When is the last time you thought about how you were going to get to work, school, or church? I don’t mean how you were possibly going to get all the kids ready, or get there with that presentation finished, or even show up in time to catch the late Sunday morning service (because that’s never an issue, right?). What I mean is, how you were going to get there. For many of us, the answer is obvious: jump in the car, throw it in gear, and hit the road.
But for a lot of our ministry partners, especially those overseas, it’s not always that easy. What if you don’t have a truck to haul food? What if you can’t afford fuel? What if there’s no longer a road because a mudslide washed it away? These are real concerns our partners have faced. I’d like to share some of things we’ve learned along the way that allow us to keep spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world, despite the inevitable difficulties.
In nearly every stage of food packing, shipping, and distribution, as well as in the ministry activities of the pastors we support, transportation is absolutely essential. Here in the US, we are extremely grateful that one of our volunteers, Bill South, hauls our supplies and food all over the country. At our larger events, we commonly fill up an entire 53-foot trailer, so we have to have access to large trucks.
Another one of our volunteers, Randy Hite, has fallen in love with the people of eastern Kentucky, who live in some of the poorest conditions in the United States. He drives his personal truck and enclosed trailer filled with thousands of meals to Kentucky several times every year—a 700-mile round trip each time!
Overseas, our partners couldn’t do their jobs and we couldn’t maintain our obligations without the right transportation. One of our partners, Pastor M, is a leader in the underground church in Southeast Asia. The roads are often impassable by car, so the only way to get the Gospel out is by motorcycle. He directs a team of several dozen evangelists who travel the country by motorcycle and minister to those in need. For us in America, a motorcycle is often viewed as a toy or a recreational vehicle. But to our partners, a $5,000 motorcycle is the difference between spreading the Gospel and staying home. That’s why we send funds to purchase motorcycles whenever we can.
Here’s an example from just a few weeks ago. Our primary partner in Haiti, Pastor Maxeau Antoine, has been involved in the recovery effort following Hurricane Matthew, which devastated much of the country. God’s timing worked out that we had a full container of meal packets safely stored in our warehouse just in time for the storm. And the best part? The food wasn’t flooded!
So Pastor Maxeau immediately began giving out food, and he loaded his truck down and drove south as far as he could go, straight into the destruction. His ministry truck is nothing special or new. In fact, when he was at our headquarters this summer, we sent him home with an essential part that he couldn’t get in Haiti. Like many countries in the world, in Haiti, you don’t just get a new truck when yours breaks down. You fix it and fix it and fix it again until it disintegrates. In some places, the road was either washed away or covered by mud from a nearby mountainside. But that didn’t stop Pastor Maxeau and his team. They just loaded up food on horses and donkeys and pressed on! Who says you need wheels to deliver food?
A final example I want to share is that of our partner Pastor Dil Tamang in Nepal. Pastor Dil is the director of the Himalayan Bible Study Academy, based in Kathmandu. The Academy has 17 full-time staff and operates three training centers. Pastor Dil’s main emphasis is on mobile pastor training. That means traveling into the most remote regions of Nepal. He normally starts out by bus, boat, or motorcycle (sometimes taking the motorcycle-on-boat approach! See pictures below). When the road gets too narrow or too steep for vehicles, Pastor Dil starts walking. When there is no road, he starts climbing. As a result of his determination to serve the Lord, he has visited and conducted seminary training in all 75 districts of Nepal.
So, the next time you’re running late and you take it for granted that you’ll make it without any roadblocks or breakdowns, think about those who are on the front lines of sharing Christ with the lost, whether through preaching and teaching or with bags of food that open the door for witnessing. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans concerning the necessity of going and sharing:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:13–15
Matthew Byrd | Editor
