Here's a Christmas gift for Cincinnati: It's invisible, but you can see it work. It's small enough to be contained in one heart, but so huge there's not enough paper to wrap it up. No amount of money can buy it, but it costs nothing.

It's a prayer. And if prayers come in sizes, this one is Super-XL, big enough to fit the whole city like a warm Christmas sweater.

"This is how God works,'' says Ford Taylor, describing his vision for a new Cincinnati. "We pray for personal transformation of our own hearts. One heart at a time.''

Mr. Taylor is a former Paris, Texas, businessman who came to Cincinnati five years ago to take over a local apparel company, Velvasheen. Somewhere along the way, as he reluctantly made a home here, he had a dream of a better Cincinnati, a place so electrified by spiritual energy it could light up the nation with a revival of faith.

He set out to gather local pastors and leaders, share his vision, find a building, organize prayer vigils, spread the word and set up an organization called Transformation Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky. At every step, he faced seemingly insurmountable odds - no money, no contacts, no leadership track record. And at each step, he says, God provided.

Each month, hundreds now attend Friday meetings to pray for Cincinnati - pastors, business people, doctors, lawyers, bankers . . .

All things are possible

They have a Web site, www.transformationcincinnati.com, and a building at 901 Elm St. downtown - a gift. Local citizens stepped forward to lead prayers on Fountain Square from noon-1 p.m. on Fridays. And pastors who shared nothing but the same God now share a vision that cuts across race and other boundaries.

"What I find immediately is the presence of God,'' said Pastor John Stevenson of the Heirs Family Worship Center in West Chester. "There's a real unity.'' As a black minister, he's excited by the way "individuals are coming together and laying aside their personal agendas.''

Mr. Taylor compares the spirit of unity to Gideon's army of 300 that defeated 135,000. "You can call all this coincidence if you want,'' he says. "I can't anymore. I've seen too much.''

It would be easy to dismiss it all: Christian kooks who think prayer can heal a heartless world.

But I've met people who change lives one heart at a time at the Lord's Gym and Jobs Plus, where Dick Taylor and Burr Robinson minister to the most broken lives in Cincinnati's most hazardous neighborhoods. It works.

Mr. Taylor and Mr. Robinson have joined Transformation because they believe it can work for a whole city. What they see is hope.

A simple prayer

Here is Mr. Taylor's prayer:

"Quit focusing on crime and race and economic issues and turn to God for answers.

"You only have one enemy, and it's not each other.

"A leader is someone who puts aside his own agenda and takes on a greater agenda of service to others.

"Love God and love each other.

"Every sinner has a future and every saint has a past.

"We must learn to forgive each other, accept God's forgiveness and forgive ourselves.''

It's that easy. And that hard.

If it works, churches and citizens will come together as God breaks down the walls that separate us.

Some can't believe what they cannot see. But we don't need to see the wind to believe it moves trees.

We've tried lots of talk. Maybe it's time to talk to God.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.