How is 3in1 Mechanical Ministries filling the gap of transportation for overcomers of trafficking?
In our work with women in Restorative Care, we have found that once they complete our program and have jobs and housing, we always still have the missing piece of transportation. In order to help our graduates be set up for success, they need a reliable way to get to and from work. Otherwise, they immediately find themselves in a vulnerable situation again.
That’s where 3in1 Mechanical ministries comes in. Ross Peters, their Founder and CEO, shares with us how his lifelong love of cars transformed into a nonprofit that gives away cars to people in need.
Ross also discusses:
- The lack of transportation-related nonprofits not just in Houston, but all of the United States
- The importance of providing reliable vehicles and follow-up care for clients
- The amazing ways God opened doors to create this new nonprofit and some of the success stories they’ve seen
Learn more about Elijah Rising »
Follow us on Instagram »
Donate and Support Our Work »
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Elijah Rising
podcast.
My name is David and today wehave our very special guest,
ross Peters, with 3-in-1Mechanical Ministries, and we're
going to talk about who you are, what you do, and I have just a
little bio I'm going to readjust for our audience so they
can get to know you.
So Ross is the founder and CEOof 3-in-1 Mechanical Ministries.
(00:24):
He's a committed and involvedChristian husband and father.
Ross is on the engineering teamlead, or are the engineering
team lead for Caltech's OilTools, an oil and gas service
company, and, aside from regularduties of life and ministry,
you can be found woodworking,restoring his home or performing
(00:44):
myriad of other buildingprojects, from chicken coops to
cars.
Oh, yeah, yeah I love that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, we've, uh, we've got 15 chickens right now,
and so it's uh oh my gosh oh,dude, it's a riot chicken.
I heard about.
Toddlers are a really, reallygood combination.
It's like if you want justendless entertainment, and uh,
we'll, we'll see my, uh, I'llsee my son.
He'll go out in the chickencoop and just pick up the
(01:11):
chickens, walk around with them,set them down yeah, you'll have
to give us a picture of yourchicken so we can put that in
the cover photo.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah but anyways, uh, we're not here to talk about
chickens.
Oh, you have a.
You have a really incredibleministry, and let me tell you
guys how much of a blessing thisis, because, elijah rising,
we've been doing, you know, safehomes since 2015, 2016.
And we just saw the need of,like man, people need help out
(01:44):
of trafficking.
Let's get them in a safe home.
You know a lot of people thatare trafficked are homeless as
well, and so housing is a bigthing.
So, you know, we're likegetting a safe home.
You know let's, let's help youget your life back on your feet.
And we'd always get to thefinal step of like, all right,
you're ready.
You know, you got got a job, wegot a place to live, but the
(02:05):
biggest barrier for us everysingle time was the car yeah it
was like you don't have a car,so you know there's the bus and
and that works sometimes andthey're uber but that's like
crazy expensive, I don't know ifyou've taken a five thousand
dollar car like yeah, I took anuber the other day and I think
it was like 40 bucks orsomething silly, ridiculous.
(02:27):
So that's not sustainable meansof transportation at all yeah,
and so it was always this likeobstacle and we never really
knew how to.
I mean, we would ask for cars,but you know, not many people
wanted to donate, or we hadpeople that would donate cars
and that process was just likeit gave us a headache trying to
(02:49):
figure out how to do that, andso you've started a ministry.
That that's the focus, and somaybe tell us a little bit more
about what drew your attentionto the human trafficking issue?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Sure, so, yeah, thank you for that intro.
Um, so I was, I actually metone of, uh, one of y'all's
workers, uh, jessica gobble, atan andrew peterson concert and,
um, I had no clue who y'all were, um, and I, I guess, to be
frank, I didn't start, we didn'tstart three in one, uh,
(03:25):
specifically with the intent tofocus on human trafficking.
I've always been very pro notputting God in the box with who
we're going to serve, but he'svery, very clearly led us to
y'all and to the need that iswithin human trafficking,
especially being in Houston,need that is within human
(03:46):
trafficking, especially being inHouston.
You know, unfortunately we havequite the industry for traffic,
for trafficking, and so there'sa big need there, and so we met
.
I met Jessica.
She expressed the exact samething that you just expressed to
me, or just expressed.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeahessica um, she was just on our podcast, you
know a couple weeks ago so ifyou're, if you're listening,
you're wondering who jessica is.
It is the jessica that was onour podcast, our recovery
specialist.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Perfect, yes, same same one yeah and um, so she
kind of expressed the same needand uh, and so it was like, okay
, what would this look like?
How would we actually do that?
And this was, I guess, a littleover a year ago now.
Yeah, because it would have beenDecember of 22 is when that
(04:36):
concert was, and you know thiswas for us it was a huge answer
to prayer because we were verymuch in the grinding it out,
starting the nonprofit stage,getting getting paperwork put
together, figuring out how allof this was actually going to
(04:56):
function.
What was really really heavy onmy heart at that time, and what
was frankly pretty discouraging, um, was the client care side
of things.
It's like how I'm trying tofigure out how to transfer
vehicles and figure out what thepaperwork looks like.
(05:17):
How do I get them repaired toensure sufficient reliability?
Um, how am I going to care forsomeone?
At this point, I don't evenknow what it looks like to do a
day-to-day operation, and so itwas pretty discouraging.
And then meeting Jessica andgoing through that and praying
through that, it was really anopportunity for us to hand off a
(05:44):
big portion of that.
It's like, well, client care iswhat y'all do.
Yeah, y'all are really good atthat.
And so it was like, okay, well,this is a really really good
starting off point for us toensure you know working with
y'all.
It ensures that we know theclients are taken care of,
(06:06):
because we know who y'all areand we know now, after building
a relationship, what y'all'spractices are, your heart for
your clients that y'all areserving.
And then the follow-up.
And that was a big thing for usas well, because there's a lot
of I wouldn't say a lot.
There's not a lot of automotivenonprofit space where people
(06:28):
are giving away cars.
There's not a ton.
I was talking with BlakeJennings, the founder of OnRamp
Texas, and he's been our mentor.
They've been absolutelyfantastic with just helping us
figure out all of it at everysingle stage.
And he had mentioned that therewas a study there in College
(06:56):
Station and they had a studydone by one of the A&M schools
that I don't recall, and of allof the nonprofits centered
around automotive things, andthere was less than 20 in the
country and only two of them hadany sort of follow-up after
giving the vehicle.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Wow In the country, less than 20?
In America.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
And so this was a I'm not sure.
This would have been maybe 2019or maybe 21, some somewhere in
that range, I mean in the lastfive years yeah so recent, um no
, after the fact follow-up andit's just like that's like
you're almost you're missing themark.
