prayer and motherhood. when everything happened um with Ukraine and I just say this, Becky and I took three days together and we fasted and prayed for the moms.

We just fasted and prayed for the mothers. Um and we just spent three days doing that to hear God's heart on that for how we could help. I think as the page has grown and we have become known as a place for prayer, known for a community that actually gathers and prays during world events or moments that need communitywide prayer that expand outside of motherhood yet still impact motherhood.

We ask the Lord to show us what to pray. And the prayer for what happened uh in Texas was Lord, when we have no words, we know that you still hear the prayers of our hearts. We know that when we don't know what to say that you still meet us and help us.

And so we created an opportunity for women to say that they were praying. Um and that is why you know connecting it back to our mission. We are not just a page that says we pray. We are a page that believes in talking to the one true God together joined together where two or more are gathered in my name. even on social media, you know, there I am in their midst. >> Becky Thompson and Susan Pitt's trust in God and the power of prayer are a reflection of the personal relationship they each have with Jesus Christ.

You can find out more about what it means to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ by visiting our website. The address is find peacewithgod.net. That's find peacewithgod.net. >> Becky and Susan's story may leave you thinking about how to build up your own community by sharing the love of Jesus.

If that's the case, they have some advice for you in just a moment. >> You're listening to GPS God, People Stories, a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. There is one great lesson that Jesus would teach us and that is the victorious assurance that God answers every true prayer. >> Billy Graham. >> Skeptics may question it.

Humanists may deny it. Intellectuals may ridicule it. But here is Christ's own promise. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive. Trust that promise with all your soul today. Build your hope for time and eternity on that divine fact. God answers prayer. The scripture says, "Pray without ceasing."

This should be the motto of every true follower of Christ. Never stop praying. No matter how dark and hopeless your case may be. The future with its fears and uncertainties is fully revealed in him. Turn to him. With God, nothing is impossible. No problem is too difficult. No burden too heavy for his love. >> You can pray with someone right now about accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

Just call our prayer line. The number is 855255 pray. That's 855255 P R A Y. >> So you've been listening to this episode and are starting to think, what can I do to get involved in an online community? Or how do I start an online community? Well, here's some advice from Becky and Susan. >> Just do it.

Honestly, honestly, just please, please reach out on your personal page. Please, please, please pray. Please share your heart. Please engage the people that you know and let God expand it. So, if you want to be involved in a virtual community, I I'm the kind of person that says just you can create your own.

God's given you a voice. He's given each of you a voice and he's just waiting for you to use it. God has given us this amazing tool to share not just the gospel but the power of community. And I have always said we were never meant to do it all and we were never meant to do it alone.

And life is always better when we live it together. Go for it and know that your community is waiting for you to decide to begin it. know that your community is waiting for you to decide to begin it. Wow, that is great takeaway. >> It really is. And I have to say, I am now one of the 1.6 There's my son making noise.

One of the 1.6 million followers of Midnight Mom devotional, and I truly need it right now. My husband has COVID and is out of commission. My eight-month-old could wake up at any moment while we're recording this. And my six-year-old is right here with me. And Jim, we're not even at chicken nugget level.

That would that would require an oven. I just dumped some goldfish crackers in a bowl for him. >> Well, I am sure Becky and Susan will uh be a blessing to you along your journey. >> Yes. And for all the dads out there, Becky's dad, Susan's husband, manages the Midnight Dad devotional group on Facebook.

Dr. Mark Pittz leads a prayer each evening for dads, and he's joined by over 200,000 men. >> Wow. Well, thanks to Becky Thompson and Susan Pittz for their passion and dedication to praying over moms each and every night. In addition to the Facebook group, they also have a Midnight Mom devotional book >> and a Midnight Dad devotional book. >> And we have more information on those books, plus links to Facebook groups in the show notes.

I'm Jim Kirkland. >> And I'm Christy Ethridge. Remember to subscribe to GPS so you won't miss the third installment of our Christ to their community series. Next week's episode is the story of a Brooklyn resident who started a church and then used it as a community center in the midst of the CO 19 pandemic. >> Thank you for listening to this episode of GPS, God, People, Stories.

It's an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Always good news. 
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