The following post is from Fran Stevenson, one of CBF’s field personnel who travels through a mobile ministry to serve other field personnel and churches.

Since 2007 Fran Stevenson has served as one of CBF’s Global Missions field personnel in her home town of Fremont, Calif., as an advocate for Afghan refugee families.  When her husband Pete retired after working 35 years for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART), they decided to merge their love for camping and their heart for missions and take to the road.

While living in their camper-trailer, the Stevensons utilize Fran’s experience in social ministries and Pete’s skills as a craftsman/handyman to be the presence of Christ in various CBF ministry locations.  They have taken their “Mobile Ministries” to Florida, North Carolina, and in the late summer /early fall of 2013 to work with two CBF congregations in Montana and Idaho.

After settling their trailer at a campground near the entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Fran and Pete spent several weeks working with First Baptist Church of West Yellowstone, Mont.  The Stevensons really enjoyed the pioneer spirit and tender heart of pastor Benny McCracken who rides a red bike around West Yellowstone and is well known by those outside his church.

Pete fixed several broken heaters, attached storage cupboards to the wall, organized an outdoor shed for the winter, cleaned and fixed an old broken refrigerator which was later given to a church member and fixed several leaking faucets and pipes.  Fran cleaned out storage areas, washed all the laundry left from summer volunteers, participated in a women’s luncheon, signed a worship song and helped brainstormed with First Baptist ways to make a difference in their community.

Because the only thrift store in West Yellowstone had recently closed its doors, the church was contemplating ways to help meet the community’s clothing needs through the severe Montana winter.  During the brainstorming session, Fran shared about a CBF ministry in North Carolina conducted by LaCount Anderson that operates a very successful thrift store ministry.  Out of this brainstorming session, First Baptist Church has opened a clothing bank for winter wear and blankets, which is a huge blessing for West Yellowstone.

Transitioning to Boise, Idaho, the Stevensons set up their presence at Mountain View Community Fellowship.  Fran and Pete found a friend in the church’s pastor, Mamie O. Oliver, a woman who wears many hats at the church and is highly respected in the community.

While in Boise, Pete sanded and primed walls in the preschool classroom, reattached loose ceiling tiles, fixed wiring, replaced bulbs, did minor bathroom repairs and painted orange caution stripes on the steps.  Fran spent her days working at the Community Ministries Center housed at Mountain View Community Fellowship preparing food boxes for families who came to the food pantry and helped prepare the sanctuary for the ordination service of LouRae Myhre-Weber, a woman who was ordained as a CBF chaplain.  Together Fran and Pete helped package 12 boxes of books to be shipped to a school inNigeria.

West Yellowstone, a small town, and Boise, a small mid-size city, are vastly different from the San Francisco Bay Area, the huge metropolitan area where the Stevensons live.  Fran and Pete were inspired to see how God was working in areas of the country so different than their usual environment.

In their time spent in Montana and Idaho, the Stevensons made some life-long friends and felt that giving of themselves during their mission trip adds richness to their own lives as they resume their normal routine.

Fran says, “It was a pleasure to see how churches can thrive with vibrant pastors leading them to be the presence of Christ in their communities.”