Yeah, you know, it's likeyou're missing the mark.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
You know it's like because you can give the vehicle
away and that's great.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Okay, here's a car, but to have a plan in place,
like worst case scenario is wegive a car away and then five
years later they come backasking for another car.
Yeah, we didn't do our job, wejust enabled you to stay in the
same position and maintain yeahand so and so, coming on, um,
(08:11):
and partnering with y'all, y'allhave that follow-up already in
place.
Yeah, when, when your residentsgraduate, there's a follow-up
yeah, case management exactly soit's like, man, this is, this
is a perfect scenario for us.
And so, yeah, that's kind of howpraying through all of that.
And then with the introductionto y'all, it was very, very
(08:35):
clear.
God was like here you go, thisis the partnership y'all are
going to start with, get thingsfigured out and, you know, stay
focused on Elijah Rising rightnow.
And so hopefully we grow andexpand and we can incorporate
other ministries and otheropportunities, but right now,
(08:55):
yeah, we're pretty focused ony'all and it's been awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, and I love that .
That's your heart of wanting tonot just give something away.
I think of the.
The oprah me was like you get acar, you get a car, you get a
car, you know it's like.
You know it's great, you'remeeting a need, but there's so
much more that someone needsjust kind of guidance and
walking along with and, and weknow that.
(09:21):
That's why we, you know, weoften think to ourselves and
tell people that our program isreally just step one, like you
think you're.
You're coming in and you knowyou're going to leave and
everything is just going to beroses and easy and you know
you're totally 100 healed.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
There's no, there's never going to be, you know, and
and that's just like it's allbetter.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, and I think that's the picture that a lot of
especially like you know, I'm amarketer, but a lot of
nonprofit marketers you paintthis picture of like come to our
program and then everythingelse is great, and that's not
the case.
You really got to walkalongside people for and it's
about relationship and that'swhat I really appreciate about
you, and even in who we partnerwith.
(10:08):
That's something we value.
You know, yeah, are you gonnacare for our?
You know the residents thatwe're caring for in?
the same manner.
So I just think that's amazing.
It's it's just a great exampleof the body of christ coming
together and meeting differentneeds.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, you know, and you
know we're all equippeddifferently.
Yeah, you know, and this isautomotive benevolence is a
weird thing, you know.
That's kind of something that'salways been on my heart, you
know, and that's kind of how allof this started was in high
(10:46):
school.
I was involved in the auto techprograms and all of that, and
God just kind of always had onmy heart like, hey, you're going
to do something benevolent withcars.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
What, okay, cool, that sounds great.
What does that mean?
And so he, you know, he placedthat little nugget on my heart.
And then, you know, at thatpoint I thought I was going to.
I went to tech school andlearned some other skills and I
was like, okay, I'm going tobuild hot rods for the rest of
my life.
And here I am in oil and gas mylife.
(11:27):
And here I am in oil and gas.
And uh, but uh.
So my thought at the time was itwas going to be a like I would
own a mechanic shop and then wewould have some sort of service
on the side, um, to help folkswho can't, uh, who couldn't
afford it.
Uh, something very, verysimilar.
Um, christian brothers hastheir National Day of Service.
Basically, that was what was inmy head as a kid, and then, so
(11:52):
it.
So then, as it just continuedon, god just kept revealing a
little bit more.
And then there was a my wife andI moved into the house that
were in in December of 19, andthere was a moment, summer of
2020.
It was like I had, I had allthese different puzzle pieces,
(12:14):
and then the house we moved into, we have a little bit more
space, and so that was anotherbig final piece.
And I was like I remembersitting in the pool with my wife
and just asking like hey, I'mreally curious to see what God's
going to do with this.
Like I clearly have somethingon my heart Don't know what it
is, but there's something therethat he's drawing me to.
(12:35):
I know that without a shadow ofa doubt.
We now have the space and I'vegot abilities, so we have it all
.
I mean, I think, for whatevermy eyes can see.
And she looked at me and shewas just like well, why don't
you just start it?
Okay, start what.
(12:59):
And so throughout 2020, and thisis where it got pretty
regimented in year blocks.
So 2020 was like okay, what arewe going to do?
This sounds cool, but what arewe going to do?
Because I don't own a shop, I'mnot in the car business at all,
but I have a really bad habitof buying and selling cars, and
(13:24):
that's not great financially oron a marriage.
So it's like okay, well, let'sdo it for Jesus, then she can't
say anything.
But so 2020 was the year of likeokay, what is this gonna be?
And then we got a clear visionOkay, you're gonna give cars
away, that's what you're gonnado.
There's a huge transportationneed, so do your part to solve
(13:46):
it.
And then 21 was the year oflike okay, well, you have the
vision.
What would that actually looklike?
More logistically speaking, howwould this actually go?
So we got that kind of fleshedout in 21.
And then in 22, it was allright, gear up, get all of your
legal things, all of your bank,get all of your systems set up
(14:08):
so that you're ready to operate.
23, last year was the year ofstarting to operate.
We did two clients with y'all,gave away two vehicles, learned
a ton on what to do there.
And then here we are this year.
It's kind of a foundationalstage, if you will.
(14:28):
It's like kind of the.
The phrase I would use is likewe're making our systems now
work for us.
We kind of have an idea of howwe want to do work and, um, we
now need to make sure oursystems are helping that, as
opposed to we're working so thatwe fit into our systems.
It's like that's not efficient,that's not scalable, and so we
(14:48):
need to take we're taking oursystems now this year and
actually making them work for us, and so all that to say you
mentioned you know everyonedoing their part in the body and
it's just like there are.
You don't know what God hasplanned for you.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
We don't.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
We're finite.
Trying to understand theinfinite, yeah, never going to
work.
What we do know is we know thatthe desires that we have in our
heart have been placed there byGod, and so he's going to
cultivate them.
We've been given talents andabilities that he has given us,
and it's up to us to cultivateand to use those for his kingdom
(15:34):
.
And then all we've got to do isshow up and say what do I need
to do with these things now?
Because here we are, I've gotthis.
I know how to work on cars, Ilove buying and selling cars,
and now I have space.
Well, currently I have sixadditional vehicles at my house
and it's like it doesn't reallyimpact our day-to-day life.
Yeah, so it's like okay, god, Isee where the space was coming
(15:55):
in, I see where that portion iscoming in and I put a fence up
so my wife doesn't have to lookat it.
But it's just really reallyinteresting to me, one of the
things that really really putsme in awe of God, and this is
probably just because I'm amechanical engineer.
I always look at the systems,and so when I see the things
(16:18):
that God is doing on a systemlevel, it's absolutely
fascinating to me.
So an example God is a God offractals, and if you're not
familiar with what a fractal is,it's effectively, it's an
infinitely continuing patternthat looks the same at pretty
(16:41):
much all scales, and so easiestexample of that is you're in an
airplane and you're flying.
