A church in the Houston area is taking a leaf out of the book of fast food chains by offering a prayer drive-thru for busy residents.
While drivers are more used to getting their cars in line for burgers and fries from their local fast food outlet, El Alfarero Church has found they are just as ready to queue up for a moment with the Lord.
The prayer drive-thru is especially ideal for busy people and those who many never step inside a church or pray on their own.
"It's so unique in this fast world that we live in today," El Alfarero Pastor John Lopez told ABC13. "Look at your drive-through restaurants. Their windows are packed every day."
Drivers and their passengers simply wind down their windows to receive prayer about their given topic from church volunteers.
"If you need prayer, no matter what background you are, we all need a prayer, we all need someone to pray with us, and that's what it's for," said co-pastor Danny Quintanilla.
The prayer drive-thru runs on certain weekends and stays open all day. Even if one person shows up, that's enough to make volunteer Mark Lopez feel it was worth it.
"We're at least touching somebody in the community," he said.
One driver lining up was Eric Soto, who shared that it was a better use of his time than the two minutes he could spend picking up some fast food.
"This is more than better than that," he said. "You're feeding your soul."
El Alfarero isn't the only church to have hit upon the idea of a prayer drive-thru as a way of reaching busy people.
The Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Jackson, Tennessee, placed a simple sealed prayer box outside their church for commuters to deposit their prayer requests.
They were inundated with requests after the prayer box was reported on by the local newspaper.
Aldersgate lay leader Barry Matthews said the church was receiving prayer requests "that just grab your heart".
He told The Christian Post back in May that they had been contacted by churches across the country looking to engage with the high volumes of drivers passing by their buildings or using their parking lots.
"There are so many people out there who are going through challenges in their lives and are searching for answers," he said.
