Yesterday Was a Milestone for Me
It was my last day of ordering and shipping ministry materials for Transport For Christ on a regular basis. It is with a great sense of satisfaction that I bequeath this part of the ministry to my friend, Rose Gehman.
Rose Gehman
Ministry materials became my responsibility during the early eighties when I was a one-day-a-week-volunteer in TFC’s Northeast Region Office, Morgantown, PA. When Cerwin became the NE Director in 1990, the supplies came with the job and were moved to our Manheim, PA, office.
I enjoyed doing the ordering and shipping, especially the contact it gave me with vendors, salesmen, and TFC’s lead chaplains, but as the region grew – and our responsibilities as well – it became apparent that it was time to look for someone else to take on this part of the ministry. Plus, the Northeast Region Office is in our house, and storing a shipment of five to ten thousand Road Map New Testaments and one-hundred pair of mud flaps was becoming more than our garage could handle – and still have room to park two vehicles.
Since Cerwin was on the building committee during construction of the new facility for the International Office, I reminded him several times to make sure there was a large room for ministry materials! They didn’t forget.
The New TFC Office and Shop
As the office construction came to a close during the summer of 2005, I discovered Rose was looking for something to do, one or two days a week, and was ready to accept the challenge.
Rose moving some mud flaps. The boxes to her left are Road Map of Life New Testaments – paperback – NIV or KJV – personalized for TFC.
We moved the supplies in early October, then spent the following Mondays shipping items – and with each spare moment doing some of the other things that completed her training. First, she needed a computer with UPS Online, then items had to be physically counted and entered in QuckBooks to keep record of inventory. Each week she became more familiar with vendors, ordering, customers and shipping.
Shelves Cerwin Built for Ministry Material Storage
I will miss the twenty-minute commute Rose and I had each Monday for the past four months, spending the whole day together, and the twenty-minute drive home in the evening. We often said that we should have a longer commute so we had time to talk about everything that was happening in our lives.
I am grateful to God for everything I learned about ordering and shipping; the contact with vendors, chaplains, and drivers; and the exercise I received in packing and carrying boxes. I never had to go to a gym, because of the exercise I received in this part of my job! I will probably have to come up with another plan to say in shape!
Now I can get on with the work I really enjoy – doing layout and design for the Northeast chaplains newsletters (I have two waiting for me today); writing The Extra Mile newsletter six times a year; doing all the mailings required for the Winter Retreat and Staff Conference that are coming up in a few weeks, prayer breakfasts, banquets, NE Council meetings; and being involved in the largest activity of all, the Truck Rally and Rally Celebration on June 24 and 25.
For more information, check “Events” at the top of my blog.