You look down, you look at thetrees.
What do the trees look like?
They look like broccoli, andthen the broccoli, you know.
You go down even further.
What does it look like?
Well, it looks like the bronchiin your lungs, and so it's the
same image.
(17:01):
And you see it all through theOld Testament too, which is the
way that the biblical writersstructured all of it.
It's very fractaled, and soit's the same thing.
It's like we have this imageand we're called the body of
Christ, and so that's all of usas people.
(17:21):
So, okay, we'll zoom that intothe body.
If we're taking this idea andthis image of fractals, zoom it
into the body.
Oh, the body is a fascinatingfeat of design that requires a
whole bunch of different, veryindependent, very specific
systems doing their job to thebest of their ability in order
(17:44):
for the entire body to function.
It's like, okay, well, now zoomthat down to the cell.
It's the exact same situationand so, at all of these stages,
having that mindset, it's like,okay, well, I am an integral
part of the body of Christ, andso for people to succeed in a
(18:04):
way that is honoring to God,it's like I have to look at how
God has equipped me.
I don't have to understandwhere I'm going, but I know that
I have a job to do, that he hasput me on a task to do, and in
order for everybody around me tosucceed, I have to do that job
specifically as best as I can.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
And then that will bring everyone else up, so I
don't know what that looks like.
You know any?
I don't think I'm doinganything particularly special,
I'm just.
I see what God has has set meup to do and I'm just trying to
do it to the best of ourabilities.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah yeah, and it's amazing because you know let's
just use the car, for example,like it's a car, but really what
it gives someone is opportunity.
Yeah, you know, second chanceand you know, and God uses stuff
like that, like stuff that wetake for granted.
You know, I get in my car everyday, take my daughter to school
(19:04):
, come to the office.
Don't even think about thisblessing that I have.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, and that's one of the most difficult things is
vehicles.
One of the most difficultthings to communicate is because
, just like you said, when youget in your car and you start it
every single day, you don'teven think about it.
It's the same thing.
You walk in your house, youturn the lights on, you don't
even think about it.
It's the same thing.
You walk in your house, youturn the lights on, you don't
even think about it, and so.
But we're so spread out.
(19:30):
It's like you know.
I like to think about like whenwas the last time you had to
put your car in the shop, youknow, and you're out of a car
for a few days?
Yeah, it's like that ismiserably inconvenient, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And it's.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Imagine having two kids and trying to get them to
their daycare and then you toyour job, without a car.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, and maybe an employer that isn't going to be
lenient with you, exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
And so you know, and that kind of you know, I guess
leads in the type of vehiclesthat we're trying to give away,
like our target, our biggestgoal, goal with vehicles,
because vehicles are great, yeah, they are, I love them.
I'm a car guy, I loveeverything about cars.
Um, they break, yeah, period.
(20:25):
They're very, very complicatedthey're.
They're there's chemicalsystems, there's complicated
there, there's chemical systems,there's mechanical systems,
there's electromechanicalsystems, um, full-on electrical,
like they are super complicatedpieces of machinery that we're
giving away, that we don't thinkabout because they've been
fantastically engineered just sothat they have longevity and
(20:46):
and we've, you know, they'vedone as much engineering
controls as they can they stillrequire maintenance and so, like
we want to give a blessing, nota burden, yeah, you know.
So our target is five years, ifwe can ensure to the best of
our ability, like I can buy youa new car and it's going to fail
(21:11):
, it just is what it is.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, at some point it's a complicated piece of
machinery.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
But if we can target five years, so that
statistically gives someoneenough time once they're on a
sound financial path, they'removing the right direction in
life, which again is what westrive to do with all of our
clients.
How can we help you moveforward and raise you up?
(21:37):
Then statistically, that's howlong it takes them to be in the
position to purchase theirvehicle, their own vehicle.
So that's our target there, andso we want to do our best to
ensure that level of sufficientreliability.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And then, ultimately, the cars are going to fail.
And so our mission at 3-in-1 isto spread the gospel through
the provision of reliabletransportation.
Wow, and so we all focus on thecars, but our mission is to
spread the gospel.
That's amazing, because we'llgive you a car that's going to
fail, but who's not going tofail is Jesus.
Yeah, you know, if we canintroduce you to someone who is
(22:20):
reliably sound all the time, whopromises he's going to meet
your needs like that's it whenyour car breaks down, he knows
that.
Yeah, he knows when that car isgoing to fail down.
He knows that.
Yeah, he knows when that car isgoing to fail.
Um, and so, yeah, that's we.
We want to be a blessing, not aburden.
And it seems kind of backwardsto imagine giving a car away can
(22:43):
be a burden to someone.
But if you, if you give someonea vehicle that hasn't been the
vehicle hasn't been vetted andyou don't know, so that person,
now they were in a situationthey were able to get a job and
(23:04):
now, two months later, thatvehicle is broken down and it's
in the shop and oh, by the way,that's $2,000 worth of repairs.
Have you really left them in abetter situation?
yeah like no, yeah, that's,that's difficult for anybody to
handle, you know, absorbing that.
So that's, um, yeah, we, wewant to.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
We want to be in the business of helping people yeah,
moving people forward yeah, sotell us what it was like, you
know, giving that that first caraway.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh man, it was crazy.
It was a culmination of a lotof effort.
I remember being frazzled andexcited and it just blinked and
was gone.
But but yeah, so the, the first, the first vehicle, that, that
one was really cool because Ifound it again.
(23:57):
We were very much in proof ofconcept phase.
So didn't have a network of youknow, like this was me just
running around trying to figureout, how do I?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
buy a car and give it away when you're starting.
That's how it is.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, absolutely, and so I found it was a 2006 Mazda
3.
Had 125,000 miles on it.
That's how it is.
Yeah, absolutely, and so Ifound it was a.
It was a 2006 mazda 3, had 125000 miles on it, and I found it
on uh facebook marketplace andthankfully it was like less than
five miles from my house wow,okay, cool awesome, I'm gonna go
look at this thing.
And um, told the guy a dude wasasking like 5500 and uh, went
(24:31):
test drove it seemed always well, and so I was talking to him
hey, I think this is gonna be afit.
Yeah, sure, let's, let's go forit.
Told him on the test drive wewere talking about you know what
we were gonna do, what we weredoing with the vehicle.
I was purchasing it and andthen we got out of the car and
he was like you know, I reallylike what you're trying to do,
(24:53):
so I'll give it to you for$4,500.
Wow, okay, done, I'll be backtomorrow with a check, how about
that?
And so we got it.
And then, you know, I did asmany of the repairs as I could,
just on the floor of my garage,yeah, and got it.
(25:14):
You know, to a to a point thatit was good.
And then, um, and then, yeah,we, we delivered that vehicle to
our first client.
