MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s been a rough couple of weeks for people in Frayser, but now one church has found a unique way to encourage and reach out to the community.
It wasn’t a church service, and people didn’t even have to get out of their cars, but members of Emanual Church of Nazarine think it’s just what the people of Memphis need.
“They need this,” Sharita Jackson said. “You have a lot of people that are out here hurting. They’re not going to come into the church, so we have to come out and meet them where they’re at.”
Darrius Wilkins initially drove right by, but he said a higher power made him turn around and go back.
“My first mind was like, ‘Just keep going. I’m in a hurry. I got this, and I got this and that to do,'” Wilkins said. “But you never can be in too much of a hurry for prayer, so something just told me to turn around, come back and see what’s going on. God turned me around, I think.”
The drive-thru prayer isn’t new, as the church has been doing it for five years, but they hope more churches will start doing it.
“Big churches, small churches, it doesn’t matter,” Jackson said. “We all just need to try to come together and try to make Memphis a safe place to live because there’s so many people like myself that feel unsafe in our neighborhoods and our homes. And that has to change.”
For that reason, this group is bringing a little bit of hope to anyone who stops by.
Emanuel Church of Nazarene said it’s members will start hosting their drive-thru prayer every other Saturday.