Calling all cars … for missions

Chip Woodruff likes cars. He likes them a lot. But he doesn’t tinker with them, he doesn’t race them, he doesn’t even collect them.

He gives them away.

In fact, Woodruff has given away more than 20 cars in the past five years.

Woodruff, pastor of Morningside Baptist Church in Douglas, gave away his first car years ago when he was living in Florida.

Sherri Brown

Chip Woodruff sits on a car that’s waiting for repair. Woodruff has donated more than 20 cars to Macedonian Call Foundation, a volunteer organization that provides vehicles to missionaries living in Georgia for stateside assignments.

“I heard about a pastor traveling around on a moped. I had a refurbished Volkswagen Bug and I gave it to him,” Woodruff said.

Then six years ago, Woodruff was on the receiving end of a car.

Dependable ministry

“I was driving a car that was not too dependable. A deacon in my church wanted to trade a car in, but he wasn’t going to get much for it. So he gave me that car at Christmas. I’d never had anyone do that for me,” said Woodruff, who was then pastor of Spring Branch Baptist Church in Baxley.

He decided it was a good way to help others – and especially to help missionaries.

Missions is something to which Woodruff has always been committed.

Woodruff and his wife, Holly, are both trained as nurses.

“We became registered nurses thinking we would go on the mission field. We ended up staying here, but we still have a heart for missions,” he said.

Six years ago, Holly Woodruff was driving a 1999 Camry when she went to work as a home health nurse. Working all over the south Georgia county she often had to drive on dirt roads and the Camry didn’t work well for that. When Chip Woodruff found an SUV for his wife, the couple decided to donate the Camry to Macedonian Call.

The Macedonian Call Foundation, Inc., is a volunteer organization that provides fully insured automobiles for international missionaries during their stateside assignments. The organization issued its first car in 1991.

Macedonian Call accepts donated cars and volunteers keep the fleet running. Missionaries arriving in Atlanta are met at the airport with the keys to a vehicle. The cars are insured and missionaries are asked only to provide general upkeep on the car while they use it.

When missionaries head back to the field, a Macedonian Call volunteer meets them at the airport on the day they leave to pick up the car.

Once Woodruff donated his first car, he decided to join his interest in cars and his love for missions into a new “hobby.”

Licensed addiction

For four years, the couple used Holly Woodruff’s salary to purchase cars at car auctions, then had them repaired before donating them.

“We get them in top shape and I always make sure the air conditioning works. I don’t feel like God wants us to give junk,” Woodruff said.

Sherri Brown

Woodruff keeps a small fleet of cars behind his home in Douglas. He always repairs the cars – driving them himself for a few months to work out any kinks – before donating them.

Woodruff doesn’t do the repairs himself, but instead pays to have them done.

He’s well known at the local body shop. The employees often tease Woodruff about his car “addiction.”

Woodruff had his system down until Georgia laws changed, requiring people purchasing vehicles to be licensed and insured.

That didn’t stop him. He became licensed and insured and even rented a small office so his car buying would be legal.

No praise, just helping

Woodruff’s commitment to providing vehicles for missionaries is “an outstanding example of how one can become a part of sharing the gospel of Christ with the lost world. He gives his time and resources to supply a vital need to our missionaries when they are stateside,” said Bill Bashears, chairman of the Macedonian Call board.

But Woodruff doesn’t want to hear any praise for what he does.

“It’s just a way I can help. I want missionaries to have a reliable car. That’s all,” he said.

Often, missionaries will send a note thanking Woodruff for a car he has donated. He appreciates the letters, but he doesn’t keep them.

“I don’t want a scrapbook of pride,” he said. “Transportation is just a tool.”

DONATIONS NEEDED

Since 1991, Macedonian Call Foundation has issued more than 1,000 vehicles to missionaries and their families. Currently, the organization has “a great need for cars,” said Bill Bashears, chairman of the MCF board.

For information about the organization or to donate a car, contact Jackie Brannen at (770) 957-8976 or jackiebillie@juno.com.