And, um, it was really reallysurreal.
I remember getting in the car,um, I mean, I drove the car to,
to where we were delivering it,and then my wife came and we
(25:36):
were riding home with her and Iremember getting in the car and
just being like we did the thing.
Yeah, like we've done a lot ofwork and there's been a lot of
brain power and a lot of effortput into this, and like we
finally actually did a thingyeah you know, this isn't.
This has now become somethingtangible.
(25:59):
This is no longer just I'mgenerating documents in our
online system.
Yeah, to explain how we will dowork.
We're actually now doing thework and, um, it was really cool
.
You know, I just I feel really,really blessed because, like I
don't deserve to get to do this,there's no way.
(26:22):
Like I know my heart, I don'tdeserve to get to do what I'm
doing.
Yeah, I'm super, super blessedand thankful that God has asked
me to do it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, because it's a huge blessing and yeah, I mean
it's, I'm it's so cool becauseyou know on on our end, like
this is something we're prayingfor like constantly and every
time we take someone in.
You know I'm not in the programside of things, but I know
there comes a point when it'slike, okay, they're going to get
(26:53):
to this final phase and it'slike I know you know where's the
car going to come from or howare they going to.
You know, sometimes the busworks and that's great.
Sometimes you know they're ableto make the situation work, but
a lot of the times you know youjust need a vehicle.
And so I remember you know usalways praying Lord, please send
(27:18):
a vehicle, provide a vehiclefor this person.
And so when I first heard aboutwhat you're doing, I was like,
oh my God, this is a miracle.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
This is answered prayer.
Yeah, it's like oh well, we'rekind of a thing, we're trying to
be a thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
But I mean, I think it's brilliant.
I think you know, of course,you said you know there's not a
lot of people doing this, sothere is like a pioneering that
needs to be done.
There is, you know, learning,but I think, you know, once the
idea gets out there and peopleknow, you know, I can see this
becoming, um, you know, a a hugehelp to not just a trafficking
(27:53):
space but, you know, victims ofdomestic violence, single moms.
You know, like you know, I grewup in a a single mom household
and it was like, like you'resaying, when the car broke down,
it caused, yeah, all sorts of,uh, crazy situations for us.
So, um, if someone's listeningto this and they're like I want
(28:14):
to get involved, or like youknow, I have a car that maybe
they could use, kind of, we'lltake it.
What's the process for someonelike who's listening that either
wants to learn more, getinvolved or maybe donate a car?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, sure, so we do have our website
3in1mechanicalministriescom.
That's the number three I-N andthe number one Mechanical
Ministries and there's moreinformation on our website.
There's also a link to adonation form, a financial
donation form and then a vehicledonation form and the vehicles
(28:52):
that we have right now they aredonated.
We actually just did anothervehicle.
We had a donor come and theykind of served as the donor and
nominee type thing.
So it was our first vehicle,not with y'all.
So it was our first vehicle notwith y'all and kind of came out
(29:12):
of nowhere and it was.
You know, that process is very,very simple.
So that was a purchased vehiclebecause they came with funding.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Well, okay, perfect Can they all.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
But so outside of that one, all of the other
vehicles are donated yeah, andso there's, you know, more work
and more effort generally,because your donated vehicles
are generally a lower levelvehicle and so they require more
work or they're higher miles,or they're older or anything
(29:49):
like that.
But so, on the form, you know,you'll be able to input all of
the give me the VIN, give me theyear, mileage, why are you
donating it?
What's give?
Give us as much of an idea ofthe mechanical condition, the
physical condition of thevehicle.
What's the title status?
Do you want a 1090C, a 1090AC,so you can, you know, have.
(30:12):
Do you want a 1090C, a 1090AC,so you can have a tax write-off
and then that'll happen.
Reach out, then I'll reach outto them and try and get some
pictures, especially if thevehicle's far, far away, it's
like, okay, if I can getpictures of it, videos of it
running, pictures of the vehiclereally give us an understanding
of what we're getting into.
(30:32):
Yeah, um, that's, that'll bevery beneficial.
And then, and then from there,if it's, if it's a fit, which
kind of right now we're in theplace where everything's a fit,
because even if, um, like, wehave a vehicle right now that,
uh, we're not going to do anyrepairs on.
It's financially it doesn't makesense.
(30:53):
So we'll either just punt it,put it on Marketplace and see if
we can bring in $1,000 or$1,500 in the ministry, or try
and find.
There's a few other groups thatwe've been working with that
are training.
One specifically is a nonprofitcalled Petra Cares, and we've
(31:15):
been trying to figure out how wecan work together so we've been
chatting back and forth, butthey train students who have
just aged out of foster care tobe mechanics.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And so I've kind of thought I was like okay, well,
maybe I can give them like thisvehicle.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
And they can use it for that, rebuild it and then
maybe give it to one of theirstudents or something.
I don't know yeah yeah, butyeah, either way, all of the
vehicles come in and theybenefit the nonprofit.
You know they benefit usbecause, whether it's the
nonprofit, you know they.
they benefit us because whetherit's we're actually going to
turn it around and give it awayto a client, which that's what
everyone wants right, you knoweveryone's like man, I have this
(31:58):
car and I want it to blesssomebody, and so I guess my job
in that is saying like, hey,this is going to bless somebody,
even if it means we're sellingit to pull the value out of it
so that we can repair this othervehicle.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Right, yeah, yeah, and that's important, you know
because, in trying to helppeople, sometimes you can hurt
them if you don't.
You know like we talked aboutit, you know so yeah, yeah,
we're not going to be the burden.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
We're going to do everything we can.
I mean, at the end of the day,I'm a human.
I know I'm going to.
You know I have the potentialto just have this thing burn.
Like that is what it is.
That's me.
I'm broken.
I don't.
I'm just trying to follow whatGod's putting in front of me.
Yeah, and ultimately,everything.
Our systems are generated bypeople.
(32:54):
Our technicians are all peopleand so we're going to break
something, we're going to screwup.
Yeah is what it is, that'stotally fine.
How do we handle it and how dowe set ourselves up so we can
minimize that?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
yeah, well, less bad, yeah well, I think it's amazing
what you're doing.
Obviously, you know, we can seeyour passion, we can see your
commitment to excellence, and soit's been cool to just kind of
see it launch and take off.
And so now, you know, nowyou're going and climbing and,
man, this is exciting.
And so, guys, if you'relistening or watching, you know,
(33:24):
go find three-in-one mechanicalministries on their website,
follow them on Instagram likethey're new Facebook as well.
They're pretty new.
Y' they're pretty new.
Y'all guys are pretty new, verymuch so, and so if you guys
could help us spread the word,share about them with your
friends you know, you just neverknow, you know who you're going
to connect with like you wereat a concert and you met one of
(33:46):
our uh employees or one of ourstaff and you know, it kind of
led you on a path and, and soyou never know, just share it
and see what happens.
