Get a bus?

On July 1, 2009, the notion was discussed at the Wednesday night service that a local church was selling their 25-passenger bus and had offered Church of the Cove dibs on it. They had paid over $45,000 for it four years ago, brand new. It had 13,400 miles on it, some of which was added when we borrowed it the past summer. They had maintained it well and it was a very nice bus.

Discussion was opened and people asked if we'd actually use it and how. And the dreams began to flow, talk about insurance and such went around. People were asked to pray and then tell the elders what we were to do -- buy it or pass on it. Before the night was out, the people knew. God spoke that night -- buy it.

Trouble was, we did not have the $22,000 sitting in the bank for this bus and we didn't want to borrow it either. We declared the next Sunday, July 5, to be the Sunday we'd take up the money in offering for the bus.

That Sunday, God, through His people's obedience, provided not only the $22,000 to purchase the bus, but also enough to change the paperwork, add it to the insurance and put a trailer hitch on it to pull the trailer on mission trips!

The next day, the student ministry took the bus filled with kids excited to be on mission to Mobile, Alabama where it was used all week to transport teens to work sites where people heard about the love of God for them personally. A couple weeks later, it was filled with students again, going to the bridge in Knoxville to grill burgers and share love with the homeless. On August 4, the bus was filled again, this time with adults, headed to Crossville Mission Bible Training Center to visit with the folks there to let them know that God loves them despite their bad choices and He's there to help them.

People gave from deep in their pockets in a poor and declining economy not because they wanted a bus with comfortable seats to ride in, but because they saw the vision of how that is a tool God provided to be able to bring true life-change to people.

We don't know the individual stories of this event yet, but we know the bigger picture, and thus we share it here. Turning points in our church as a whole are turning points in our lives as individuals. If you're one of those who gave to this -- please, take the time to tell us in the comments YOUR story of how God touched you through this event. And if you're someone who's life has just been challenged or touched by this story, please, share that, too!