One Breakdown Away: How a Car Can Make or Break the American Dream

Well, I can't afford a car, so I guess we'll just have, we'll just try to find a job.

You know, it's only 3% of employment around here, but we'll do the best. Or are you gonna figure out how to buy a gelopy, right? I hate saying it like that, but buy a car and lift it to the best of your abilities, so that you can have 58% increase, right, and a job opportunity so you can work. You're gonna buy the car, so we're having a vehicle.

It's not a, it's not a, oh, you bought a car just because because you want to.

“You have to, you have to buy the car, or else you're not feeding your family, right?”

Right, and then in the other issues we have is you walk in somewhere, and you need here in the state of Virginia, you need an inspection. Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American Potential. Hey, everyone. Welcome to the American Potential Potcast. I'm your host David from today. We're going to be talking about cars, and engineer Matt is very excited. I'm sure because he's going to love this because as you can see behind him, that only does he like working on cars.

We love talking about them on his podcast, so Matt, you know, when and how did you first get interested in cars?

“Oh, man. I mean, here's the thing. If you get me talking cars, you won't have me shut up, like it's not going to happen.”

I'm going to get to the guest. So, but I started, you know, I didn't grow up in a family working on cars, but it was probably right around when I was 16. I got my first car, and well, I wrecked my first car, and then my mother said, okay, you're buying the next one that you get. So I bought a $800 Jeep, and I had to learn how to work on this thing to do anything with it. I could afford to pay someone to work on it. Every little thing to keep that on the road, I had to do myself. So I really learned it out of a necessity, and then I sort of developed a love for it.

The troubleshooting mindset that you build on your working on cars is something that's really useful in all avenues of life, even if it's not just, you know, wrenching on your car, your daily driver, a beater car, whatever. That's fabulous. You know, I always wish I knew a little more about cars. I picked up enough, you know, to be able to save myself a little money here and there, and to know when someone's trying to scam me, but I love folks who have a deep knowledge of cars, you know, there's so much, there's such a community out there that loves them.

I mean, I guess you wouldn't have your own podcast if they didn't. So I'm excited to talk to our guests coming up in the work that he does. I really am ministry that he has talking, you know, involving cars. So it's going to be fun conversation. I'm looking forward to it. You know, a lot of us don't think twice about our cars. We grab the keys, hop in, run to the grocery store, get to a doctor's appointment, and make it a work. It's just, you know, part of everyday life for most of us, but for some folks on that car breaks down, it's not just an inconvenience. It's a crisis.

If they can't afford the repair bill, they might, they might miss work. And when the job goes, everything else can start to wobble. Our guests today saw that this was happening in his own community, so he stepped up and started on profit that helps people who find themselves in this situation.

And he's not just fixing cars. He's given people second chances by employing folks who need one.

I want to welcome to the podcast, Jason Wells, who is the founder and executive director of Mechanics for Faith in unironically, Mechanicsville, Virginia. Jason, welcome, and thanks for joining us. So we are on the outskirts of Mechanicsville. Actually, we are located in King William County, just right outside of Mechanicsville, Virginia. Biggest capital is would be Richmond for Virginia for those that may not be familiar with Virginia. And we found it in Mechanics of Faith a little over eight years ago, and much to what you just said, you know, I felt the calling to help those with automotive repairs, because it's just such a, such a need.

You know, a lot of folks that are probably listening to your podcasts right now are listening to it in their car and don't think twice about, you know, driving to work, driving to a doctor's appointments. For many of the clients that we work with here at Mechanics of Faith, they're one, they're one car repair away from homelessness. Our cars play such a big part in so many of our lives, and it's such an important lynchman for so many people, especially if you're not in an urban area. That is mass transit, we're, you know, for you to get to your livelihood and all that.

“But before we dive into that, I'd love to hear about, you know, what did you do before you started Mechanics of Faith?”

What did you, you started, you were working in a different field, weren't you?

So I actually graduated high school in 2005 and went directly into the architectural and engineering world, and I designed embassies for the government.

I've done clean room design, I've done HVAC, electrical design, construction design, so basically I did that for 20 years.

And, you know, but I had a passion for cars. You know, I used to chop up motorcycles and build bovers. You know, I used to every car I owned, I used to lower it, put rims on it, modify it, and, you know, it was just a huge passion of mine in school.

“And, you know, it started out just being something where people would bring their cars to me and say, "Hey, I need, you know, can you help me with this?”

I can't afford to get this done." And, yeah, just bring it to me.

Let's, let's, let, I'll help you, no problem. Let's get it done.

