Speed the Light Provides Beat-Up Car to Missionary

It’s not every day that Speed the Light (STL), the youth missions program that provides transportation and creative communication resources for missionaries, receives a request for the oldest, most beat-up vehicle to help a missionary in their field. But this was the case for missionaries Mike and Becky McGee.

In 2010, intense cartel wars broke out in Mexico along the Southern border of Texas — the same area where Mike and Becky were ministering.

“Cars were burning in the streets, buses burning downtown, and semi-trucks were overturned and burning on highways,” Mike McGee says. “All the mayors abandoned their jobs. All the policemen vanished — some were beheaded, while others fled to different cities. The danger was a 10 on a 1-to-10 scale.”

During the midst of these cartel wars, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to McGee, telling him to visit all their churches along the border to “supply them with food, Light for the Lost literature, Bibles, and to pray and anoint them with oil.”

McGee and his team were willing and eager to obey the Spirit’s leading; however, a newer STL vehicle would have brought dangerous attention to themselves.

To protect the lives of his family and team, McGee asked for an old, run-down STL vehicle. He explained that anything newer or nicer would likely result in the vehicle being stolen by the cartel. So, it was necessary to get the oldest, junkiest car to reduce that risk.

Fulfilling their request, STL provided the McGees with a 2000 Toyota Camry that was missing a hub cap, dented in on one side, and simply “useless” to the natural eye.

Since the cartel wars have cooled, STL has also provided the McGees with a late-model Ford Expedition. They use this vehicle, in addition to their STL trailer and Toyota Camry, to do outreaches for numerous communities.

“Speed the Light has put wind in our sails to complete the construction of 63 churches, three Bible schools, plant dozens of churches, and constantly practice transformational compassion ministries,” McGee says. “This includes ministering to the poor, orphans, elderly, unwed mothers, refugees from Central America, as well as the mass distribution of wheelchairs.”

A significant part of their ministry is to also provide kitchens, including kitchen equipment, to low-income schools. This has opened doors for the McGees to host evangelistic school assemblies and programs where they have permission to share the gospel. This means the gospel message is preached directly to students, resulting in hundreds of students and teachers accepting Jesus as their Savior.

Over the course of their 35 years of missionary service, Mike and Becky have been blessed with over $200,000 of STL equipment, and have seen over 100,000 people make decisions for Christ.

“Speed the Light has been our most indispensable asset to our ministry, [and] has been by our side constantly,” Mike McGee says. “No one ever rides in my vehicle without saying, ‘Thank God for Speed the Light!’”

 Photo courtesy of Mike McGee. The vehicle pictured is the 2015 Ford Expedition Speed the Light provided. The crosses represent churches they have built. The hands, hearts, and other symbols on the trailer represent the Transformational Crusades and outreaches they put on. 

AG Youth Ministries