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I nervously scanned the horizon for an open gas station. I prayed every mile for a bit more grace and a lot more mileage out of whatever fumes still remained in my tank. One more exit. No open station. And now, no more gas.

For a moment I was mad at my car. I wanted to harass the engineers who had built a vehicle that got less than 30 miles per gallon. I wished for an opportunity to curse the person who had decided all the gas stations in the area should close before 11 p.m. And then I blamed myself. For years I drove my car as far as I could before filling it up. I had developed the habit of “running on empty,” and I finally got burned. Bummer. It was a three-mile walk to the nearest open station, so I had plenty of time to reconsider my approach to driving.

It’s risky to run on empty—to just keep going with no assurance you will complete another mile. Yet we often do this in our lives and ministries. More than once I have found myself running on empty. I have pushed myself to the limit and ended up on a long walk searching for gas.

I’ve seen church leaders do the same. They know their ministries are running out of fuel. They realize they need some gas. But instead of stopping for help, they go another mile, hoping the same old patterns will produce a different result. Sooner or later the whole thing comes to a screeching halt.

This same circumstance creeps into larger organizations and networks of churches. We keep driving down the same old highway, hoping something will change. But hope is not a strategy. What we really need is fuel. We need someone to put fresh gas in our tank.

And that’s what Regular Baptist Builders Club does. Our mission is to generate and fuel the health and reproduction of GARBC churches and their leaders. To fulfill this mission, we provide grants, loans, and resources that help churches

  • develop leaders,
  • launch new churches,
  • revitalize churches,
  • improve facilities, and
  • recover from natural disasters.

You are not alone. You don’t have to go on a long walk in the dark, searching for someone to put gas in your tank. Regular Baptist Builders Club is just a few keystrokes away. So go ahead and email us at cjewell@garbc.org. We look forward to adding some fuel to your ministry!

Clare Jewell is director of Regular Baptist Builders Club and national church planting coordinator for Regular Baptist Churches.