Sunday, March 1, 1998

Truck-stop chaplains are good buddies to truckers

By Jim Jones / Knight Ridder Newspapers

WILLS POINT, Texas -- It was raining and cold last weekend when I took a break at the massive Rip Griffin's Truck Stop on Interstate 20 near Wills Point in East Texas.

After eating a sumptuous breakfast of eggs, biscuits and gravy, I heard a woman announce over the public address system: "Church services at 9 a.m. in the truckers' lounge. All are welcome."

Truck drivers sitting in booths near me using the telephone didn't stampede to the church services. But I decided to attend.

At the trucker's lounge, Charles Clair, 55, dressed in a black suit and black tie, handed me a Bible and a song book titled, "Heavenly Highway Hymns."

A half-dozen of us sang old-time favorites "I'll Fly Away" and "Victory in Jesus" before Clair delivered a no-holds-barred sermon about the need for all of God's creatures to repent in order to escape hell.

"We are all sinners," Clair preached. "Unless we have Jesus as our Savior, we will die as a sinner."

Clair said later that truck drivers away from home face all sorts of temptations, such as sex, drugs and pornography.

He is among scores of truck-stop chaplains across the nation. He decided to volunteer when his church, Turner Baptist Church near Wills Point, began a program aimed at truckers.

Besides holding worship services, the chaplains counsel one-on-one with drivers and hand out tracts, free Bibles and taped sermons. Some ministries have toll-free telephone lines that truckers can call for prayer or counseling.

One trucker at the Rip Griffin's service said drivers have a dangerous job and need guidance from a higher power.

"I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for God," said Billy Mudd of Victoria, who believes divine forces have taken him through snowbound roads and other difficult situations.

One of the larger programs is operated by Joe "Holy Roller" Hunter of Atlanta, president of Truckstop Ministries Inc. The organization sponsors chapel services in 42 truck stops in 17 states.

Hunter, 50, and his wife, Jan, began sharing their faith with truckers 17 years ago after he professed Christianity after narrowly escaping from a wreck in which his rig was destroyed.

"I realized I was only a heartbeat away from death," Hunter said.

One of his Texas chapels is at the Petro Truck Stop on Interstate 20 in Weatherford. A sign above the chapel in a parked semi declares: "Truck Stop Ministries. Reaching the Truckers of the World with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

No longer a trucker, Hunter works full time seeking support for his ministry, which has a toll-free number, (800) 248-8662.

Truckers call for counseling about broken marriages, financial difficulties and other stresses, Hunter said. Three weeks ago a trucker called from Texas threatening suicide. Ed Wiese of Millsap, Texas, the volunteer chaplain at the Weatherford truck stop, was able to contact the trucker before he took his life, Hunter said.

"We need people in the truck stops seven days a week," Hunter said. He's trying to raise money to hire Wiese full time.

About 13,000 truckers attended chapel services in truck stops operated by Hunter's ministries last year. But many truckers are too proud to attend, Hunter said. "I know from experience. That's the way I was," he said.

His chaplains spend much of their time walking from truck to truck visiting with drivers and offering any help possible.

Even larger than Hunter's ministry is the Christian Truckers Chapel Ministries in Dayton, Ohio. It is affiliated with about 100 truck stops; its toll-free line is (800) 545-7600. Transports for Christ International, in Denver, Pa., operates chapels in 20 U.S. truck stops and two in Moscow.

All the trucker ministries, large and small, work together.

"We don't have any rivalries," Hunter said. "We've got a big job to do, and it takes everybody and his brother to get it done."

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(Jim Jones is religion editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Write to him at: the Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, TX 76101.)

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(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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