And then all of a sudden, I started to feel the calling that there was, there was more purpose to my life than to sit behind a desk and be a designer that, that God had other plans for me. So, when that kind of calling started, I imagine it's kind of creeps up on you, or maybe it was more sudden. But, you know, how, take me to the beginning of the idea and then, as you started to make it a reality, like, how did that progress? Yeah, so, um, I stayed, you know, in the AEC world for a very long time, um, while running or founding mechanics of faith.

I was actually, um, a manager for a manufacturing plant, building the design team, all over the world for them, and traveling and flying.

And so, I would have people drop their cars off at my house, and I'd be like, "Hey, look, when I get back into town, I'll take a look at it."

And, you know, it was just fun, right? It was just something exciting and fun. And, you know, it wasn't anything major, you know, just helping some folks out. Well, one night, uh, my wife and I are sitting on sofa watching TV. And, all of a sudden, there's all these yellow lights coming through the windows. I'm like, "What is going on?" And there were literal, and I live in a neighborhood, okay? Um, you know, you reach out to your neighbor. And there were two tow trucks dropping cars off in my driveway, and my wife was like, "Yeah, this isn't going to work."

“And, you know, I was, I had neighbors, right? I was putting cars in my neighbors, um, driveways, um, because they all love what we had done, right?”

They love what we were, what I was doing, and they understood that I was trying to help people. And that's where it really started to become, okay, this is bigger than Jason, fixing cars. This is, this is, and at the same time too, right? Just taking a step back. At the same time, you know, I had recently just, um, accepted Christ again in my heart. I just got baptized, um, and I was going down the path of, you know, "What is it that you want me to do, God?" Right? It's not about I, it's about he, right? What is it that, that he would have me do? And, um, that's where mechanics of faith began to blossom.

So how did, uh, so you go from, you, you decide to start this, and eventually make it your career, right?

“I guess, how did the word spread, or, you know, how did you kind of start to build it up, so it became the thing that you could pour yourself into?”

Yeah, so, um, you know, it, again, is in my driveway, um, I started a board, um, had a gentleman who, um, Andrew, him and I kind of were heading this whole spearhead and this whole thing, young kid. Um, you know, a couple years younger than me, he was, he was, you know, just finding his faith as well. And, it was like, we just traveled around. We drove, I mean, I, I modified my Nissan versus, so I could put a roof rack on it. That would hold my tools and my, my jack stands and everything. And then it became an issue of, there was too many people that needed help. Um, we, we can't drive to every single person.

So then we started looking for churches that would allow us to work in their parking lot once Saturday a month. So we did that in a gravel parking lot. And so just imagine, you know, a 14 hour day on a Saturday and 105 degree weather, 110 degree weather, um, you know, fixing cars, all changes breaks, CV axles, suspension work, um, two nuts. You know, whatever we could do to keep these folks on the roads. And so then I met a pastor, pastor Lee Mitchell, um, who pulled up from a men's breakfast that was at the church we were at and says, dude, I have a paved parking lot and a tool shed, you can have it.

Um, you know, I go where God takes me. And so again now, keep in mind, I'm still running a massive team, um, you know, in the corporate space, um, at the same time. So we're, we're doing all of this.

“We move over to Henrico County, um, and we go in, you know, we, we renovate the tool shed so that we have an office space and we've got storage space, but we're still in a parking lot.”

And, you know, at the same time, um, a gentleman who, my wife and I were friends with, um, ended up getting incarcerated. Gentlemen by the name of a Joe Banks, um, great guy. And my wife and I, um, or I should say, uh, started pouring into him, um, via the phone, right. So he started. He starts calling me, you know, a first he was embarrassed. And I said, look, man, I still love you. Dude, like everybody makes mistakes. Like it's a good to be okay.

Um, and he, and he isn't recovery, um, he, he was, um, in the recovery program. And he was there for three months, um, I was ministering him over the phone.

“And I kept telling my wife, this, this is it. This is what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to be pouring into people and helping people, right, and using my, my skills and my passion for cars to do it.”

And so I, my wife and I just said, all right, Joe, you're going to come work from mechanics of faith when you get, when you get out of incarceration and you get into a recovery house. And he was like, huh, and I said, yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat, right. I don't know either. And so my wife and I covered his bed fees, um, we helped and get his driver's license back and he began working for mechanics of faith. And then one day he showed up with three more gods from the recovery house. Now I had four individuals in recovery working, um, at mechanics of faith. Well, I wouldn't say working my wife and I were covering bed fees and things like that.

