WHITSETT, N.C. -- At 6:30 p.m. Friday, Chaplain Tony Pierzchala makes the rounds at the TA Travel Center in Whitsett.
Knocking on big-rig doors, handing out copies of "Highway News and Good News," he invites each driver and passenger he can find to the Mobile Chapel. He does this each day before Bible study and worship services held inside the trailer-turned-church parked beneath the TA sign at exit 138.
He's got his pitch down to about 15 seconds. A knock, a smile, and the delivery: "I'm from the chapel. We're having 7-o'clock Bible study. We'd be honored if you could make it." Then he hands them a copy of the Christian publication through their open window and is on his way to the next cab.
Most nod politely and thank him and seem grateful for new reading material.
"The average driver is on the road for a month and only home a few days. They're away from church and Christian fellowship," Pierzchala says. "My job: I'm a cheerleader for them. I just encourage them. I tell them God loves them."
The Mobile Chapel in Whitsett is one of a network of chapels in 45 states, Canada, Africa and Russia run by Transport for Christ. TFC was founded in Canada in 1951 with the mission of ministering to truck drivers.
There are 3.5 million truck drivers on America's highways. The transient life of a long-haul trucker brings its own particular woes: loneliness, broken families (truckers have the highest divorce rate outside of the military), disconnection, lack of community.
Pierzchala and other chaplains in Whitsett feel called to be an ear when needed, and to minister and inspire.
"It's a lonely life," Pierzchala said. "Truck stops can be dark places. We deal with issues churches won't see."
Some of those issues include homeless populations seeking shelter along the interstate, truck lots being targets for prostitution, and alertness for signs of human trafficking.
The Whitsett chapel gives away many Bibles, as well as circulating TFC publications and religious recordings for listening while driving.
At Friday's session. Louisianan driver John Fondo stops in for fellowship. It was his second visit to a Mobile Chapel.
The chapel seats about 15, but services are attended by varying numbers of drivers.
Seated at a table with Pierzchala and the chaplain's wife, Rose Pierzchala, Fondo asks for prayers for his daughter. The study session begins with that prayer then turns to the Gospel of Mark for the account of Jesus's transfiguration. Discussion turns to what that means for Christians: the call to believe, that the kingdom of God is found in faithful and loving hearts. It's an informal, come-as-you-are atmosphere.
"I think Bible study stays with people longer," Pierzchala said. "Sometimes you hear a sermon and it just goes in and then it's over."
Services and discussions are intentionally non-denominational -- part of TFC's platform -- sticking to universal tenets of Christianity.
Pierzchala ("a good Southern name," he jokes) lived most of his life in Buffalo, N.Y., as a steel worker. When that fell through, he worked a variety of jobs before becoming a school bus driver. That led him to trucking. The trucking job brought him to the Greensboro area in the 1990s.
He began volunteering with the Mobile Chapel and eventually became head chaplain six years ago. Pierzchala was raised Catholic and later became a Pentecostal. He is an avid student of religion.
"People call me preacher. I say, 'Preacher? I don't marry you or bury you,'" Pierzchala said, laughing.
The chapel is always seeking volunteers to run study sessions and minister to truckers. Currently, Larry Turner, Howard Hill, Phil White and Steve Jansen also serve there.
"Our function is to make more disciples," Pierzchala said.
A number of local churches support the chapel. They help fund operations and supply the chapel with materials.
National on 07/04/2015