As you have traveled the interstates and other highways of our United States the past several years, there is a good possibility you passed a big Greyhound type bus with the words Central Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Arkansas, written on both sides.

More than likely the driver of that bus, carrying a mission team to their destination, was Jerry Cooper. Jerry is an active deacon at Central Baptist who is officially retired from his vocation, but not retired from serving the Lord. 

Besides singing in the choir, attending a Worship class on Monday night, F.A.I.T.H. classes on Tuesday nights, and being involved in hospital visitation on Thursday mornings, God has given him the ministry of getting mission teams to their destination.

At first, driving a bus may seem like an odd ministry. But in this busy world we live in, there are not many who can be away from their work for a week or two at a time. Because of Jerry's longevity with his employment he was able to do that for many years before he retired. He now continues in his retirement.

Jerry loves driving that big bus. So, he decided, long ago, that he would not be just a bus driver, but he would become a bus driver for the Lord.

He has driven for all age groups in the church over much of the United States. Spring break has become a highlight for the University Department at Central Baptist. Every year they load up the big church bus and head out on another mission project. Jerry has driven them more than once to New York City. Another year that church bus climbed the snow covered roads to a ministry project near Lake Placid in upper New York. Chicago and Cleveland have each been their destination on two other cold Spring breaks. Twice they have traveled to Philadelphia to minister in a homeless shelter. Other years they have gone South to Mobile and Atlanta.

Ridgecrest in the mountains of North Carolina and Chautauqua meetings in Dallas, Atlanta, Gatlinburg, and Greenlake, Wisconsin, are some of the places Jerry has taken the senior adults of Central Baptist Church. An orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico, has been the area for several mission trips. Another highlight trip was transporting a mission team to an Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Once they arrive at their mission project, Jerry becomes a part of the team's ministry. He has given out blankets on the subway in the wee hours of the morning in downtown New York. Electrical work in 100+ weather, assisting the construction of new buildings, repairing old ones, and putting new grass on tired worn out lawns are just a few of the things God has allowed him to do through the years. When the mission work is finished, he then gets back into the driver's seat and brings the team home.

There have been sad times like the day they visited Ground Zero in New York. There have been blessed times, when a very young orphan crawled up in Jerry's arms and clung to him as if he felt the love of Jesus pouring forth from him. There have been scary times when, for safety reasons, they had to sleep with their billfolds on their bodies at night. Then, there have been days like the Sunday they visited the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. As the large, famous choir began to sing, Jerry discovered it was the very song he had been practicing for weeks. His own church choir would be singing Total Praise at the conclusion of their Spring music program on the Sunday after he returned home. He was able to hear it sung by the choir and see it directed by Carol Cymbala who had written it. 

Through his driving the bus for the mission trips, Jerry has been able to participate in worship times when there were only a handful of people. Twice he attended, with the mission team, a large church in Atlanta. In Mexico they worshiped on a dirt floor with no roof over their head. They have visited large, small and in-between congregations, but all were worshiping the same Holy, Living God that we as Christians love and serve.

Recently he carried a choir team to a large church in Louisiana. The young people from over forty churches had practiced the music and then came together as one huge choir. Jerry's words when he called home that first night were, "I wish you could have been here. The music was heavenly."

Sometimes the mission team becomes a prayer team. Several years ago on a trip to Colorado Springs the bus suddenly lost power going uphill. After Jerry coasted to a place where he could safely maneuver the bus out of traffic, the team leader said, "Let's pray." With bowed heads and arms around one another, the team asked God to start that bus and get them to their mission destiny, and return them home without anymore trouble. Did God do it? Yes, he did! What a testimony of God's faithfulness to that bus load of young people who were on their way to minister, for His glory, in the beautiful, snow capped mountains of Colorado.

Psalm 92:14 tells us that, "Even in old age they will still produce fruit." Preaching, teaching, singing, and driving a bus for mission teams can all be a part of producing fruit for our Lord. Jerry has discovered the joy of serving the Lord in the driver's seat of that huge bus. If you happen to see a Greyhound type bus marked Central Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Arkansas, in your travels, just honk, wave, and then say a prayer for that team who is on their way to some corner of God's beautiful world to minister in His Name.

Photo courtesy of Jim and Bea Clouse