Roadside ministry

I was thrilled to discover a feature on old friends, Helen and Emil Liko, this evening. Emil parks his bike on a busy road in the SE Valley (East Valley in greater Phoenix) and holds up a sign: "Free prayer."

Emil says he gets all kinds of people who pull over and don't even know why.

If you know anything about the area he ministers to, you'd realize the genius of this approach. Queen Creek used to be entirely agriculture, but they've built about 20,000 new homes since 2002. The place is a parking lot each morning and each evening because there are only two access roads out of town, and they're both one-lane rural roads that are under construction for miles and miles.

So it's not just inspired, it's tactical. And actually, it's inspiring.

I got to watch Emil and Helen grow together and fall in love in my church years ago. If I recall correctly, Helen was a nurse in war-ravaged Africa. She has a heart the size of Texas.

Anyway, just good to see people get some recognition. It was really cool to see a picture of their ministry site on the front page of azcentral.com, my old occupational haunt.