Church Life

A Sober Witness

Missionary drivers give drinkers free rides at Last Call

As western Michigan barhoppers pay their tabs on Friday and Saturday nights, “missionary drivers” wait in local coffee shops. With more than 80 volunteers, Last Call Ministries estimates it will give 1,800 free rides in Grand Haven by the end of the year, with another 1,000 in Holland—and it plans to expand to three more cities by November. More than 90 percent of the riders don’t attend church regularly, says executive director Gary Wybenga, but almost all are open to talking about faith. “Most riders aren’t highly intoxicated,” he says. “But a pastor once told me, ‘Don’t let inebriation stop you from sharing the gospel. You never know what the Spirit is doing.'”

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Related Elsewhere

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Ministry provides bar patrons with another last call—Advance Newspapers (August 20, 2002)

See similar Christianity Today articles in our Missions and Ministry archive.

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