And if you found this showencouraging at all, I would love
for you guys to just leave areview on Apple Podcasts or
Spotify.
Those reviews help us reachmore people.
And, ross, thank you so muchfor being on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
This has been awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
And if you want to learn more, links will be in the
show notes, and we hope youhave a great day.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Elijah Rising
podcast.
My name is David and today wehave our very special guest,
ross Peters, with 3-in-1Mechanical Ministries, and we're
going to talk about who you are, what you do, and I have just a
little bio I'm going to readjust for our audience so they
can get to know you.
So Ross is the founder and CEOof 3-in-1 Mechanical Ministries.
(00:24):
He's a committed and involvedChristian husband and father.
Ross is on the engineering teamlead, or are the engineering
team lead for Caltech's OilTools, an oil and gas service
company, and, aside from regularduties of life and ministry,
you can be found woodworking,restoring his home or performing
(00:44):
myriad of other buildingprojects, from chicken coops to
cars.
Oh, yeah, yeah I love that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, we've, uh, we've got 15 chickens right now,
and so it's uh oh my gosh oh,dude, it's a riot chicken.
I heard about.
Toddlers are a really, reallygood combination.
It's like if you want justendless entertainment, and uh,
we'll, we'll see my, uh, I'llsee my son.
He'll go out in the chickencoop and just pick up the
(01:11):
chickens, walk around with them,set them down yeah, you'll have
to give us a picture of yourchicken so we can put that in
the cover photo.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah but anyways, uh, we're not here to talk about
chickens.
Oh, you have a.
You have a really incredibleministry, and let me tell you
guys how much of a blessing thisis, because, elijah rising,
we've been doing, you know, safehomes since 2015, 2016.
And we just saw the need of,like man, people need help out
(01:44):
of trafficking.
Let's get them in a safe home.
You know a lot of people thatare trafficked are homeless as
well, and so housing is a bigthing.
So, you know, we're likegetting a safe home.
You know let's, let's help youget your life back on your feet.
And we'd always get to thefinal step of like, all right,
you're ready.
You know, you got got a job, wegot a place to live, but the
(02:05):
biggest barrier for us everysingle time was the car yeah it
was like you don't have a car,so you know there's the bus and
and that works sometimes andthey're uber but that's like
crazy expensive, I don't know ifyou've taken a five thousand
dollar car like yeah, I took anuber the other day and I think
it was like 40 bucks orsomething silly, ridiculous.
(02:27):
So that's not sustainable meansof transportation at all yeah,
and so it was always this likeobstacle and we never really
knew how to.
I mean, we would ask for cars,but you know, not many people
wanted to donate, or we hadpeople that would donate cars
and that process was just likeit gave us a headache trying to
(02:49):
figure out how to do that, andso you've started a ministry.
That that's the focus, and somaybe tell us a little bit more
about what drew your attentionto the human trafficking issue?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Sure, so, yeah, thank you for that intro.
Um, so I was, I actually metone of, uh, one of y'all's
workers, uh, jessica gobble, atan andrew peterson concert and,
um, I had no clue who y'all were, um, and I, I guess, to be
frank, I didn't start, we didn'tstart three in one, uh,
(03:25):
specifically with the intent tofocus on human trafficking.
I've always been very pro notputting God in the box with who
we're going to serve, but he'svery, very clearly led us to
y'all and to the need that iswithin human trafficking,
especially being in Houston,need that is within human
(03:46):
trafficking, especially being inHouston.
You know, unfortunately we havequite the industry for traffic,
for trafficking, and so there'sa big need there, and so we met
.
I met Jessica.
She expressed the exact samething that you just expressed to
me, or just expressed.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeahessica um, she was just on our podcast, you
know a couple weeks ago so ifyou're, if you're listening,
you're wondering who jessica is.
It is the jessica that was onour podcast, our recovery
specialist.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Perfect, yes, same same one yeah and um, so she
kind of expressed the same needand uh, and so it was like, okay
, what would this look like?
How would we actually do that?
And this was, I guess, a littleover a year ago now.
Yeah, because it would have beenDecember of 22 is when that
(04:36):
concert was, and you know thiswas for us it was a huge answer
to prayer because we were verymuch in the grinding it out,
starting the nonprofit stage,getting getting paperwork put
together, figuring out how allof this was actually going to
(04:56):
function.
What was really really heavy onmy heart at that time, and what
was frankly pretty discouraging, um, was the client care side
of things.
It's like how I'm trying tofigure out how to transfer
vehicles and figure out what thepaperwork looks like.
(05:17):
How do I get them repaired toensure sufficient reliability?
Um, how am I going to care forsomeone?
At this point, I don't evenknow what it looks like to do a
day-to-day operation, and so itwas pretty discouraging.
And then meeting Jessica andgoing through that and praying
through that, it was really anopportunity for us to hand off a
(05:44):
big portion of that.
It's like, well, client care iswhat y'all do.
Yeah, y'all are really good atthat.
And so it was like, okay, well,this is a really really good
starting off point for us toensure you know working with
y'all.
It ensures that we know theclients are taken care of,
(06:06):
because we know who y'all areand we know now, after building
a relationship, what y'all'spractices are, your heart for
your clients that y'all areserving.
And then the follow-up.
And that was a big thing for usas well, because there's a lot
of I wouldn't say a lot.
There's not a lot of automotivenonprofit space where people
(06:28):
are giving away cars.
There's not a ton.
I was talking with BlakeJennings, the founder of OnRamp
Texas, and he's been our mentor.
They've been absolutelyfantastic with just helping us
figure out all of it at everysingle stage.
And he had mentioned that therewas a study there in College
(06:56):
Station and they had a studydone by one of the A&M schools
that I don't recall, and of allof the nonprofits centered
around automotive things, andthere was less than 20 in the
country and only two of them hadany sort of follow-up after
giving the vehicle.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Wow In the country, less than 20?
In America.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
And so this was a I'm not sure.
This would have been maybe 2019or maybe 21, some somewhere in
that range, I mean in the lastfive years yeah so recent, um no
, after the fact follow-up andit's just like that's like
you're almost you're missing themark.
Yeah, you know, it's likeyou're missing the mark.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
You know it's like because you can give the vehicle
away and that's great.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Okay, here's a car, but to have a plan in place,
like worst case scenario is wegive a car away and then five
years later they come backasking for another car.
Yeah, we didn't do our job, wejust enabled you to stay in the
same position and maintain yeahand so and so, coming on, um,
(08:11):
and partnering with y'all, y'allhave that follow-up already in
place.
Yeah, when, when your residentsgraduate, there's a follow-up
yeah, case management exactly soit's like, man, this is, this
is a perfect scenario for us.