And then we slowly started trying to raise money so that we could afford to grow. We left him right go, um, due to some zoning issues. We ended up in mechanics fill and we just began to get larger and larger. And then finally, um, my, um, company I was working for decided to lay off my entire department, um, and or my entire team and outsource it, um, because of, you know, an expense is better than an overhead. And I told my wife, I said, I'm not going back. I said, I'm done. Um, I'm going full ministry. This is this is what God has called us to do our family to do, right. Keep in mind here. It's my family that's that's been called to do this, not Jason.

And at the same time, all this is going on, Pastor Lee from the church that we went to in the tool shed, right, um, where we set up in a tool shed licensed me as a pastor, um, I went to Liberty for Christian ministry to get my masters. And I just kept going and kept going. And now I'm the lead pastor of redemption house that actually meets inside the shop, um, on Sunday nights. Really, um, and also the founder of mechanics of faith. I actually have a picture and I have a couple pastor friends that have a picture of me, um, in my ordainment when I got ordained inside of the shop. Like there are cars on the lift behind me as I'm being ordained in a couple of my pastor friends.

I've never heard of this like, what the pastor being ordained in a shop. And I'm sure it's happened before, um, but for them, they weren't just like, this is so cool.

Yeah, I mean, kind of lifting up voices, lifting up lives and lifting up cars, I guess.

“So, um, our clients are, you know, you have to, you have to be on, um, food stamps, so medic, uh, Medicaid, um, like, EBT, some sort of government assistance, um, or a part of, uh, you know, an organization that's helping,”

and that's helping, stands you up, right? That's helping you get back on your feet. They can, they can submit a letter, uh, and vouch for you, um, stating that, hey, look, this individual really need some help. We've helped them with our electric bill. We've helped them here. We've helped them out because we understand, you know, my wife's a nurse, um, and again, my wife being a nurse and then I was incorporate, you know, my wife and I did very well for ourselves, um, at the time. But that doesn't mean that you don't get hit with a massive medical bill or, you know, hit with a crisis in your, and your life where, you know, your car breaks down, you got a buy a new car.

And now all of a sudden, your budget's just blown out the water. You don't know what you're going to do. So, you know, there are folks that come in here that some people are like, I can't believe they need help, and I'm like, you know, you don't know their story, right?

We've had some folks that have come in here with some very nice cars, and I've heard people make comments, and I look them right in the face, and that's it.

You might think that Mercedes is nice, but that's also their house, because they, they, they were doing well for themselves. They got laid off. They couldn't find other employment, and now they're living in their cars. We have individuals that sleep in tents and sleep on the side of the road.

I say side of the road, like in the woods, while we're fixing their vehicles, we have domestic violence victims that we help scan their cars for bugs.

We have literally put cars back together for domestic violence victims, so they could, I hate saying it, but flee the country. Do the issues, so we, we do the best that we can with what we have, and we don't, we don't have a lot. I have, I'm not ashamed to say that. I've, I've had to make my own tools. We've had to make do with what we have, because again, everybody sees this as an automotive shop. You know, and unfortunately, automotive shops, people think we have money, and, and we don't, and that's the most uphill battle I have is trying to explain to people that we don't understand.

We sure, we are not financially wealthy, like everybody thinks, automotive shops are. So, when you got to fix your car, I mean, there's obviously labor, but there's also parts that that are expensive. I've paid them all plenty of times for lots of cars.

“How do you, and you, you, you guys, basically, as part of your ministry, you guys pay for the parts also, you absorb all the costs or how do you, what's your model?”

No, so we used to many, many years ago, and then as we grew larger, the need was bigger, right? And it breaks, it all changes things like that, but as we, as we grew larger, the need was so much bigger, we found that, you know, if we were to just offer an affordable rate, understanding that affordable, you know, depending on your situation is a, is a, to it to, to edge sword. So, we, we are affordable, so we, our labor rate is $90 an hour, and also included it, with that $90 an hour, you know, you know, you reimbursed for parts, but we don't have an enormous parts mark up. Our parts mark up just covers a little bit of the software that we need so that we can order our parts, we could do all these things.

And so we are roughly a third the cost of what it would take for a traditional opt-of-function. So for example, you know, we had somebody come in, they had a $9,000 quote for a motor.

We, we did the exact same job for for $3,000. And although $3,000 is still high, you know, those individuals can still, they can, they can work with other charities, other churches and other organizations to get the support.

“You know, $3,000 is a lot easier to go get multiple organizations to support than $9,000, right?”

