Gifts for the Nations Restores Tractor for African Farmers
A ministry at Tyro Christian Church restored a Farmall tractor and plow to help farmers in northern Africa prepare fields and grow more food. The project grew out of Gifts for the Nations, a ministry started by Jerry and Debbie Cramer to provide supplies locally and internationally.
- Gifts for the Nations began as a ministry to provide practical supplies locally and around the world.
- A team at Tyro Christian Church restored a second Farmall tractor and a plow for farmers in northern Africa.
- David Bycroft said the tractor’s true beauty is in what it will help people accomplish.
By Jennifer Taylor
How Gifts for the Nations Began
Several years ago, Jerry and Debbie Cramer, members at Tyro (Kansas) Christian Church, began Gifts for the Nations, a ministry dedicated to providing medical equipment, educational material, clothes, bedding, and other supplies locally and internationally.
“They began working with missionaries in northern Africa,” says David Bycroft, Tyro Christian’s evangelist. “When they learned the farmers there were using cow bones as hoes to prepare fields for planting, they wanted to send a tractor.”
Jerry and a small team restored the first tractor and partnered with FAME (Indianapolis, Indiana) to ship it to an African village. The team bought additional tractors for parts, received some as donations, and worked together to restore a second one.
A Restored Tractor and Plow
Trial and error and a few more junk parts created a plow; the men sandblasted and painted both so they looked new.
“When we were done, I knew that little ‘Farmall A’ looked better than when it first rolled off the assembly line,” Bycroft says. “But the true beauty is what they will accomplish—helping more people grow more food.”
If you are interested in tackling a similar project, contact Bycroft at da****@***********an.org for more information.
Jennifer Taylor, one of Christian Standard’s contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Read her blog at www.christianstandard.com.
Is your church leading innovative ministry? Send a brief description and contact info to bu**@*********ub.com.
I read about your project in one of my farm magazines and think that what you are doing is a great thing to help people and spread God’s word.