And so, yeah, that's kind of howpraying through all of that.
And then with the introductionto y'all, it was very, very
(08:35):
clear.
God was like here you go, thisis the partnership y'all are
going to start with, get thingsfigured out and, you know, stay
focused on Elijah Rising rightnow.
And so hopefully we grow andexpand and we can incorporate
other ministries and otheropportunities, but right now,
(08:55):
yeah, we're pretty focused ony'all and it's been awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, and I love that .
That's your heart of wanting tonot just give something away.
I think of the.
The oprah me was like you get acar, you get a car, you get a
car, you know it's like.
You know it's great, you'remeeting a need, but there's so
much more that someone needsjust kind of guidance and
walking along with and, and weknow that.
(09:21):
That's why we, you know, weoften think to ourselves and
tell people that our program isreally just step one, like you
think you're.
You're coming in and you knowyou're going to leave and
everything is just going to beroses and easy and you know
you're totally 100 healed.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
There's no, there's never going to be, you know, and
and that's just like it's allbetter.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, and I think that's the picture that a lot of
especially like you know, I'm amarketer, but a lot of
nonprofit marketers you paintthis picture of like come to our
program and then everythingelse is great, and that's not
the case.
You really got to walkalongside people for and it's
about relationship and that'swhat I really appreciate about
you, and even in who we partnerwith.
(10:08):
That's something we value.
You know, yeah, are you gonnacare for our?
You know the residents thatwe're caring for in?
the same manner.
So I just think that's amazing.
It's it's just a great exampleof the body of christ coming
together and meeting differentneeds.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, you know, and you
know we're all equippeddifferently.
Yeah, you know, and this isautomotive benevolence is a
weird thing, you know.
That's kind of something that'salways been on my heart, you
know, and that's kind of how allof this started was in high
(10:46):
school.
I was involved in the auto techprograms and all of that, and
God just kind of always had onmy heart like, hey, you're going
to do something benevolent withcars.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
What, okay, cool, that sounds great.
What does that mean?
And so he, you know, he placedthat little nugget on my heart.
And then, you know, at thatpoint I thought I was going to.
I went to tech school andlearned some other skills and I
was like, okay, I'm going tobuild hot rods for the rest of
my life.
And here I am in oil and gas mylife.
(11:27):
And here I am in oil and gas.
And uh, but uh.
So my thought at the time was itwas going to be a like I would
own a mechanic shop and then wewould have some sort of service
on the side, um, to help folkswho can't, uh, who couldn't
afford it.
Uh, something very, verysimilar.
Um, christian brothers hastheir National Day of Service.
Basically, that was what was inmy head as a kid, and then, so
(11:52):
it.
So then, as it just continuedon, god just kept revealing a
little bit more.
And then there was a my wife andI moved into the house that
were in in December of 19, andthere was a moment, summer of
2020.
It was like I had, I had allthese different puzzle pieces,
(12:14):
and then the house we moved into, we have a little bit more
space, and so that was anotherbig final piece.
And I was like I remembersitting in the pool with my wife
and just asking like hey, I'mreally curious to see what God's
going to do with this.
Like I clearly have somethingon my heart Don't know what it
is, but there's something therethat he's drawing me to.
(12:35):
I know that without a shadow ofa doubt.
We now have the space and I'vegot abilities, so we have it all
.
I mean, I think, for whatevermy eyes can see.
And she looked at me and shewas just like well, why don't
you just start it?
Okay, start what.
(12:59):
And so throughout 2020, and thisis where it got pretty
regimented in year blocks.
So 2020 was like okay, what arewe going to do?
This sounds cool, but what arewe going to do?
Because I don't own a shop, I'mnot in the car business at all,
but I have a really bad habitof buying and selling cars, and
(13:24):
that's not great financially oron a marriage.
So it's like okay, well, let'sdo it for Jesus, then she can't
say anything.
But so 2020 was the year of likeokay, what is this gonna be?
And then we got a clear visionOkay, you're gonna give cars
away, that's what you're gonnado.
There's a huge transportationneed, so do your part to solve
(13:46):
it.
And then 21 was the year oflike okay, well, you have the
vision.
What would that actually looklike?
More logistically speaking, howwould this actually go?
So we got that kind of fleshedout in 21.
And then in 22, it was allright, gear up, get all of your
legal things, all of your bank,get all of your systems set up
(14:08):
so that you're ready to operate.
23, last year was the year ofstarting to operate.
We did two clients with y'all,gave away two vehicles, learned
a ton on what to do there.
And then here we are this year.
It's kind of a foundationalstage, if you will.
(14:28):
It's like kind of the.
The phrase I would use is likewe're making our systems now
work for us.
We kind of have an idea of howwe want to do work and, um, we
now need to make sure oursystems are helping that, as
opposed to we're working so thatwe fit into our systems.
It's like that's not efficient,that's not scalable, and so we
(14:48):
need to take we're taking oursystems now this year and
actually making them work for us, and so all that to say you
mentioned you know everyonedoing their part in the body and
it's just like there are.
You don't know what God hasplanned for you.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
We don't.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
We're finite.
Trying to understand theinfinite, yeah, never going to
work.
What we do know is we know thatthe desires that we have in our
heart have been placed there byGod, and so he's going to
cultivate them.
We've been given talents andabilities that he has given us,
and it's up to us to cultivateand to use those for his kingdom
(15:34):
.
And then all we've got to do isshow up and say what do I need
to do with these things now?
Because here we are, I've gotthis.
I know how to work on cars, Ilove buying and selling cars,
and now I have space.
Well, currently I have sixadditional vehicles at my house
and it's like it doesn't reallyimpact our day-to-day life.
Yeah, so it's like okay, god, Isee where the space was coming
(15:55):
in, I see where that portion iscoming in and I put a fence up
so my wife doesn't have to lookat it.
But it's just really reallyinteresting to me, one of the
things that really really putsme in awe of God, and this is
probably just because I'm amechanical engineer.
I always look at the systems,and so when I see the things
(16:18):
that God is doing on a systemlevel, it's absolutely
fascinating to me.
So an example God is a God offractals, and if you're not
familiar with what a fractal is,it's effectively, it's an
infinitely continuing patternthat looks the same at pretty
(16:41):
much all scales, and so easiestexample of that is you're in an
airplane and you're flying.
You look down, you look at thetrees.
What do the trees look like?
They look like broccoli, andthen the broccoli, you know.
You go down even further.
What does it look like?
Well, it looks like the bronchiin your lungs, and so it's the
same image.
(17:01):
And you see it all through theOld Testament too, which is the
way that the biblical writersstructured all of it.
It's very fractaled, and soit's the same thing.
It's like we have this imageand we're called the body of
Christ, and so that's all of usas people.
