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      TRUCKER CHURCHES

TRUCKER CHURCHES

HISTORY

Prior to the emergence of the trucking industry in the late nineteenth century, most freight was shipped by rail. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

The early trucking industry consisted largely of independent truckers with a single vehicle.

After World War I, trucks began to emerge as one of the leading methods of commercial transportation.

In the mid-1950s work on the national Interstate Highway System began. The number of commercial long-distance truckers began to increase rapidly. The pool of men on the road for extended periods increased commensurately.

Between 1975 and 2000 the number of truck drivers increased from about 1,500,000 to 3,000,000

Trucking has been an almost exclusively male occupation through its history.
     Life as a trucker is difficult, low paying, and risky
     Truckers have developed their own distinctive subculture
     Truckers have had variable positive (highway heroes, hard working, cowboys, free spirited,
     rebels) and negative public images (male chauvinists, serial killers, alcohol and drug users,
     johns for prostitutes)

As the trucker population has grown, various religious groups have evangelized truckers.
     Most truckers are nominally Christian
     Males are under-represented in congregations
     Truckers face challenges in attending churches

During the 1950s that the first Trucker Churches began to appear.
     Transport for Christ was founded in 1951 by trucker Jim Keyes
     The Bible study group that became Truckstop Ministries was founded in 1981 by former
     trucker Joe Hunter.

MYTH AND RITUAL

Trucker Churches typically profess conservative Christian doctrine (trinitarianism; the virgin birth; the death, resurrection, and return of Christ; the Bible as infallible and authoritative; salvation only through repentance, baptism, and the acknowledgment of Christ as the savior of mankind).

Some churches also teach a belief in a divine governance which dictates numerous aspects of the lives of human beings, including their occupations, asserting that to work as a trucker is to fulfill one's heavenly-prescribed vocation.

Trucker Churches emphasize evangelization, based on the Bible verse Luke 14:23: “And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”

Trucker churches do not evangelize aggressively.

Most individual trucker church services are small.

ORGANIZATION

Truck stops became more numerous and important as commercial, long distance trucking increased. A range of services clustered (rest accommodations, food, fuel, socializing) in and around these truck stops.

There are three types of Trucker Churches
     Mobile (Bunny and Blonnie Gregory's “Trucking for Jesus”)
     Stationary (Transport for Christ Chapels)
     Established church ministries (West-Plex Church Community Church)

Trucker Churches operate non-denominationally

Trucker Churches often have been founded by former truckers who have experienced the life and know the culture.

Truckstop Ministries, Inc. was founded by former trucker Reverend Joe Hunter in 1981. Hunter, who was born in Georgia, dropped out of high school at the age of fourteen and was drafted into the Vietnam War five years later. Upon his return, having had limited formal education, he took a job as a trucker. Hunter quickly fell into a lifestyle of alcohol and drug abuse, which, he reports continued until he attended a church service near his home town. During the sermon, he remembers feeling an overwhelming sense of remorse for his self-destructive behaviors.

Common Characteristics

     Services often begin with music, praise songs and hymns.
     There is a sermon that is often short and oriented toward the trucker culture.
     Prayer requests are taken and filled.
     Church services are informal and casual in dress and atmosphere.
     Mobile church services are more opportunistic.
     Trucker Churches do not seek offerings, and in fact often assist drivers by covering food,
     transportation, laundry, and overnight expenses.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

Physical and emotional costs of maintaining a ministry
Limited financial resources
Ambivalence among truckers
Criticism from established churches