First Person: Touching hearts, reaching people and changing lives through prayer

Drive Thru Prayer is a way for Trinity Baptist Church in Casa Grande to meet people who drive by the church, learn their deepest needs and introduce them to Jesus.

We live in a culture where many people are simply not interested in attending church. Though not motivated to walk into a church building, they still have needs. In fact, many of them have urgent and immediate prayer requests. The challenge is to meet them, hear their hearts and pray for them.

Despite our church’s many activities open to the community and numerous advertisements on the radio, in the local newspaper and on social media, many of the people who drive past our campus are not being reached by any church.

That is where Drive Thru Prayer has a role in reaching our community for Christ. Started almost a year ago by Trinity Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Drive Thru Prayer is an opportunity for people to pull into the church parking lot, share their prayer requests and have someone pray for them.

The Lord put on our heart this simple and effective way to connect with hard-to-reach people by them opting in to speak with us. Every Wednesday, rain or shine, we offer prayer between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. in our parking lot.

We consistently average 10 volunteers who give sacrificially of their time as a dozen or more people from our community, and even those passing through our city on I-10, pull into our parking lot seeking prayer. The results have been astonishing, and we want to share this ministry with others.

The vision for Drive Thru Prayer is to have a site in all 24 time zones around the world, and it’s already begun at Immanuel Southern Baptist Church in Yuma.

About 10 volunteers serve at Drive Thru Prayer every Wednesday, 7-9 a.m., in the Trinity Baptist Church parking lot.

“God is working in Yuma in the hearts of our church members,” said Pastor David Lindgens. “Immanuel is becoming known around town as the church that prays for people. Our prayer team is amazed at the level of need and heartbreak in our community.

“It is a joy to pray for hurting people and to show them God’s love through prayer. Many people return to report how God answered their prayer requests. What a joy!”

Ask yourself these two questions about the people who drive by your church every day: Who are they? What is their deepest need? Would you like to be able to answer those questions?

We can now answer those two questions in Casa Grande. We know their names. We know their deepest needs. We have encouraged them. We have shed tears with them. We have prayed for them and with them.

We can’t solve their deepest problems, but we can show them the way to the true God who can solve their problems. In fact, our motto is, “Introducing our problems to God’s power.”

Urgent and immediate prayers connect people at the point of their deepest need, and we are able to introduce them to Jesus … the only one who can answer their prayer requests.

Drive Thru Prayer has reminded us that prayer is a powerful way to evangelize a lost and hurting world, because even someone who is unsure if God exists comes to know that He is real when He answers their soul-deep prayer.

Who are the people driving by your church every day and what is their deepest need? With Drive Thru Prayer you can answer those questions and reach people with the Gospel as they ask you to pray for them.

Next Steps

• Pray for the Lord to move in the hearts of your people to have a living, vibrant prayer ministry.
• Visit drivethruprayer.com to find out more.
• Contact Trinity at 520-836-2383 or at trinity@trinitycg.org to see how we can help you start your Drive Thru Prayer ministry today.

Philip W. Calvert is senior pastor of Trinity Southern Baptist Church in Casa Grande.