(17:21):
So, okay, we'll zoom that intothe body.
If we're taking this idea andthis image of fractals, zoom it
into the body.
Oh, the body is a fascinatingfeat of design that requires a
whole bunch of different, veryindependent, very specific
systems doing their job to thebest of their ability in order
(17:44):
for the entire body to function.
It's like, okay, well, now zoomthat down to the cell.
It's the exact same situationand so, at all of these stages,
having that mindset, it's like,okay, well, I am an integral
part of the body of Christ, andso for people to succeed in a
(18:04):
way that is honoring to God,it's like I have to look at how
God has equipped me.
I don't have to understandwhere I'm going, but I know that
I have a job to do, that he hasput me on a task to do, and in
order for everybody around me tosucceed, I have to do that job
specifically as best as I can.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
And then that will bring everyone else up, so I
don't know what that looks like.
You know any?
I don't think I'm doinganything particularly special,
I'm just.
I see what God has has set meup to do and I'm just trying to
do it to the best of ourabilities.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah yeah, and it's amazing because you know let's
just use the car, for example,like it's a car, but really what
it gives someone is opportunity.
Yeah, you know, second chanceand you know, and God uses stuff
like that, like stuff that wetake for granted.
You know, I get in my car everyday, take my daughter to school
(19:04):
, come to the office.
Don't even think about thisblessing that I have.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, and that's one of the most difficult things is
vehicles.
One of the most difficultthings to communicate is because
, just like you said, when youget in your car and you start it
every single day, you don'teven think about it.
It's the same thing.
You walk in your house, youturn the lights on, you don't
even think about it.
It's the same thing.
You walk in your house, youturn the lights on, you don't
even think about it, and so.
But we're so spread out.
(19:30):
It's like you know.
I like to think about like whenwas the last time you had to
put your car in the shop, youknow, and you're out of a car
for a few days?
Yeah, it's like that ismiserably inconvenient, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And it's.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Imagine having two kids and trying to get them to
their daycare and then you toyour job, without a car.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, and maybe an employer that isn't going to be
lenient with you, exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
And so you know, and that kind of you know, I guess
leads in the type of vehiclesthat we're trying to give away,
like our target, our biggestgoal, goal with vehicles,
because vehicles are great, yeah, they are, I love them.
I'm a car guy, I loveeverything about cars.
Um, they break, yeah, period.
(20:25):
They're very, very complicatedthey're.
They're there's chemicalsystems, there's complicated
there, there's chemical systems,there's mechanical systems,
there's electromechanicalsystems, um, full-on electrical,
like they are super complicatedpieces of machinery that we're
giving away, that we don't thinkabout because they've been
fantastically engineered just sothat they have longevity and
(20:46):
and we've, you know, they'vedone as much engineering
controls as they can they stillrequire maintenance and so, like
we want to give a blessing, nota burden, yeah, you know.
So our target is five years, ifwe can ensure to the best of
our ability, like I can buy youa new car and it's going to fail
(21:11):
, it just is what it is.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, at some point it's a complicated piece of
machinery.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
But if we can target five years, so that
statistically gives someoneenough time once they're on a
sound financial path, they'removing the right direction in
life, which again is what westrive to do with all of our
clients.
How can we help you moveforward and raise you up?
(21:37):
Then statistically, that's howlong it takes them to be in the
position to purchase theirvehicle, their own vehicle.
So that's our target there, andso we want to do our best to
ensure that level of sufficientreliability.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And then, ultimately, the cars are going to fail.
And so our mission at 3-in-1 isto spread the gospel through
the provision of reliabletransportation.
Wow, and so we all focus on thecars, but our mission is to
spread the gospel.
That's amazing, because we'llgive you a car that's going to
fail, but who's not going tofail is Jesus.
Yeah, you know, if we canintroduce you to someone who is
(22:20):
reliably sound all the time, whopromises he's going to meet
your needs like that's it whenyour car breaks down, he knows
that.
Yeah, he knows when that car isgoing to fail down.
He knows that.
Yeah, he knows when that car isgoing to fail.
Um, and so, yeah, that's we.
We want to be a blessing, not aburden.
And it seems kind of backwardsto imagine giving a car away can
(22:43):
be a burden to someone.
But if you, if you give someonea vehicle that hasn't been the
vehicle hasn't been vetted andyou don't know, so that person,
now they were in a situationthey were able to get a job and
(23:04):
now, two months later, thatvehicle is broken down and it's
in the shop and oh, by the way,that's $2,000 worth of repairs.
Have you really left them in abetter situation?
yeah like no, yeah, that's,that's difficult for anybody to
handle, you know, absorbing that.
So that's, um, yeah, we, wewant to.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
We want to be in the business of helping people yeah,
moving people forward yeah, sotell us what it was like, you
know, giving that that first caraway.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh man, it was crazy.
It was a culmination of a lotof effort.
I remember being frazzled andexcited and it just blinked and
was gone.
But but yeah, so the, the first, the first vehicle, that, that
one was really cool because Ifound it again.
(23:57):
We were very much in proof ofconcept phase.
So didn't have a network of youknow, like this was me just
running around trying to figureout, how do I?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
buy a car and give it away when you're starting.
That's how it is.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, absolutely, and so I found it was a 2006 Mazda
3.
Had 125,000 miles on it.
That's how it is.
Yeah, absolutely, and so Ifound it was a.
It was a 2006 mazda 3, had 125000 miles on it, and I found it
on uh facebook marketplace andthankfully it was like less than
five miles from my house wow,okay, cool awesome, I'm gonna go
look at this thing.
And um, told the guy a dude wasasking like 5500 and uh, went
(24:31):
test drove it seemed always well, and so I was talking to him
hey, I think this is gonna be afit.
Yeah, sure, let's, let's go forit.
Told him on the test drive wewere talking about you know what
we were gonna do, what we weredoing with the vehicle.
I was purchasing it and andthen we got out of the car and
he was like you know, I reallylike what you're trying to do,
(24:53):
so I'll give it to you for$4,500.
Wow, okay, done, I'll be backtomorrow with a check, how about
that?
And so we got it.
And then, you know, I did asmany of the repairs as I could,
just on the floor of my garage,yeah, and got it.
(25:14):
You know, to a to a point thatit was good.
And then, um, and then, yeah,we, we delivered that vehicle to
our first client.
And, um, it was really reallysurreal.
I remember getting in the car,um, I mean, I drove the car to,
to where we were delivering it,and then my wife came and we
(25:36):
were riding home with her and Iremember getting in the car and
just being like we did the thing.
Yeah, like we've done a lot ofwork and there's been a lot of
brain power and a lot of effortput into this, and like we
finally actually did a thingyeah you know, this isn't.
This has now become somethingtangible.
