ALPHARETTA — Tommy Stevens is combining ministry trips in his car in Arizona order to save fuel. Debbie Wohler is turning off lights and recycling ink toner cartridges and cell phones to extend her California ministry. And Bill Barker, putting 50,000 miles a year in Appalachia on his personal vehicle, is stretching his travel budget by staying more in private homes or driving through the night – sometimes arriving home at 2 a.m. – to avoid hotel costs.

NAMB missionaries are not complaining about the rising cost of fuel and how it’s crimping their ministries, but they are looking for as many creative ways as possible to avoid cutting back. But even they admit there is only so many ways to absorb costs by robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Wohler, who serves as resort missionary at First Baptist Church in Tahoe City, Calif., says $4 a gallon gas is just around the corner for her ministry. Last week she shelled out $3.80 for the lowest grade at her gas station.

“I tell our volunteers to be sure to watch their trips, double up when possible, and don’t waste anything. If this economic downturn goes on for very long we are really going to be hurting,” she says.

“Thus far we are absorbing the costs and even occasionally put out a glass jar so parents can drop a dollar or two when they have spare change, and many of the parents have been more than willing to help us keep our costs down. But there is only so far than can take you.”

Wohler has a popular children’s ministry that occasionally takes outings as part of the church’s outreach. It has paid high dividends as working parents, desperate for childcare, look to the church as a safe environment for their children.

In Tombstone, Ariz., associational missionary Stevens is paying $3.35 a gallon for gas and worried that ministries are about to face cutbacks.

“Pastors and laypersons are telling me they can’t afford to come to gatherings because of transportation costs. The price of fuel has just gotten astronomical when you realize our area, Cochise Association, covers 10,000 square miles,” he explains.

Stevens says he spends $700 a month on fuel and the only way he and his wife have been able to avoid cutting back on ministry is by combining as many trips as possible. However, the couple is hearing more pastors who say they cannot economize any further because they are already operating on slim margins.

“The longest commute I have is 84 miles one way to a church, but some drive even greater distances. One of our churches has members who drive three hours each way; the members meet in an 1880s schoolhouse on a ranch and there is just no easy way to get there around the mountain ranges,” he explains.

Stevens oversees the work of 32 congregations – 31 in the state and a new mission across the border in Mexico – among the association’s 5,000 Baptists. Much of that work depends on volunteers to staff ministries.

“One of our most active deacons in one of our larger churches has already told me that he is having to cut back on attending some events because of the cost of fuel. That means less ministry will occur,” he adds.

Over closer to the Eastern seaboard, Barker, based out of Hurricane, W. Va., oversees the work of Appalachian Regional Ministries – an outreach into one of the nation’s greatest areas of poverty. The ministry sprawls across 10 states and is supported by 11 state conventions, NAMB, and WMU.

Barker’s ministry depends heavily on volunteers who spread the gospel throughout the mountain and holler communities. Between 2001 and last year the number of volunteers increased from 7,600 to 60,000; however, Barker fears those numbers may be at their peak under the current economic climate.

“We are seeing teams canceling or scaling back on how many people they bring. We are also noticing more requests for mission trips closer to home – no more than six hours away from the churches – and fewer churches willing to drive the 12 hours to the more distant, but still deserving, areas in Appalachia.

“That means those folks who unfortunately find themselves living at the end of the line, just beyond the point where the missions dollars run out, don’t receive the ministry. They don’t get to hear about Christ and what He can do in their lives.

“There is only so much you can do on the telephone talking with some of them; they need to see you and the volunteers face to face to develop that personal relationship and that sense of mutual integrity,” he explains.

But as funds become more scarce, Barker – himself a son of Appalachia – continues to remain grateful to Southern Baptists who refuse to cut funding of the Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, and state missions offerings which support his ministry.

“Without that support we would not have delivered 50,000 winter blankets, 20,000 children’s school packets, and 3,000 men’s and women’s personal hygiene packets (provided by WMU groups) filled with underwear, towels, and toiletries last year. And we would not have seen 10 churches constructed or 5,000 first-time decisions for Christ.”

Back in California, Wohler models good stewardship by turning off extra lights and chiding her volunteers to do the same. However, her voice takes on a worried tone as she talks about the coming fall months and wonders where those volunteers will come from.

This year Wohler says her ministry is on track with a full complement of summer missionaries but the fall is looking less hopeful.

“Usually by now I have four fall semester missionaries already committed out of the six that I need; this year I only have one. In the 26 years of serving in Tahoe City I have never had this much uncertainty about my staffing levels.

“I understand that some students may need to stay home and work to pay on their student loans or save up some money, but that is going to hinder meeting the needs in our community which is largely unchurched.”

But she is trusting God – and Southern Baptists – to come through as they always have.

“These are interesting times to be ministering and we are just going to have to be more creative in how we treat the funds that have been entrusted to us. Turning off a light is a small thing but it’s still the Lord’s money and we cannot afford to waste one penny.

“People sacrifice to send us their money and we want them to know that we are accountable to both them and to God in how we spend it. My dad taught me the concept that if you watch the pennies the dollars will take care of themselves.”

“Click.”

Off goes another light.

 

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