By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer
PINEVILLE – They bring the food we eat; the clothes we wear, and countless other items we use in our everyday lives.
In other words, “if you bought it, a truck probably brought it.”
Trucks, and the estimated 3.5 million men and women who drive them, play an invaluable role in keeping the U.S. economy running. In order to do so, many of these men, and women spend long, lonely hours away from home and their loved ones.
The trucker’s big rigs, which command the road, offer little in the way of creature comforts.
Trucking is a hard, demanding job that offers these men and women very little thanks or notice.
[img_assist|nid=6334|title=Libby Lingenfelter, member of Kingsville Baptist Pineville, has made truck drivers into a mission field.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=66]Libby Lingenfelter, a member of Kingsville Baptist Pineville, has made changing these truckers’ plight into her mission field.
Kingsville Baptist Church sits next to a sprawling industrial park, where Procter and Gamble towers over the church, while PlastiPak, Dis-Tran, Calvary Industries, Williamette Valley, and Eclectic Products – 10 in all – are just a stone’s throw up the road. There are also two trucking companies and several truck repair companies that utilize the road.
More than 500 trucks from all over the United States travel Todd Hollingsworth Road daily– the road between the church and the industrial park – to get to these industrial facilities.
Yet, there is no truck stop, nowhere for them to walk and stretch their legs, and no where to park their rigs, except along the shoulder of the road.
“I felt God was leading me to do something for these men and women,” Lingenfelter said.
“I consider them modern day shepherds. They are busy on the highways and byways transporting our food and other products and despite all they do, many people don’t give them the time of day. Too often, they are left to fend for themselves and are made to feel like outcasts.”
“I shared with the church that God was leading me to reach out to the truckers,” Lingenfelter said. “Our pastor (Bart Walker) has given me a lot of freedom in this outreach with God leading the way. The people in our church have really embraced this call.”
Starting on Sept. 6, 2009, Kingsville Baptist’s Trucker’s Ministry was launched.
It began slowly with volunteers passing out care packages and a light breakfast – coffee, juices and snacks – to the truckers from 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday. The care packages or outreach travel totes consist of a zip lock bag that contains: razor, breath mints, chewing gum, BC Powder (six doses), cough drops, a snack, hand wipes, band aids, a bottle of water, a witnessing tract, a Bible study from the Transport for Christ website, a CD narrated by Rick Warren called “The Invitation,” and a Holman Christian Standard Bible or a New Testament Invitation Bible.
“The one thing we’ve noticed since starting this ministry is that many of these men and women are hungry for God’s word,” Lingenfelter said. “It didn’t take us long to realize we had a booming mission field sitting right at our doorstep.
“Some of these truckers are Christians but most are not,” Lingenfelter said. “Many, however, are very generous and donate to the trucker’s ministry willingly and joyfully.”
While the majority of drivers come from the United States there are also some from Europe, Cuba, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.
Even before she began the ministry, God used a passage from Proverbs to help guide her in getting it started.
Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterwards build your house. – Proverbs 24:27 (NKJV)
To get to the truckers, the volunteers had to literally walk through an overgrown wilderness – a stretch of ground that ran parallel to the road along a seldom-used railroad spur. It was so thick and overgrown it made seeing the road almost impossible. It was dirty, uninviting and filled with garbage.
“It really was a mess,” Lingenfelter said. “You couldn’t see the road from our back parking lot. God told me we needed to prepare the road for Him. The road cleanup and beautification was a challenge. The truckers described it as a “wilderness.” It was overgrown and filled with trash.
“We officially adopted the road, which meant coordinating our efforts with the highway department, and the railroad. It took several very long work days and some heavy equipment – bush hogs, a bulldozer, a backhoe, a skid steer, wood chipper, debris trucks with a claw to haul cuttings, and some strong backs,” Lingenfelter said.
In addition to church and community volunteers, the group also received help from inmate labor through the Rapides Sheriff’s Department.
“With everyone’s help, tons of trash and debris were picked up and removed. The area, now cleared, was landscaped. Two picnic tables along with a trash container and four concrete tables were put there for them. Procter and Gamble also provided trash containers and has agreed to keep the cleared area mowed as a joint Adopt-a-Road effort,” Lingenfelter said.
“As we were clearing the land, we also realized the truckers didn’t have a restroom facility along the road, so I contacted Rapides Port-a-Jon, Inc., and the owner was so excited about what we were doing, he gave us a $50 discount off our first month,” Lingenfelter said. “He asked if we needed signs, and I said yes. He said his brother was in the sign business; to give him a call. I did and they made me professional signs for just the cost of the materials.”
“We put the signs out every Sunday morning along the road so the truckers know breakfast is served,” Lingenfelter said. “If the weather is bad, or too cold, we served them at their trucks.”
The truckers took note of the changes, and news quickly spread by word of mouth and through the different trucking companies that frequented the area.
“Terry Scruton, a senior correspondent with Land Line Now, a magazine and radio program for truck drivers on XM Satellite Radio, did a story about Kingsville’s ministry,” Lingenfelter said.
“We appreciate our truckers and we want them to know it,” Lingenfelter said. “We want them to know how much God loves them. They are away from their families and can become very road-weary.
“The way the economy is right now, rest stops are shutting down every day and truck stops are filled to overflowing” Lingenfelter said. “By showing these truckers a little kindness and Christian love, it is opening doors for us to minister to them during this downturn.”
Bonnie Lemoine, external relations manager for Procter and Gamble, can’t say enough about what is taking place.
“I think what Libby and Kingsville Baptist are doing means everything to these truckers,” Lemoine said. “Rather than have people complain about them, they are opening up their arms to them. I think it is outstanding.
“P&G and Kingsville Baptist have been great partners for 40 years now, and we [P&G] are especially pleased to be a partner in something as special as this,” Lemoine said.
And the ministry’s success has been phenomenal. Since it began, Kingsville has made 431 contacts. Twenty-five of those contacts have attended church service and five have come to Sunday school.
“It has been all God,” Lingenfelter said. “He has led and we have just followed. At every step of the way, he has opened door after door. WOW! God is good.”
The ministry, though, is in the midst of even more expansion, and Lingenfelter believes this will lead to the contacts dramatically increasing.
“We are constructing a trucker’s rest stop building on our property,” Lingenfelter said. “Church members unanimously approved $45,000 to build a 20 x 50 building with a 6 x 50 front porch.”
Construction began last week and the building is rapidly taking shape.
“It will have two indoor showers, two indoor restrooms for men and women, and rocking chairs on the porch, which will face the road. The drivers are very excited when they hear what we are doing,” Lingenfelter said. “I think our contacts will just explode once this ministry goes full time and we expand our hours and days. It is my prayer a mission-minded couple might be interested enough to minister full time to the truckers as we continue to coordinate volunteer support.
“Our hope is we can make a difference and provide the truckers a place of comfort and rest, a ‘home away from home.’ We want them to experience Christian love and charity,” Lingenfelter said. “God called us all to go and do His will. And I’m glad to say we did. I know we have blessed the truckers but they have also blessed us by their great appreciation. We have received over twenty-five e-mails, cards, calls and walk-ins to voice their thankfulness. God’s blessings have been abundant and have added life and joy to all concerned.”