(25:59):
This is no longer just I'mgenerating documents in our
online system.
Yeah, to explain how we will dowork.
We're actually now doing thework and, um, it was really cool
.
You know, I just I feel really,really blessed because, like I
don't deserve to get to do this,there's no way.
(26:22):
Like I know my heart, I don'tdeserve to get to do what I'm
doing.
Yeah, I'm super, super blessedand thankful that God has asked
me to do it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, because it's a huge blessing and yeah, I mean
it's, I'm it's so cool becauseyou know on on our end, like
this is something we're prayingfor like constantly and every
time we take someone in.
You know I'm not in the programside of things, but I know
there comes a point when it'slike, okay, they're going to get
(26:53):
to this final phase and it'slike I know you know where's the
car going to come from or howare they going to.
You know, sometimes the busworks and that's great.
Sometimes you know they're ableto make the situation work, but
a lot of the times you know youjust need a vehicle.
And so I remember you know usalways praying Lord, please send
(27:18):
a vehicle, provide a vehiclefor this person.
And so when I first heard aboutwhat you're doing, I was like,
oh my God, this is a miracle.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
This is answered prayer.
Yeah, it's like oh well, we'rekind of a thing, we're trying to
be a thing, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
But I mean, I think it's brilliant.
I think you know, of course,you said you know there's not a
lot of people doing this, sothere is like a pioneering that
needs to be done.
There is, you know, learning,but I think, you know, once the
idea gets out there and peopleknow, you know, I can see this
becoming, um, you know, a a hugehelp to not just a trafficking
(27:53):
space but, you know, victims ofdomestic violence, single moms.
You know, like you know, I grewup in a a single mom household
and it was like, like you'resaying, when the car broke down,
it caused, yeah, all sorts of,uh, crazy situations for us.
So, um, if someone's listeningto this and they're like I want
(28:14):
to get involved, or like youknow, I have a car that maybe
they could use, kind of, we'lltake it.
What's the process for someonelike who's listening that either
wants to learn more, getinvolved or maybe donate a car?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, sure, so we do have our website
3in1mechanicalministriescom.
That's the number three I-N andthe number one Mechanical
Ministries and there's moreinformation on our website.
There's also a link to adonation form, a financial
donation form and then a vehicledonation form and the vehicles
(28:52):
that we have right now they aredonated.
We actually just did anothervehicle.
We had a donor come and theykind of served as the donor and
nominee type thing.
So it was our first vehicle,not with y'all.
So it was our first vehicle notwith y'all and kind of came out
(29:12):
of nowhere and it was.
You know, that process is very,very simple.
So that was a purchased vehiclebecause they came with funding.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Well, okay, perfect Can they all.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
But so outside of that one, all of the other
vehicles are donated yeah, andso there's, you know, more work
and more effort generally,because your donated vehicles
are generally a lower levelvehicle and so they require more
work or they're higher miles,or they're older or anything
(29:49):
like that.
But so, on the form, you know,you'll be able to input all of
the give me the VIN, give me theyear, mileage, why are you
donating it?
What's give?
Give us as much of an idea ofthe mechanical condition, the
physical condition of thevehicle.
What's the title status?
Do you want a 1090C, a 1090AC,so you can, you know, have.
(30:12):
Do you want a 1090C, a 1090AC,so you can have a tax write-off
and then that'll happen.
Reach out, then I'll reach outto them and try and get some
pictures, especially if thevehicle's far, far away, it's
like, okay, if I can getpictures of it, videos of it
running, pictures of the vehiclereally give us an understanding
of what we're getting into.
(30:32):
Yeah, um, that's, that'll bevery beneficial.
And then, and then from there,if it's, if it's a fit, which
kind of right now we're in theplace where everything's a fit,
because even if, um, like, wehave a vehicle right now that,
uh, we're not going to do anyrepairs on.
It's financially it doesn't makesense.
(30:53):
So we'll either just punt it,put it on Marketplace and see if
we can bring in $1,000 or$1,500 in the ministry, or try
and find.
There's a few other groups thatwe've been working with that
are training.
One specifically is a nonprofitcalled Petra Cares, and we've
(31:15):
been trying to figure out how wecan work together so we've been
chatting back and forth, butthey train students who have
just aged out of foster care tobe mechanics.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And so I've kind of thought I was like okay, well,
maybe I can give them like thisvehicle.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
And they can use it for that, rebuild it and then
maybe give it to one of theirstudents or something.
I don't know yeah yeah, butyeah, either way, all of the
vehicles come in and theybenefit the nonprofit.
You know they benefit usbecause, whether it's the
nonprofit, you know they.
they benefit us because whetherit's we're actually going to
turn it around and give it awayto a client, which that's what
everyone wants right, you knoweveryone's like man, I have this
(31:58):
car and I want it to blesssomebody, and so I guess my job
in that is saying like, hey,this is going to bless somebody,
even if it means we're sellingit to pull the value out of it
so that we can repair this othervehicle.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Right, yeah, yeah, and that's important, you know
because, in trying to helppeople, sometimes you can hurt
them if you don't.
You know like we talked aboutit, you know so yeah, yeah,
we're not going to be the burden.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
We're going to do everything we can.
I mean, at the end of the day,I'm a human.
I know I'm going to.
You know I have the potentialto just have this thing burn.
Like that is what it is.
That's me.
I'm broken.
I don't.
I'm just trying to follow whatGod's putting in front of me.
Yeah, and ultimately,everything.
Our systems are generated bypeople.
(32:54):
Our technicians are all peopleand so we're going to break
something, we're going to screwup.
Yeah is what it is, that'stotally fine.
How do we handle it and how dowe set ourselves up so we can
minimize that?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
yeah, well, less bad, yeah well, I think it's amazing
what you're doing.
Obviously, you know, we can seeyour passion, we can see your
commitment to excellence, and soit's been cool to just kind of
see it launch and take off.
And so now, you know, nowyou're going and climbing and,
man, this is exciting.
And so, guys, if you'relistening or watching, you know,
(33:24):
go find three-in-one mechanicalministries on their website,
follow them on Instagram likethey're new Facebook as well.
They're pretty new.
Y' they're pretty new.
Y'all guys are pretty new, verymuch so, and so if you guys
could help us spread the word,share about them with your
friends you know, you just neverknow, you know who you're going
to connect with like you wereat a concert and you met one of
(33:46):
our uh employees or one of ourstaff and you know, it kind of
led you on a path and, and soyou never know, just share it
and see what happens.
And if you found this showencouraging at all, I would love
for you guys to just leave areview on Apple Podcasts or
Spotify.
Those reviews help us reachmore people.
And, ross, thank you so muchfor being on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
This has been awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
And if you want to learn more, links will be in the
show notes, and we hope youhave a great day.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.