First Baptist Church provides a spiritual, mechanical need

CENTERVILLE, Ga. — The First Baptist Church of Centerville provides quite a few opportunities for ministry in their community, but this one may be their most unique offering. With everything going on in a single mom’s life, it helps them keep up with something they might not think about all the time: car maintenance.

The church provides what they call a “Single Mom’s Oil Change” ministry. The concept is simple: If you’re a single mom or a widow, all you need to do is come down to the church and you and your car will be taken care of for free.

The church holds oil change events twice a year. In fact, if you’re up early enough on April 9, they’re holding an event at First Baptist Church of Centerville from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.

Once a single mom is there, volunteers who work with the church will change their oil, top off fluids, check the tire pressure and consult with them for a final inspection under the hood.

While they’re waiting, single moms can enjoy breakfast and fellowship with counselors from the church.

It is a church-wide effort that receives help from many different congregations and volunteers from the community. The church estimates about 80 volunteers participate in the event, with an average event maintaining up to 160 cars.

The church partnered with O’Reilly Auto Parts, too; they’ve got a designated counter the day of the event where they can buy whatever they need to assist in maintaining the vehicles that come in.

Ronnie Babbitt and Russ Pierce organized the event. Babbitt has been the event organizer for four years, and he has seen first hand how the community plays a role.

“It’s always amazing how God puts the right people together and allows this ministry to touch lives in many different ways,” Babbitt said.

Why oil changes? The ministry was started by two mechanics that saw a gap in the community that they wanted to fill.

Car maintenance is only the tip of the iceberg. Besides providing a physical blessing, Babbitt explained that those blessings extend into the spiritual, as well.

“The real change happens in the lives of the ladies that either find a resource, or a spiritual companion,” Babbitt said.

The church is expecting a bigger turnout this spring, and that means they can use all the help they can get. If you are interested in volunteering for the next oil change, come to the church the day of and they will give you a role to play in the event.

If you can’t make it in person, you can sponsor a single mom for $35.

You don’t have to be a member of the church to volunteer or take advantage of the oil changes. All you have to do is show up, the church says.

The next oil change event date is not set in stone yet, but Babbitt said it will take place again in the fall. When that day is planned out, it will show up on First Baptist Church of Centerville’s website: fbccenterville.org/oil-change.

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