Van Hailing

I consented to be director for our church’s van transportation ministry. It involves keeping in touch with riders; mostly teens, but there are some adults need a ride to our church services. In the beginning, we started with a single route on Wednesday evening services. Our riders’ ages range from 13 to 93. The original route started at 530 PM, then delivered passengers to church before 7 PM. Later the drivers made a second trip after prayer and teen meeting. We returned everyone to their homes. The driver and assistant got back to the church about 945 or 10 PM. It was a long loop picking folks up in Ruffsdale and Melcroft.

Initially we only had 3-4 people to drive and to ride shotgun as assistant. Both people had to have child clearance and be a church member. One person didn’t drive, so that further limited our flexibility. Coordinating it all was a big headache. I it was difficult with such a small group of volunteers, but it was all I had to work with. Our Youth Pastor and I talked about how nice it would be to run two vans to widen the coverage, but couldn’t. Recently our Pastor asked if anyone who might have interest the van ministry to attend a meeting. We discussed the duties and needs to continue the ministry and our desire to expand the route using two vans, but we needed help. We were surprised at the number of people who responded. We now have two van routes; one for the “mountains” and one for “off the mountains.”

The youth are still getting used to the change in times to pick them up. With the single route the kids would bombard me with texts messages about “What time” and “Did the van go by yet?” I couldn’t always answer if I was driving and I couldn’t type a message as an assistant on the rough roads.

This past Wednesday was our third double van route and the kids were blowing up my phone with the usual, “What time and where is the van?” I couldn’t answer because I was driving the “off the mountain van” and I’m not one who will text and drive. The kids are too precious and I won’t start.

From the time I started my route until I delivered the kids to the church, I had more that twelve queries that I was unable to answer. Most of the calls were from riders from the other van. I couldn’t answer BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW THE ANSWER. The teens need to quit “van hailing and learn patience,” but it thrills my heart that they want to come to church.