I, I love that you're in this space because it had been clear to me, I happen to be like, you know, you're there for myself or one of my kids at the courthouse, you know, for a court call for a ticket to challenge it or whatever. And I'm looking around at all the people there, you know, it's a big cattle call, and I'm like, a lot of these people don't have a great command of English, and a lot of them were clearly kind of poor. And I'm just in their own man, this is, this is hard for me to navigate, and that fact that they have to navigate this is difficult, and, you know, if you, more often, if you're somebody who has less job options, you have to be there on time, you can't miss, you don't have a lot of vacation days.

So, you know, the kind of aspects that go to it, that in order to keep your job, which is a linchpin to kind of keep in your life together, there's some degree, you know, the car sometimes is such is, is the essential element, and so often I think government tends to, you know, whether it be, you know, we have emissions, regulations here, and there's other, you know, stipulations, you got to pay for, you know, to the government to be able to use your car, you know, it's a way that a so many people get involved with the criminal justice system that they, you know,

they're stickers expired, or they're planter expired, or they don't have something that's proper, and it puts them in the system, which is so often a way that people kind of really spiral.

“And I imagine that you kind of, you're kind of at the intersection of that, I think you're trying to prevent a lot of that actually, but talk to me about like what you see in that space.”

Yeah, actually, I'm glad you bring that up, David, so just a couple numbers, and these are not Jason numbers, these are legitimate numbers.

If you're using public transportation, your job opportunities are only 3%.

So you only have 3% opportunities for employment within 30 minutes using public transportation, and that same space, okay, that same space. If you have your own vehicle, it's 58% job opportunities. That is massive, okay.

“So when I see, and I go to court with these guys, and I want to talk a little bit about some of the other things we're doing on the back end, that a lot of folks don't realize, right?”

They assume that we're just a shop, but 58% compared to 3%.

Now think about that for a second.

If you have a family of four, okay, and you need to feed your family, are you going to go, well, I can't afford a car, so I guess we'll just have, we'll just try to find a job. You know, it's only 3% of employment around here, but we'll do the best, or are you going to figure out how to buy a gelopy, right? I hate saying it like that, but buy a car and lip it to the best of your abilities, so that you can have 58% increase, right, and a job opportunity so you can work. You're going to buy the car, so having a vehicle, it's not a, it's not a, oh, you bought a car just because because you want to, you have to.

“You have to buy the car, or else you're not feeding your family, right?”

And then the other issues we have is you walk in somewhere, and you need, here in the state of Virginia, you need an inspection, and you fail inspection, and you have a $2500 bill to get your car to pass inspection. How are you going to pass inspection? How are you going to pay for that in 15 days? You have 15 days to pay $2500 to get your car through inspection. Not happening, so you're going to draw a car that's unsafe. You're going to draw a car that you have to drive to get to work, right? That is probably falling apart and dangerous on the road because you don't have $2500, $2500, that's rent. That's gross, that is rent and groceries.

Oh, yeah. I don't have that to fix my car. Like I said, my wife and I did very well for ourselves when I was in corporate, okay? I'm not boasting about that. I'm using it as an example. My wife and I were considered a six figure household income before we made the call to ministry. And I can assure you, if we got hit with a $2500 repair bill, we wouldn't have been able to afford it with a family of five. Yep. So individuals that are single mothers of two or three or four kids cannot afford a $2500 car repair.

Most of the people, I wouldn't even say most, 90% of the people that come through our doors are one car repair away from homelessness. Because it's either fixed my car or pay my rent.

“Yeah. And that's, and that's what I'm trying to get the community to understand and they don't get it.”

Every single customer that comes to our doors, it costs our organization's $60. And we help 1,300, I'm sorry, 1,200 families last year were hoping to help over 2,000 this year, right? But because we're automotive shop, nobody likes us. That's stuff, that's not to be it. So you had some conversations that you've been in some round table discussions with elected leaders. What, you know, what's something that various surprises to hear from when you talk to them?

So I've had conversations with like other nonprofits, individuals that do have higher stakes in the city. I've had the Secretary of Labor has come out and done a tour.

You know, and in the same conversation, it's always the same conversation.

Homelessness at housing is our biggest crisis. And I always, I do this. I sat in a room of 30 nonprofits and a couple other folks that, with, um, I would call it with seniority. And they all say the same thing. Homelessness at housing is our biggest problem. And I literally sit there like this.

And I'm just looking around and I chombed in and I sit gas.

It's transportation. It's having access to a vehicle so you can get to work. That's our biggest problem. 40% of my clients that come through our doors, I guarantee it's 40% or higher.

“Tell me that if I can get my car fixed, then I can afford my bills, right?”

