Arizona pastor and former missionary launches global Drive Thru Prayer ministry

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – Phil Calvert of Maine likely never anticipated the twists and turns God had in store for his life, a journey that has involved career changes, several international moves, and launching a global ministry. But as Calvert discovered, God’s ways aren’t our ways.

Calvert didn’t attend church regularly as a child, and by the time he started college, he describes himself as “radically unchurched.” He recalls that his favorite book at the time was Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche. Yet everything changed at 5:45pm on July 29, 1996. Three minutes earlier, Calvert’s wife had given birth to the couple’s first child. As Calvert cradled his newborn son in his arms, he said he heard God speak for the first time.

“I clearly heard this: ‘I exist, and I created him,’” Calvert said. “And I knew what that meant.”

Calvert told his wife they needed to raise their son in church. And they did. Two years later, Calvert gave his life to Christ, and shortly after that, the family relocated to North Carolina.

As zealous new believers in a new state, they joined a nearby church that faithfully discipled them. They started attending a Wednesday-night program called Life University.

“They would teach all these classes,” Calvert recalled. “My wife and I chose Experiencing God. We had never heard of Henry Blackaby or Experiencing God. But we started attending that class, and it changed the trajectory of our life, specifically this: ‘Don’t ask God to bless your plan; join God where he’s working.’”

The couple soon had the opportunity to put that truth into action in a big way. While attending a Christian conference in Atlanta with pastoral staff from his home church, Calvert said he heard God speak again.

“I’m sitting there taking notes, and God said, ‘I’m calling you.’”

Calvert didn’t fully understand what God meant at first. But as he and his wife began to pray together, they realized God was calling them onto the mission field. Answering God’s call would mean making major adjustments. Their life in North Carolina was good: they had a solid income, a beautiful house, a great church, and a close circle of friends.

“Our life was extremely comfortable, so it was painful,” Calvert said. “But we knew this is what God wanted.”

The family moved to Ecuador, and Calvert said they experienced God in mighty ways while they were there. One incident that sticks out in his mind occurred in July of 2005 while a team of four men from the United States was visiting Quito on a mission trip.

When a last-minute schedule change left the team with a free morning, Calvert sensed God leading them to a town called Cumbayá.

“I explicitly [told the team] that our goal is to find a person of peace to open up their home or their business to a Bible study, which is how you plant churches,” Calvert recalled.

As the group was walking down a street in search of a restroom, one of the men noticed the Christian fish symbol on a wooden sign outside a business. When they entered the building, cowbells hanging on the door clanged loudly.

“A gentleman kneeling behind the counter jumps up and seems shocked to see five Americans in Ecuador,” Calvert said.

Calvert introduced himself, and he said the man looked stunned. The shopkeeper explained that the night before, he had told an Ecuadorian Baptist pastor that he wanted to serve God. The Ecuadorian pastor instructed him to connect with a missionary named Phil Calvert, but he didn’t give the shopkeeper Calvert’s contact information. When Calvert walked into that bookstore, seemingly on a whim, the shopkeeper was in the middle of praying for a way to find him.

After a fruitful ministry in South America—first in Ecuador, and later in Peru—God led the family back to the US, and Calvert became the pastor of Trinity Southern Baptist church in Casa Grande, Arizona (the same church that had sent the mission team to work with him in Cumbayá in 2005).

The church launched several successful ministries, including a food pantry and a family resource center. But in 2016, while watching cars drive by the church, Calvert clearly remembers crying out to God, saying, “Lord, if I only knew what was going on in their life, we could help them.”

That day, Calvert said he heard God speak again.

“God said, ‘Stand outside.’ That’s not a normal thing. We have a building. We have a sign. We have published days of the week when we worship. But his one command was, ‘Stand outside.’”

Rather than waiting for people to come to him, God told Calvert to go where the people were. That word from God was the catalyst for the church’s now-thriving Drive Thru Prayer ministry.

Twice per week, volunteers stand in the church parking lot for two hours and pray with anyone who stops by. The people requesting prayer remain in their vehicle, and the volunteers don’t ask for last names or collect contact information. Yet Calvert said that simple ministry has enabled his church to reach people who never would have set foot inside the sanctuary.

“People do U-turns on their way to chemotherapy,” Calvert shared. “We’ve had people who were going to take their life pull into Drive Thru Prayer. We’ve had people on the way to deliver a baby.”

After seeing God work so powerfully through the ministry at his own church, Calvert and his team felt led to help other churches launch similar initiatives. Today, there are Drive Thru Prayer sites across the nation and in Ecuador, Eswatini, and Nepal, where they offer “Walk Thru Prayer.” The church has also launched “Break Thru Prayer ” in rehab centers, prisons, and homeless shelters.

Calvert said God gave him a vision that by 2050, there would be 800,000 Drive Thru Prayer  sites around the world. Ultimately, he is hoping to see a Drive Thru Prayer site for every 10,000 people worldwide, and he and his team are actively working toward that goal.

He encourages anyone who is considering starting a Drive Thru (or Walk Thru) Prayer ministry at their church to fill out a brief form on drivethruprayer.com to get the process started.

“I’ve done a lot of ministry. I’m a pastor. I’ve taught seminary. I’ve been a missionary. But I’ve never seen a ministry like Drive Thru Prayer. Ever,” Calvert said. “All the people around the world who come for Drive Thru Prayer are experiencing God. They are reaping the blessing of what [Henry Blackaby] taught me and my wife in the fall of 1999. This is a direct result of that. That’s the power of Experiencing God.”

If you are interested in starting a Drive Thru Prayer ministry in your area, email info@drivethruprayer.com or visit drivethruprayer.com for more information. Order a copy of Experiencing God here.