Administer Prayer Requests

After requests have been entered, and before the Prayer Team can pray for them, the Prayer Administrator needs to take a look at them. One exception to this process is if the requests are set to auto-approve when they are entered. In that case, the Prayer Team has immediate access to new requests.

All administration work is done under People > Prayer. Here, you can select to add a new prayer request, view current requests or view all the comments in the system.

Prayer Requests List

Selecting the Prayer Requests option will display a list of all the prayer requests in the system.

Using the Filter Options, you can narrow the list down to exactly what you want to see. This is useful if you have hundreds of requests and only need to worry about the ones that are flagged or unapproved.

Note

Flagged Requests
If you find a request that is flagged, it's a good idea to read it carefully. Requests can be flagged if a member of your prayer team feels like there is something inappropriate in the request. For instance, if it's considered dangerous to use a global worker's full name or list the exact country name where they are stationed.

From this list you can click the approved switch from yes to no (or vice versa) to quickly change its approval status. Otherwise, you can select an item to view all the details or press the Delete button to permanently remove it from the system.

Clicking the Edit button will allow you to change the request including its approved or urgency status, expiration date, and other details about the request. It also brings up a box for recording an answer to that prayer. Say, for example, if the Prayer Administrator knows that the prayer has been answered. They can note that here, so it then becomes a praise.

Once you've made all your changes, you can check the Approved checkbox and press the Save button to return back to the list. If a request was previously flagged, checking the approved checkbox clears the flags so that it can be included in prayer sessions once again.

Prayer Comments List

Selecting the Prayer Comments option will display a list of all the prayer comments in the system. This is a good way to help moderate the comments that are coming in without having to view each prayer request. Selecting a comment will take you directly to the prayer request page.

Prayer Comments AI Approvals

If you configured an AI Provider as outlined in the Rock Admin Hero Guide, you can enable an advanced feature to automatically approve (or reject) inappropriate prayer comments using AI.

To activate this feature, navigate to Administration > Settings > Note Types, then edit the Prayer Comment note type. Check the Enable Approvals and Enabled AI Approvals boxes. Next, provide clear guidelines to help the AI determine which comments should be approved or disapproved.

Now, when someone posts a comment on a prayer request, AI will review the note. If the comment is deemed inappropriate based on the provided guidelines, it will be automatically removed.

Tip

Crafting Your Approval Prompt
The AI Approval Guidelines sample text above provides a solid foundation for your prompt, but be sure to tailor them to your specific needs. If it's acceptable for individuals to include their phone numbers in a prayer request, clarify this with a statement like, "Phone numbers are allowed." If you want to prohibit gossip, simply state, "Don't include gossip." Simple, right?  

Advanced Ideas

You may want to take special action for certain categories of prayer requests. With Rock's workflow engine, you can trigger a particular action based on some criteria of the prayer request.

For example, if someone enters a Hospitalization request, you can notify the person in charge of hospital visits by sending a system message with a link to that request directly to their email address. See the Blasting Off With Workflows guide for more details on creating these automatic actions.

The possibilities are endless.