Vikings players gather at defensive end Brian Robison’s home each Thursday night during the season for Bible study. However, one prominent attendee has not been on hand the past few weeks.

Running back Adrian Peterson was indicted Sept. 12 in Texas on a felony charge of child abuse and is on the NFL’s exempt list. Peterson will miss his third straight game Sunday when Minnesota plays host to Atlanta.

With Peterson away from the team indefinitely, his teammates at Bible study took a group photo Sept. 18, the day after he went on the exempt list, and Robison sent it to Peterson.

“We were just telling him that we were praying for him that everything comes out better for him and that he keeps moving forward, and hopefully his life gets better as it goes,” Robison said.

Robison was in the photo, as was wide receiver Jarius Wright. Wright said there were about eight or nine players in it. Among the others were quarterback Christian Ponder, tight end Chase Ford and wide receivers Adam Thielen and Kain Colter.

“I’m thinking of him even though he’s not here,” Wright said. “The guys that are here and are friends with Adrian; we still have a great relationship with him. … (Peterson) was very appreciative (of the photo).”

Peterson has admitted in a statement that he disciplined his 4-year-old son but said he didn’t mean any harm. Peterson, who used a switch to hit the boy, said he was disciplining him the way he had been while growing up in Palestine, Texas.

While Peterson is away from the team, several players say they have been keeping in touch with him. Rookie running back Jerick McKinnon said he has been getting texts from Peterson with football tips but that he also has touched upon his emotional state.

“He said he was doing good, staying strong through this whole process,” McKinnon said.

Fullback Jerome Felton also has exchanged texts with Peterson. Felton said he’s aware of how difficult this must be on the eight-year veteran.

“I know it’s tough for him,” Felton said. “We miss him here. He and his family have to deal with it when you’re getting blasted on ESPN and everything else. I know it’s rough.”

Ford grew up in Corrigan, Texas, an hour’s drive southeast of Palestine. Although he doesn’t know all the facts in the case, he said he has been able to identify with Peterson mentioning how he was disciplined as a child.

“I know it’s a touchy subject right now, but nobody really knows what happened,” Ford said. “But where we’re from, we got whupped. You get punishment like that. (Peterson) was whupped like that. I was whupped like that. My little brothers were whupped like that. My little cousins.

“Don’t get me wrong, we don’t go around beating the hell out of kids, but if you do something wrong, you get whupped. … It’s just different. Different parts of the world. Different ways.”

Pictures taken of Peterson’s son about a week after the incident show cuts and welts that have shocked many. Ford said he believes he was beaten worse as a child and referred to being disciplined by his father when he was 9 for having fired a gun.

“That stuff that came out about (Peterson’s) kid, and I mean, I hope him all the best, hope everything goes good,” Ford said. “But I had stuff way worse than that. Oh, yeah. It hurt real bad, but I know one thing: I didn’t shoot a gun for about 10 years. … I learned my lesson.”

Ford said what was used on him was much bigger than a switch, which is a small branch from a tree.

“I wouldn’t call it a switch,” Ford said. “I’d call it like a mini-limb.”

For now, Ford said he and other players at Bible study wanted to send Peterson something special. That’s why they posed for the picture.

“We were letting him know we were praying for him and hope all is well and everything goes well with this ordeal that he’s dealing with right now,” Ford said. “On both ends, the kids and, I guess, the mom and all that.”

Follow Chris Tomasson at twitter.com/christomasson.