LAMBERT, Miss. – Drive down 6th Street in Lambert on any given Tuesday morning and you will be guaranteed to receive a sign to pull over and pray.
This sign won’t “come from above,” however, but from the sidewalks surrounding First Baptist Church Lambert, inviting passersby to take a moment of their morning to be prayed over — all from the comfort of their car.
“Drive Thru Prayer” is Linda and Frank Logan’s favorite time of the week. Come rain, shine, or freezing cold, the couple and their two teammates — First Baptist Church, Lambert, pastor Millard Caulder, and a friend of theirs from Belen Baptist Church in Marks — wait outside the church and wave at passing cars.
Last April, the team of four committed to having the drive-through prayer ministry every Tuesday morning, no matter what.
“People drive from all over the county for prayer,” Linda Logan said. “We don’t want to disappoint them.”
A typical conversation begins at the recipient’s car window with a simple question: “How can we pray for you today?”
“We firmly believe whatever a person shares with us as their need is what we’re committed to lift up in prayer,” Logan said. “There is no shame. We take our responsibility seriously. Our sole purpose is to be willing to serve God by being available and, whenever possible, share the Gospel.”
Both men and women have poured out their troubles to the team, and many return to express gratitude after feeling blessed by the prayers.
“Watching Frank pray over one woman as she cried, it became clear to me that this is what we’re here for,” Logan said. “People can be real with us and we have to be authentic and be prayed over ourselves. We pray over ourselves before we start and our church prays for us. That helps our counsel undoubtedly, and it helps our confidence to receive people who are willing to be vulnerable and ask for prayer.”
The prayer ministry blesses everyone, young and old. On a weekly basis, a senior service bus stops for prayer. The team stands in the bus aisle and holds hands with the seniors, one of whom recently volunteered to pray for the team as well.
On the way to school, parents or grandparents will drive in with their children. Even the kids have begun to open up and ask for prayer over tests or encounters with bullying throughout the day. The Logans are encouraged that kids are seeing the importance of prayer.
With every soul that drives in with a temporal need, the team makes an effort to meet their deepest eternal need: a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior. Through material available from the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB), they pass along Gospel presentations and witness to the recipients through prayer and conversation.
One man who drove in for prayer returned as a result of an invitation to attend the church. After hearing the Gospel, he accepted Jesus as his Savior. He showed up because his sister told him, “You go back up there where those people pray for you.”
“We have become such good friends with the community of Lambert,” said Frank Logan. “Some people won’t come in a church no matter what you do, so we have come to the other side of the wall to meet them halfway, and they receive that as a blessing.”
From prayer to prison ministry
Not long before Thanksgiving, the Logans had no idea that right around the corner, God would use their prayer ministry to reach inside walls they had never entered. For four weeks, some men in a pickup stopped for prayer. The men came from a local Community Work Center for Mississippi State Prisons, only five miles south of First Baptist Church. The center assists inmates with reintegration into society.
On the fourth week, the men asked the team to pray to help find them a preacher.
“We contacted the MBCB since we recalled they were involved with Mississippi prisons,” said Linda. “That led us to key contacts from both the prison and the MBCB.”
The Logans were introduced to Robert Hyde, director of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Extension Center at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. With the assistance of Hyde and Parchman chaplain Michael Palmer, members of First Baptist Lambert were led through the ministry volunteer application process and orientation.
Dwayne Parker, director of the MBCB Discipleship/Sunday School department, aided the volunteers in choosing a discipleship course, while Jon Martin, MBCB chief strategy officer, provided prison ministry training and practical advice.
FBC Lambert pastor Millard Caulder joyfully accepted the request to preach and teach in the work center. Every class, the residents listen and respond attentively to him.
“Disciples Path” books and a supply of Bibles were delivered to the prison. The first night, 20 residents and officers awaited the volunteers. Although the numbers fluctuate, the highest attendance so far has been 35 out of a total 75 residents at the prison.
“Our volunteers see the number of residents showing up each week as quite exciting and pray the appetite for worship will spread,” Linda Logan said. “Sometimes, our volunteers take handouts of favorite songs and lead in singing. It’s not clear who enjoys the time more — the residents or the volunteers.”
“This ministry has given our church a new insight into missions,” Caulder said. “Our church has always had a missional heart, but this has helped us move out into our community. I’m praising the Lord for those opportunities. If not, we would still be sitting in our four walls.”
This article originally appeared in the Baptist Record.
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