Saturday evening, March 29

Yoder’s Restaurant, New Holland, Pennsylvania

Welcome by Gene Gehman, owner-operator/truck driver and Lancaster Chapter member.

Larry Rohrer, founder of Rohrer Family Companies, One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning, Ben Franklin Plumbing, and Mr. Sparky Electric, gave the invocation by praying a Psalm of blessing on the evening and on Transport For Christ.

After our salads were finished, there was the “grand entrance” of 32 waitresses ~ each with a cart full of food to serve her table.

. –Fried chicken is a favorite at this banquet. We also had beef tips & gravy, buttered noodles (a yearly must), potato filling, peas & carrots, and cole slaw ~ with shoofly or cherry pie and ice cream for dessert.

This is what a room filled with 728 people looks like.

TFC is indeed blessed by the many people who pray for and support the ministry.

The highlight of the evening was a concert by Margaret and Amos Raber from Wakarusa, Indiana.

Amos is a truck driver who writes some of their songs ~ usually about the gospel or family life.

One of the favorites in their first set was The Truckin’ Song which Amos wrote. I could see drivers everywhere smiling as he sang about “chicken lights” and “looking cool in the stool.”

Following their first set of songs, Bunny O’Hare, Director of Pastoral Care for Chaplains, introduced the chaplains in attendance and thanked the Lancaster Chapter committee for their good work in putting the banquet together.

He closed by sharing some ministry stats and testimonies.

Some of us in the front caught a glimpse of this cute little one looking in the front door of the banquet room – from the outside hallway.

Until his mother or an older sibling saw what he was doing. 🙂

Cerwin gave some information on chapel construction and about the strong interest for a chaplain/chapel ministry in Paraguay and Brazil ~ which is being processed by Kevin Scott, Assistant Director of Overseas Ministries.

He closed with prayer for the offering.

Amos shared his testimony ~ on how he came to understand salvation through Christ when a friend cared about his soul and gave him preaching tapes to listen to while he was trucking.

Not too long after his salvation, he married his girlfriend (who received Christ as her savior about the same time as Amos). Then he told how she was tragically killed in a car accident when they were coming home from their honeymoon ~ seven days after their wedding. She lived only two days after the accident.

Margaret did not share her testimony publically, but several months before Amos’ first wife was killed, Margaret’s boyfriend was killed in a plane crash.

Both experiences were life-changing for them. They met (I think he said a year or two later) and are married with four young children.

We knew they were going to close with a salvation message and invitation, so when it was almost closing time, we were a bit surprised when he said, “As I prayed about a song for this place in the program, this is the song that God gave me – and I have never sung it publically.”

There were lots of smiles when he sang the first two verses of “Give Me Forty Acres and I’ll Turn This Rig Around.”

Those of us in attendance will never listen to that song in the same way again!

When he was finished he said, “That is what I needed ~ forty acres to turn my life around. And there may be some in this room who also need forty acres to turn their life around.”

He closed with prayer for those who need to change their course in life.

~~~

We received several comments from people who said it was the best banquet ever. That is certainly music to our ears.