Ministry provides loaner cars for missionaries

Wanted: A person who loves the Lord to take over the operation of a well established, three-decade-old ministry. Must also love missionaries and desire to help them in their work of spreading the gospel. No passport required. And, oh, individual must really, really like cars.

As with any product or service that has stood the test of time, necessity was the mother of invention, or rather ministry, for Harvey Kneisel 32 years ago. Inspired by his own experiences and the suggestion of a friend, Kneisel created Macedonian Call Foundation. But today, at 81, he is ready to place the ministry, and 26 sets of car keys, into someone else’s hands.

“I’m almost 82. Is this going to fall on the ground when I’m gone? Surely there is someone out there younger than 81 who loves missionaries,” Kneisel said.

The Macedonian Call Foundation loans cars to foreign missionaries on Stateside assignment in Texas or surrounding states. The foundation gives priority to Southern Baptist missionaries. As International Mission Board missionaries in Asia for 13 years, Harvey and Charlene Kneisel’s furloughs were fraught with long to-do lists even before they left the field. One expensive and sometimes exasperating task was the acquisition of a car during their stay in the U.S. The task is no different more than 30 years later.

Furloughs for missionaries can last a few weeks or several months and there is a need for transportation with each trip. Renting a vehicle is cost-prohibitive and buying a car to only have to sell it a few months later is usually a money-losing venture.

“Every time we’d leave we’d lose $1,000 to $2,000,” Kneisel said of his car purchasing and selling days.

After retiring from the IMB, Kneisel worked as minister of missions at Houston’s First Baptist Church. He relished the opportunity to stay in close contact with missionaries, both short-term and career. It was then that a friend suggested Kneisel turn his old transportation frustration into a ministry opportunity.

In 1980 after consulting with friends about logistics and operational support Kneisel, acquired his first loaner car—a 1967 Oldsmobile.

Letting his automobile bias show, Kneisel said, “We ran it for tens of thousands of miles because you can’t wear out an Oldsmobile.”

Toyotas, he admitted, are also long-lasting vehicles.

With 26 cars in the MCF fleet, “That’s all I can say grace over,” Kneisel said, rejecting the idea of growing the fleet.

And that grace has been sufficient, Kneisel said. Out of the 1,439 loans in 32 years there have been no injury accidents. Some of those loans have been to repeat customers like Carla and Russell Minick, IMB missionaries on leave in Texas from their post in Asia.

“It’s a huge, huge blessing,” Carla Minick said. The couple’s one-year furlough ends in July.

She said the availability of a car upon arrival in the States makes the trip all the more convenient. A car is needed from the time missionaries arrive at the airport to the time they fly out. With that in mind, Kneisel included an airport pick-up and drop-off service available for a fee.

The fee, he added, was only initiated in April in an effort to offset the high cost of gasoline. Missionaries must also pay a monthly fee of $100 to cover the cost of insurance. The cars receive routine maintenance and repair when not on loan but missionaries are responsible for regular maintenance when the car is in their possession.

The Minicks have had to replace three tires on their current vehicle. That’s a small price to pay, she said, compared to the expense and bother of renting or purchasing a car. And though the car is 21 years old, it has low mileage and “runs great.”

The MCF fleet is maintained by a “genius” mechanic, Alberto Largaespada. Kneisel said Largaespada, who repairs cars for a living, gives his time and attention to the fleet, charging only a fraction of what a standard repair would cost.

Kneisel said God has proven himself as Jehovah Jireh since the establishment of the ministry provided men like Largaespada and a board of directors for support and direction. From the outset Kneisel wanted to operate the ministry without soliciting financial assistance. God, he recalled saying, would provide the means.

Kneisel knew countless people who had a heart for missions and wanted to be a part of what was being done overseas. Word spread about the start-up non-profit in Houston and donations—unsolicited—started coming in.

The second car donated was a 1961 Buick with a blown head gasket. The clunker, like many other donated forms of transportation, proved valuable. The sale of such vehicles brings in needed funds to pay for maintenance and repair of the fleet.

Through the years other donated forms of transportation included a Cherokee 150 airplane, a “nearly new” BMW sedan, a BMW motorcycle (donated by a deacon), and a 1939 Buick with only 16,000 miles on the odometer.

Once sold the donations translated into 25 cars for the loaner fleet. Kneisel said although the BMW car could have been used in the loaner rotation, he joked that missionaries might not invoke a very generous love offering following their presentation on the austere life in the field if they were seen driving the German-made luxury sedan.

Kneisel currently has in storage a 1997, low-mileage Rexhall Vision RV that he is trying to sell.

“God is good. He has provided,” he said.

Kneisel hopes to stay involved with MCF once he steps down from leadership. He said an individual or even a group of people could take charge of the Houston-based ministry. He would even like to see the work expand to Dallas. Similar ministries have borrowed the Macedonian Call Foundation name, with Kneisel’s permission, to establish similar ministries in other states.

The main requisite for taking the leadership of MCF is a love for missionaries and their work and an appreciation for cars.

Minick said Kneisel’s love of both has been obvious to her.

“They are so gracious. They’re so excited about the number of people they’ve been able to help and how many cars are in the fleet,” she said.

Any replacement would have to appreciate the value of the ministry to families like hers. He would have to be “someone who just really saw how the ministry aspect is such a blessing,” she said.

Individuals or groups interested in taking over the leadership of Macedonian Call Foundation or purchasing the RV may call Harvey Kneisel at 713-436-6092.