This experience in Santo Domingo was totally unexpected. Our team was down there to see how local churches all across the country are transforming their communities, but this one wasn’t on our agenda.

It was our last day in the Dominican Republic, and we had already finished all of our meetings. We were making a couple of sightseeing and tourist stops before heading out to the airport for our flight home. I noticed all of the people standing on the side of the road with signs that I couldn’t read (because they were in Spanish).

Then one of our translators said something like, “they are from a church.”

Hmm… now I’m really curious!

And just as we were getting the full translation, I noticed a couple of the signs in English stating that the group was offering ‘free prayer’ to people driving by while stopped at the intersection.

As we came to a stop, and excited young man ran over to our vehicle and asked us how he could pray for us…

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I’ve always been a believer that the most effective way to pray for your community is to be IN the community while you pray. But this takes praying for your community to a new level.

I appreciate how zealous these people were as they prayed for us and others as they drove by. They shared the love of Christ in a way that inspired me to be a better Christian myself.

I’m planning on talking to my church (or even a group of friends) about doing something like this in my own community soon.

We have some people in our city who like to hold up ‘turn-or-burn’ signs at intersections from time to time. I wonder if these signs and prayers would show the world something different about the awesome God we serve…

For more from this trip check out the dominican republic diaries.