Dear Friends:
The day was Saturday, the Trucker's Appreciation Day part of Trucker's Days Of Jubilee where we have live music and free food for the drivers. As the band, No Turning Back, hit the last note for the night the lightening flashed and the thunder boomed and the thunder continued to roll as we roasted hot dogs over the fire. Within a half hour the rain began and soon turned into a downpour. Rivers started running through the tents as we grabbed the sound equipment moving it away from the outer parts of the main tent. Soon the rivers merged into one big river.

I asked those of you who are on our email list to join me in prayer that God would change the weather for the Jubilee and He did. He held off the rain until the program was over. After the Saturday night washout God stopped the rain until after the Sunday morning service after which we took the tents down and packed up. We then had a picnic lunch outside before the clouds came over and it rained again. God DID control the weather just as we needed. Thank you for praying and please know God really is in control

People enjoying the music and the food.

Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows as we ended the day.

Ending with the washout was a first and there was another first on Saturday as well: We had a lady come who tried to interrupt the service/program and she claimed to be a witch. We do not know if she was but we do know that the devil was trying to use her. She had come up to Debbie and me first and during the conversation as we were answering her questions Debbie asked her, she never told us her name, if she had a Bible. The lady said she did not so Debbie asked her if she would like one and the lady said she would love one. As we continued to talk to her we gave her a New Testament and some tracts along with a CD with someone's testimony. When she left us she ended up in the main tent and tried to interrupt the band before she left. As she left is when she claimed to be a witch. Please pray for this lady, God knows who she is. Pray that she will read the Bible and listen to the CD and that God will touch her heart.

Patrick is a driver who I have asked prayer for a few times. He and his wife are atheists still he contacts me from time to time by email. Each time he has questions. From his questions and statements I can tell that God is working on him. Please pray that his heart, and his wife's heart will be touched by the Lord in such a way that they will see God's truth very clearly. Pray for me as I continue to correspond with him that it will be God through me.

It all started five or six years ago when we here at Steering Wheel Ministries learned that Pilot was building a truck stop in Chemult, Oregon. Immediately we realized that this would be a good place for a trucker's center. When God gave me the vision for Steering Wheel Ministries it included a trucker's center that is to be in an area that is unchurched - that is Chemult. The church that is part of the trucker's center is to be the community church as well. Over the years God kept placing what I thought was a passing thought of moving to Chemult and opening a church and Trucker's Center. Then this past January we knew it was no passing thought when God put it on my heart and it grew instead of being a passing thought that was gone in a few minutes. God confirmed it a month later and again on May 16.

The church that was in Chemult was closed for close to two years when God called us here. It is a denominational church and has been opened and closed different times over the years. I was willing to join that denomination so I could pastor that church. After I was there a month I was informed that they decided they did not want the church to be a part of Steering Wheel Ministries. On top of that they have some man-made rules/politics that I cannot go along with so I talked with my board and they agreed that we had to leave that denomination and stay nondenominational and start a Steering Wheel Ministries church in Chemult that is nondenominational. Sunday, June 12, 2011, was the first service for our new church, Chemult Bible Fellowship. We are meeting in the Mobile Chapel that is parked across the road from the Pilot truck stop. The space and electricity is being donated to us as long as we need it. We are praying and working on finding a building that we can use for the church and that will also be big enough so we can have our living area in back to keep the expenses down.

FYI: Chemult Bible Fellowship, while it is a part of Steering Wheel Ministries is a "stand alone" ministry in that it is funded by the tithe and offering from the small congregation - 10 to 20 people at this time with 50% of the congregation being youth between the ages of 11 and 17. Steering Wheel Ministries, the trucking ministry part, is still where Debbie and I continue to receive 100% of our pay from. The only area where the church and SWM will eventually share is the expense of the building as in the rent and utilities. For now Debbie, Caleb and I are living in our fifth-wheel travel trailer ten miles down the road in an RV park and all our stuff is in storage in Roseburg until we can get a trailer we can store our things in and have it with us in Chemult. Please pray we will have the church building soon so we can not only have a place to meet and live but we can get the Trucker's Center going also.

One thing we know is that the building we get will have a wood stove so we need two chain saws quickly while we can still cut wood before everything dries out and we will not be able to cut. We need twelve cords of wood for next winter which sometimes starts as early as September in Chemult.

I am excited about what I see God already starting to do in Chemult with truck drivers and the people in the community in building them in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Truck drivers are coming over to the church for services, and they will soon be coming over during the week as well.

Just a little about Chemult, OR: It is on Hwy 97 half way between Bend and Klamath Falls - about 70 miles to either place which is where everyone has to go to do any shopping. Chemult has a population of less than 200 people. We are in a spot on Hwy 97 that gets a lot of I-5 truck traffic because a lot of truckers run Highways 97 and 58 so they can save fuel and we are located in the "right" spot on Hwy 97 so we can reach these drivers with the Gospel who were missed until we got here. Chemult is 4,760 ft in elevation and gets down into the minus degrees in the winter—as low as minus 20 with six feet and more of snow on the ground. Every January there are dog sled races with racers (some who have raced in the Iditarod in Alaska) coming to Chemult to race.

For now we will also be maintaining the Roseburg Post Office Box as we complete the move and get everything moved over to Chemult so either address will get your mail to us. (our Chemult address is at the top of this letter.)

Yes, this is a BIG change for us and we do feel that we are really going as missionaries into an area of trucking ministry where we have never been as well as to a community who needs Jesus. The spiritual warfare in the Chemult area is very strong. I know some of the reasons for this and I do not need to know them all because Jesus knows. We are coming against these demonic strongholds in the name of Jesus Christ and by the shed blood of Jesus Christ Who has already won this battle on the Cross and when He rose from the grave three days later. Jesus defeated Satan and his demons so the battle over the Chemult area is broken in Jesus' Name.

Thank you in advance for standing with us in prayer and financially as together we reach the trucking industry for Jesus Christ.

In Christ's service,
Merwin Rhoades
Chaplain/President