Praise the Lord and pass the coffee creamer.

Doling out free java and spiritual inspiration, Cinda Isler and about nine others were on the front line of the Washington Road commute last week.

"We have a driveway right next to St. Bernard's Church," said Mrs. Isler, a Pittsburgh Theological Seminary student from Mt. Lebanon who combined caffeine with a higher calling.

"People turned in to our parking lot and we have these tents set up and people waiting [to serve]. We give them their coffee and say 'Would you like us to pray for you today?' There hasn't been one person who hasn't said yes."

Such as the young woman waiting for a bus nearby.

"She asked us for a prayer -- she was just ending her parole, getting her ankle bracelet removed that day," Mrs. Isler said. "Another thing that was kind of amazing, a street cleaner drove his truck into our driveway and jumped out, in a hurry.

"We gave him coffee and a prayer. We were also able to offer coffee to a bus driver and to the people on a bus, so that was cool."

Last week was a busy time for about 300 members of the Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church congregation. For the second consecutive year, teams of volunteers spent seven summer days working on everything from conducting a sports summer camp in Williamsburg Park to collecting used clothing, renovating a room for a Brookline food bank and conducting "prayer walks" through South Hills neighborhoods.

"We decided you didn't have to go on a mission trip all the way to Honduras," said Noelle Conover, a church elder and Mission: Possible coordinator. "You can stay here in the South Hills; there is a lot of need.

"We did not invent this model; this is what churches in the East End do all the time," Mrs. Conover noted. "Look at the Hill District. When people are in need, they're going to the churches."

The idea for the first Mission: Possible last summer, she said, came about at a meeting of the church's Great Commission team.

Although Mt. Lebanon United has a financial commitment to global and regional projects as well as local ones, its senior pastor, the Rev. Tim Janiszewski, brought up a startling point.

"He said, 'Have you guys ever thought that if the corner of Scott Road and Washington Road were, for some reason, obliterated? Would people say, "I really missed that church because they ... and fill in the blank,' " Mrs. Conover said. "We're a church and we do things for our members, but would anyone [else] really miss us if we went away?"

About 200 church members participated in the first Mission: Possible last summer. Although it has grown in ambition and scope, the idea was not to make it an annual event.

"At some point it will end up an every-other-year concept," Dr. Janiszewski said. "Part of the Christian tradition is to reach out to those in your neighborhood."

It was important to come back for a second consecutive year, he said, to "establish a beach head," and let the surrounding communities know the church was there to help.

Hundreds of cups of coffee later, they were pretty sure people were at least noticing the effort. "Coffee on the Wing" was wordplay on the "wing and a prayer" concept, but it was also meant to be inspirational.

"It's like 'you're on the wing, you're on your way,' " Mrs. Isler said. "Godly encouragement."

Some of the activities were one-time events, such as taking residents at the Baptist Homes in Mt. Lebanon on a Gateway Clipper ride or holding a teen coffeehouse in Dormont. Others included a series of carwashes at a service station in Castle Shannon and litter collection.

The biggest ongoing effort, however, involved repairs to three local residences and the food bank project at Brookline Boulevard United Presbyterian.

Elizabeth Arnold is a seminary intern there and had previous associations with the Mt. Lebanon church.

"Beth mentioned that Mt. Lebanon was going to do Mission: Possible again this year and it was a wonderful blessing to many people, and possibly we might want to become involved," said the Rev. Marsha Sebastian, pastor of the Brookline church.

"We [contacted] Noelle, and it was a great opportunity for her to connect with some of the things that were happening here," she said.

The Brookline Christian Food Pantry is a branch of the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. It has operated out of Brookline Boulevard United for many years, and as the number of eligible families has grown, so has the pantry.

But space was running out, and the room was dark and in need of repairs.

"It just got bigger than us," the Rev. Sebastian said. "[The Mt. Lebanon church] saw it as an opportunity to minister to so many people who needed it."

Mission: Possible undertook a renovation that added new lighting, new paint, more shelf space. It also cleaned out and spiffed up an adjoining space used for donations of gently worn clothing, toys and household items that are free to food pantry recipients.

"They've been very sensitive to the work our volunteers have already done; there is a sense of partnering," the Rev. Sebastian said.

The results, she said, are impressive.

"I wish we'd done a before-and-after picture. Even though our church will benefit from the room renovations, our main beneficiaries will be our neighbors and friends."

It's likely there will be a Mission: Possible III, thanks to last week's success.