A woman who lived in North Carolina
was desperate to see her children. She was divorced, and her husband had
custody of their children. He was living in Philadelphia, and a truck driver
offered to take her to visit her children. It isn't legal for a commercial
trucker working for a company to take a rider, but it soon became clear that
this driver wasn't concerned with legalities. Instead of taking her to Philly,
he took her to the Wilco Travel Plaza near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and kept
her against her will with the aim of taking advantage of her.
After three days, he left the woman alone
in his cab while he went into the restaurant. The woman spotted the Transport for Christ mobile chapel on the site and made a dash for it. The chaplain
greeted her, and when the driver tried to follow but was turned away at the
door. The chaplain called the police, but the woman refused to press charges. She
did need a way back home. It just so happened that a Christian woman trucker stopped
by the chapel then. It just so happened that her route went through North Carolina,
where the other woman needed to go. The driver called her company and was given
permission to take the woman home. (Considering that only 5% of truck drivers
are women, the odds of a woman trucker with a route through North Carolina
being in the chapel at that particular time are rather... low.)
I used the phrase "It just so
happened" a couple of times in the previous paragraph, but really I don't
think coincidence was involved. I believe that God has placed the Transport for
Christ mobile chapel at this truck stop quite intentionally, and the chapel has
been serving truckers and others in need at this truck stop since 1986. I'm not
the only one who thinks so. Chaplain Chris, who told us the story, has even
more reason to believe that God has His purposes at work in this place.
The chapel at the Wilco Travel Plaza
is one of 39 Transport for Christ "mobile" chapels located at truck
stops throughout the United States; there are 50 throughout the world. The
ministry began in Canada, but the organization now has its headquarters in
Marietta, Pennsylvania. The organization's stated mission is "To lead
truck drivers as well as the trucking community to Jesus Christ and help them
grow in their faith."
When the ministry began in 1951, the
chapels were truly mobile. A chaplain would drive his chapel trailer from one
truck stop to the next and relied on word of mouth -- and eventually CB radios --
to convey the information. Eventually, Transport for Christ decided that
permanent sites for the chapels would be more effective.
An incident like the one mentioned
above is, of course, not the norm; but it certainly isn't the only time a
chaplain in a Transport for Christ chapel has been called on in an emergency.
Last week Mindy and I had the opportunity to talk to a number of chaplains, and
we heard about a number of times they'd served in times of need. There were a
number of stories of drivers who'd reached the end of the line and were without
hope. Chaplains were able to dissuade them from taking their lives and then directed
them to proper counseling. (Chaplain Chris is completing his Master's in Counseling
though most of the volunteer chaplains have only had the basic training
provided by Transport for Christ. Most of them do have years of experience in
the trucking industry.) Truckers in crisis make up a small portion of visits to
the chapel, but they are a major reason why many truck stops are happy to have
a chapel on site.
Chaplains are in a unique position
to observe a truck stop. They have been instructed to look for signs of trafficking of minors and to report such things to the proper authorities. Many truck stops
have noticed that prostitution decreases when a chapel is present.
But the greatest problem faced by
most drivers is loneliness. Spending weeks on the road can be quite stressful
for many drivers. All that time on the road can also be difficult for marriages
and family life. Truckers often come into the trailer to chat with a chaplain,
but they rarely begin a conversation with the things that truly bother them. Chaplain
Chris said a driver will often come in and chat for a half an hour or more
before mentioning their real problems, but then they often will pour out their
souls.
Truckers often come in to get reading
materials for the road. At the Wilco site, the Southern Baptist publisher LifeWay
provides Bibles to give to drivers. (Chris said that in a recent Bible drive,
they were given a number of pink Bibles. Chris was not pleased, and wondered
how he could ever give away those Bibles, given the low percentage of women
drivers. The very next driver who came in was thrilled by the pink Bibles and
asked if he could have one for his daughter.) They also have daily devotionals
such as Our Daily Bread as well as Bible studies and sermon CDs available in the chapel and at
kiosks in the truck stop.
Transport for Christ has been
looking for ways to care for other needs of truckers. In 2007 the organization
launched a website called Driver's Wellness to help with health needs. The
organization is looking into the possibility of providing basic health care at
truck stops as well.
Another central ministry of
Transport for Christ is the weekly worship services. Mindy and I decided we
wanted to worship at the chapel at Wilco Travel Plaza (we had chatted with
chaplains at another location, the Flying J Travel Plaza near Frystown, as
well). We arrived for the 11:00 am worship service. Chaplain Chris met us, and
we began to chat. And waited for drivers to come to worship. We chatted. And
waited. Chatted some more. Waited some more. But no one came, so Mindy and I
decided to come back for the 7:00 pm service.
I walked around the lot with
Chaplain Chris before the evening service. He shook hands with truckers walking
around the lot or sitting in their driver's seats (he says he wouldn't want to
risk knocking on a cab and waking a trucker). "Hi! I'm Chaplain Chris, and
I just wanted to let you know we're having a worship service at the chapel by
the McDonalds at 7:00 pm."
Unfortunately, weather has a big
impact on service attendance. And it was
a very rainy day. No drivers showed up for the evening service. Chris told us
this was unusual. They often have seven or eight truckers at the Sunday service,
and if attendance at the morning service was good, Chaplain Chris will
sometimes show a Christian movie he thinks the drivers will like that will also
help them.
Jesus said, "When two or three
are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20), so we
sang choruses and hymns with their downloaded accompaniments. Chaplain Chris
asked, as he would in any other worship service, for prayer requests. (Not only
do they pray for the requests during the service, but chaplains pray for
written requests throughout the week.)
After we prayed together, Chris gave
a message about testifying for Christ. When he finished preaching, as he says
he often does, he told us his testimony. He'd spent years in the trucking
industry, first as a trucker and eventually as a Vice President for a trucking
company. About nine years ago, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Surgery
saved his life, but seizures that were the result ended his career. But he
considers that tumor a blessing from God because it led him from trucking into
ministry.
Through his chapel ministry, Chris
met a trucker who wanted to grow in his relationship with Christ. They began
daily Bible studies on the phone. The driver follows up those phone calls by
sharing what he's learned with his wife as they discuss the same passage of
Scripture. The driver calls Chris back with his wife's questions about that
same Bible passage. Their conversations cover the country, just as, by God's
grace, Transport for Christ has been. As the motto on the side of the trucks
says, Transport for Christ is "Sharing a dynamic gospel with a dynamic
industry."
Statistics
Service Length: 1 hour 19 minutes
Sermon Length: 1 hour (but we interrupted it a few times)
Visitor Treatment: Every time
we entered a mobile chapel, the chaplain acknowledged us and engaged us in
conversation.
Followup by Tuesday Morning:
none We got a text from Chaplain Chris on Thursday morning making sure we'd arrived safely at our next destination and that we'd gotten the information we needed for this post.
Our Exact Count: 3
Snacks: coffee maker (and we
had dinner with Chris at the Perkins restaurant before the evening service)
Musicians: all the internet
has to offer (we sang along with downloaded videos)
Songs: "How Deep the Father's Love"
"Let me See Thy Face and Die"
"The Old Rugged Cross"
Miles to church: 15 feet
Miles from start: 14,620
Total 2016 Miles: 14,323
Church website: http://www.transportforchrist.org/
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