You’re Not Going To Be Doing This Much Longer

Jim Stephens

We moved from Bible Way in Richland Washington to Medford Oregon in July of 1980 to start a church. Several people moved to Medford with us to be part of the church planting team.

At first we all lived together in our big house on Lindley Avenue, then the others quickly found housing and work in the area. We started right away with Sunday morning meetings, Sunday evening fun and fellowship gatherings, and Midweek Bible Studies in our home.

After a few months we moved the Sunday morning meetings into rented space. Finances were tight! I soon began doing part-time work as it became available and before long took a part-time regular job at a Texaco Gas Station near our home. My younger brother Bill worked there and actually got me the job!

I had owned a Mobil service station with a partner in 1965 and early 1966 and when I was drafted into the Army during the big troop build up in early 1966, Jean and I simply signed over our share of the business to our partner Don. When I returned from Vietnam at the beginning of 1968 and started school at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA, my ex-partner Don gave me a part-time job with fairly flexible hours working evenings and weekends as I attended College.

A few months later a long-time friend proposed that he and I buy a service station as partners. He wanted to get out of the police business and I missed the cars and the customers, so we bought a Texaco Station and named it Jim & Walt’s Midtown Texaco. We ran the business together for about a year and then Walt moved on to greener pastures. The business gradually thrived and we owned and operated Jim’s Midtown Texaco in Richland, WA until selling the business to go into full-time ministry with Bible Way Ministries.

So when I took the part-time job at Dahl’s Texaco in Medford I actually had more service station and mechanic experience than anyone else on staff! Dick Dahl, the boss, was gracious and helpful and allowed me to work as much as I could, but was flexible and understanding of my additional responsibilities as pastor of Grace Bible Fellowship. I usually opened the station on weekdays and then worked until everyone had lunch then went home. I was off by 2 or so most days.

The service station became a point of contact with the community and a point of growth for our little church! Several key people who became part of Grace Bible Fellowship came as a result of my meeting them on the pump island and getting acquainted and inviting them to church.

One Monday morning, I arrived for work, opened up for business, and took in a service job on a van for Norco, a company that delivered oxygen to doctors, clinics, residences, and the local hospital. They used 1-ton vans that were too big to fit into our service bays to service on the lifts, so they had to be serviced lying on one’s back on a creeper with a drain pan and a hand operated grease gun in front of the station. It was a dirty and messy and thoroughly unpleasant job to do!

The company had three of these vans and we had the service contract for all of them. As it worked out, we probably serviced one of them a month and when one came in it turned out to be a “stall and avoid” thing for the three employees who worked on service jobs. On this morning, I had come in wearing a freshly laundered uniform, and as the other two guys showed up and we checked the job list, everyone began to find ways to avoid going out and servicing the van. It had to be done by noon, so after doing my share of trying to avoid the task, I grabbed the creeper and drain pan and grease gun and headed out to get it done.

I pulled the van around to the pad, blocked the wheels, lay down on the creeper, and proceeded to drain the oil, replace the filter, diligently grease the chassis and suspension joints, and check the fluids and tires.

As I finished the job, rolled the creeper from under the van, and stood up wiping my greasy hands on a greasy, oily rag, I heard The Voice! I heard The Voice say, with just the hint of a smile behind it, “You’re not going to be doing this much longer!” And as I heard it, I knew God was pleased and that a much-longed for change was coming. Somehow.

That same evening, one of the key couples in the church phoned and asked if they could come over and talk for a few minutes. If you’ve ever been the pastor of a small church, you know the icy chill that floods over you when you hear the words, “Pastor Jim, we’d like to come over and talk for a few minutes this evening. Is that all right?” and I said, “Sure, come on over! See you in a few minutes!”

When Chuck and Donna came in, everything seemed fine, and some of the apprehension began to dissipate. We did “small talk” for a couple of minutes, then Chuck said, “What we wanted to talk to you about is: We’ve sold a piece of property in California and we’d like to give a tithe of the money to the church! Is that all right?”

The tithe that Chuck and Donna gave became the boost to the church finances that we’d been praying and hoping for. Within just over a week, I was able to quit the job at the Texaco station and become a full-time pastor to Grace Bible Fellowship. That gift lifted our spirits, freed my time to lead the church, and led to one of the most fruitful seasons of ministry that we experienced at Grace Bible Fellowship from the time we started in 1980 until Jean and I left to become missionaries in Jamaica in 1984.

That experience in 1982 or ‘83 wasn’t the last time we felt the pressure of tight finances or felt hindered in doing what we believed God was calling us to do because of financial limitations. But this experience has always been there as a memorial, a reminder, a call to act in faith because of the unfailing faithfulness of our good God!

By the way, that wasn’t the only time I’ve heard “The Voice” through the years. There have been a few other times and I plan to tell you those stories as we reach them chronologically in this series of God Encounter Stories. And I still struggle a bit sometimes when people say. “God Told Me…” and I still hesitate to say “God Told Me…” when I’m remembering one of my own experiences.

But here’s the thing, I’ve heard “The Voice” referred to as the inaudible but unmistakable voice of God and I’m okay with that. My experiences have normally been that “The Voice” is something I hear on the inside. It’s normally not religious sounding in form or tone or content. In fact, it usually sounds a lot like my own voice when I’m meditating or praying. Anyhow that’s the way it’s usually been for me.

I’d love to hear from you with comments or questions. So far, there have been more than I expected. I’ll do my best to respond.

Grace to you today!

Jim Stephens