Help us buy a bus!
Why help?
That’s a good question. After all there are a lot of missions, ministries, as well as churches that don’t have a bus and it works out fine for them. But for us a bus is an important tool for ministry. Every time there is a break, we go on a mission trip. We have a service team that does projects around town as well as out of state. We have a drama team that travels, and I can’t forget the outings we do for the girls and the guys. Our farthest trip we take each year is to Mexico and yes, we drive it. We have been without a bus for two years and have had to borrow one from a couple of different churches and a camp. This has made it very hard to keep doing all the trips and outings we provide; in fact we have had to cancel some due to not having transportation. If we rented a bus, the cost would be too much and we can’t afford to pay it or pass it on to the students to pay.
Another part of what we have done in the past is to take other VU college clubs and classes on field trips. The great thing about this is that these trips give us the opportunity to talk to students who would never darken the door of a church or our ministry. There have been some great conversations and “seed planting” moments. We look at it as a way to invest in the lives of young people, and you and I both know we need young people to make a difference in this world for Jesus.
We have looked around for awhile and have been told to stay away from “school buses” because they were never intended for long trips. So we have found a style of bus that would do all that we need. Brand new it ranges from $150,000 to $200,000. BUT we are not looking at buying new; we are looking at one that is used and the cost of it is $78,000 with warranty still on it. The problem is we don’t have that kind of money, and since we are still paying off the debt of our building we really can’t go and take out a loan. So we need your help in this matter.