Bernie and Dee Ann Tackitt of Lubbock, Texas had always been churchgoers. But within the last few years after being baptized, the couple has really been on fire for the Lord, turning their Lubbock home into a sanctuary and prayer retreat for the people in their neighborhood and beyond. Their home features a Bible bench where passersby are encouraged to sit and read their Bible or take one to read, a prayer porch, and a pool for baptisms. Last year for his birthday, Bernie decided to construct a large cross and place it in their front yard. The couple has opened up the cross to their community, offering to let others post their prayer requests on the cross. “I thought, ‘I’m going to make a cross because I want everybody to know I’m — at this point in humanity, I’m going, ‘We need to pick a team.’ And I want everybody [to] know I’m with team Jesus,” Bernie told a local station after the cross brought attention from the local news. “If you need to just sit down, have some quiet time with the Lord, come sit on my bench, talk to the Lord. Put that prayer on that cross and you know what, your prayer will be covered every day,” Dee Ann said of the cross.

The Tackitts find other ways to share the Gospel outside of their home, especially Dee Ann who at 64 is now taking seminary classes. “She has a habit of finding people who need prayers. I mean, we could be in Big Lots or anywhere, and I’m looking over there, ‘where’s my, where’s my wife?’ And I’m looking at, she’s praying with somebody. We’ll be out in the parking lot, she’s praying with somebody,” Bernie said of Dee Ann. “People in church, they know who Jesus is. That’s why they’re there. And that’s why we like going out into the street and that’s why we have dedicated our home as the house of prayer for the nations,” said Dee Ann. Age hasn’t slowed her down either. “I never dreamed at my age, 64, that I would go back to school. And my husband prays over me every morning…and it’s working because I have a 4.0 average right now and I don’t know where that comes from,” she said. “I always say Holy Spirit has a 4.0 average, not me.”