Or I have another portion of people that come to me and say, Jason, you know, I got a $3,000 grant funding from a nonprofit that was supporting me to help pay my rent. But my car broke down a loss of my job and now I'm homeless again. Transportation is the biggest problem. But the hardest problem to solve it is it's so big. Yeah, right? It's not a JROTC bus.

It's not a, you know, um, uh, oobers and lifts. And again, I'm not bashing any of those because we need them, right? We have folks that come in here that have a vehicle that, you know, they love public transportation. And there's, they, they, they only issue they have is they have to go out of town, right, for their, for their job. And when I say out of town, I'm, I'm talking about like out of the county into another county.

But so I'm not bashing anybody, but we, we still have a problem. We're not solving anything. We're just putting a band aid on it. And, you know, I really want to be a part of the solution, you know, and actually solve things. Um, and so that's really what we're trying to do here at Mechanics of Faith, um, you know, so we have, um, oh, excuse me.

So, you know, if, um, somebody comes to us, you know, needing repairs, like I said, that's putting them back on the road. That's giving them job opportunities, that's giving them, you know, I hate saying it's shelter. You know, now they can, they can sleep in their cars. I have to wrap up soon, but I want to hear about some of the stories of the folks that you've hired that work with you.

“Yeah, that's what I, that's what I wanted to make sure we got to.”

So, um, big things are happening here at Mechanics of Faith. So, so we do hire recovery folks. Um, like I had told you, Joe, um, who my wife and I paid his bed fees when he came here. Um, you know, you know, he was a recovery individual, started getting them coming in. Um, and really he was the one that guided me and kind of pushed me into ministry.

Um, as a pastor and to, and to start the church redemption house of prayer. Um, for those seeking, um, of religious journey. And so, from that, right, we hire, um, a lot of individuals who are in recovery. I have to that currently work for me. Um, and we are launching in the next 30 days, an apprenticeship program, where they are going to, you know,

individuals who are second chance, right?

So, so recently, um, out of jail, um, and recovery can come and work at Mechanics of Faith. Um, they can get their ASC accreditation. Um, and basically be a licensed technician to go on to, to make 60 to $100,000 a year, I hope. Um, you know, and that really depends on, you know, where they get their job placement and things like that. And so, we're not just fixing cars, we're also helping individuals, men and women, um, you know, get,

get their feet back under them, right?

“And, and so that's why I try to tell folks like it's not just a shop.”

It's so much more than a shop. And it's also not a shop that although it says Mechanics of Faith, you know, many people will tell you, they come here and had no clue I was a pastor, right? Because we don't, we don't, we don't push religion.

Just like, you know, folks always say, well, like I had one guy that worked for me and he's like, well, why did you invite me to church?

And I'm like, well, because I want you to have a relationship with God. I don't want you to come to church because your boss invited you and you think that if you come to church, you know, you're going to get ahead at Mechanics of Faith or if you don't come to church, you're going to get terminated or something like that. We don't do that, right? We want to be the light.

We want to be the light. We want people to see Christ through our actions to see Christ through what we do every day. That's all we want to do. And we've had five, I'm sorry. We've had seven recovery guys come through Mechanics of Faith, one of which has a great job with the HVAT company.

Another one works at a junkyard, pulling parts and loves it, doing well with life, doing amazing.

Another one didn't even know how to take a tire off his car. When he came here, now he's working at an automotive shop. Just doing great things. So that's the other part that we do here that a lot of people don't see. That's fabulous.

I love to hear the stories. Jason, if someone is listening, I want you to learn more about you and all that.

We're going to go.

“So, you know, check out our website, mechanicsofaith.org or.com, either one.”

So, mechanicsofaith.org, our Facebook page is also linked on our website.

You know, we post videos, we do testimonies. You know, just, you know, any, any Scott there and read about us, man. We're on YouTube.

We have stories on YouTube.

“You know, any support that anybody's willing to give.”

It takes about almost $30,000 a month to keep this place open. Wow. Wow.

Well, God bless you for the work you're doing then.

Your story just personally is so inspiring and cool. And I'm not going to tell that but like the stories of the guys that are working for you and the people that you're ministering to is. It's definitely the Lord's work. I appreciate what you're doing.

Thank you. Thanks for joining us. So, folks, if, if you like this episode and like to stay connected with the podcast, be sure to like and subscribe to our channel as well as follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

“And always remember, liberty and freedom are easily taken for granted. Don't take it for granted.”

Go out there and defend freedom and liberty. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to American Potential. You may listen to more stories from Americans working every day to expand freedom and opportunity in their communities by visiting AmericanPotential.com.