ROB SCHENCK TO KEYNOTE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF OUTREACH TO POOR
This Saturday night, September 20, Faith and Action president Rev. Rob Schenck will be in the Cleveland, Ohio area as keynote speaker for the 20th anniversary celebration of BUSSES International, an organization that builds mobile medical, dental and emergency response vehicles to serve the poor around the world. The event will be held at 6:00 PM at the Hope Christian Church, 32625 Detroit Road, Avon, Ohio 44011.
Rob’s connection to BUSSES International goes back 25 years in a friendship with its founders, Norm and Nancy Beetler. Beginning in 1985, Rob had worked on several ministry projects with Norm, then the pastor of a rural Ohio congregation and president of the state chapter of the National Association of Evangelicals. Norm and Nancy would resign their post in 1988 to help Rob with his 2000-mile FAITHWALK, a trek from the border with Canada at Buffalo, New York’s Peace Bridge crossing, to the Bridge of the Nations at Laredo, Texas. Norm and Nancy scoped out the walk route that ran through nine states. They selected safe roads, set up speaking engagements and news conferences and did other vital advance work.
FAITHWALK was an enormous success in raising awareness of the suffering of Los Pepenadores, thousands of men, women and mostly children who live off the massive municipal garbage dumps in and around Mexico City. Rob’s four-month journey by foot recruited hundreds of thousands of dollars, numerous volunteers and donated supplies to help establish clinics, food and clean water programs and church-sponsored foster care for the children of this little-known population group.
FAITHWALK also became the catalyst for ongoing efforts not only in Mexico, but also in similar settings around the world. The group Rob had formed in 1983, Operation Serve (now Operation Serve International) took on the coordination of volunteer teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico and eventually other nations.
It was while working in Mexico after the conclusion of FAITHWALK that Norm and Nancy Beetler saw the need for mobile equipment to work in and around the garbage dump settlements. Norm built the first units himself. As the demand grew, Norm created a non-profit religious-charitable corporation with the acronym BUSSES for Bringing Unto the Saints Encouragement to Serve. Today BUSSES International maintains a sophisticated complex outside Loraine, Ohio, where school busses are fitted for specific applications and shipped to service providers around the world.
“Norm and Nancy Beetler and their highly skilled team are heroes to me,” said Rob Schenck. “This is really where the rubber meets the road, literally. The book of James in the New Testament reminds us it’s not good enough to simply say God bless you to someone in need. We must first meet their most basic human needs and then we gain the right to be heard on everything else. Norm and Nancy are helping missionaries in many different countries, including our own, to carry out this critically important first stage of Christian ministry. I’m delighted to still have a small part in it.”
Rob’s connection to BUSSES International goes back 25 years in a friendship with its founders, Norm and Nancy Beetler. Beginning in 1985, Rob had worked on several ministry projects with Norm, then the pastor of a rural Ohio congregation and president of the state chapter of the National Association of Evangelicals. Norm and Nancy would resign their post in 1988 to help Rob with his 2000-mile FAITHWALK, a trek from the border with Canada at Buffalo, New York’s Peace Bridge crossing, to the Bridge of the Nations at Laredo, Texas. Norm and Nancy scoped out the walk route that ran through nine states. They selected safe roads, set up speaking engagements and news conferences and did other vital advance work.
FAITHWALK was an enormous success in raising awareness of the suffering of Los Pepenadores, thousands of men, women and mostly children who live off the massive municipal garbage dumps in and around Mexico City. Rob’s four-month journey by foot recruited hundreds of thousands of dollars, numerous volunteers and donated supplies to help establish clinics, food and clean water programs and church-sponsored foster care for the children of this little-known population group.
FAITHWALK also became the catalyst for ongoing efforts not only in Mexico, but also in similar settings around the world. The group Rob had formed in 1983, Operation Serve (now Operation Serve International) took on the coordination of volunteer teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico and eventually other nations.
It was while working in Mexico after the conclusion of FAITHWALK that Norm and Nancy Beetler saw the need for mobile equipment to work in and around the garbage dump settlements. Norm built the first units himself. As the demand grew, Norm created a non-profit religious-charitable corporation with the acronym BUSSES for Bringing Unto the Saints Encouragement to Serve. Today BUSSES International maintains a sophisticated complex outside Loraine, Ohio, where school busses are fitted for specific applications and shipped to service providers around the world.
“Norm and Nancy Beetler and their highly skilled team are heroes to me,” said Rob Schenck. “This is really where the rubber meets the road, literally. The book of James in the New Testament reminds us it’s not good enough to simply say God bless you to someone in need. We must first meet their most basic human needs and then we gain the right to be heard on everything else. Norm and Nancy are helping missionaries in many different countries, including our own, to carry out this critically important first stage of Christian ministry. I’m delighted to still have a small part in it.”
Labels: BUSSES International, Christian humanitarian work, Operation Serve International, rob schenck
posted by Rev. Rob Schenck | 8:49 AM
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