By: Mark Yarger
Mustard Seed Beginnings
I started out with a little 8.5 x 11in. sandwich sign to set outside where the truckers came in from the fuel pumps. I advertised a chapel service for 6:00 p.m. on Sunday nights. The truck stop gave us the truckers’ lounge (theater room) to hold a service. It was way in the back of the truck stop, and it was dark. They also supplied us with a storage room. The first night we did not have any truckers. One lady from the community visited because she thought we were a new startup. She was very encouraging and gave me our first donation.
On the second Sunday evening, we had two community Pastors come to help. There was a trucker already in the theatre when I got there. I thought “wow, it is going to be a good night!” Actually, he wasn’t there for the service. He was watching the women’s NCAA Championship game. So, how was I going to turn the TV off to have the service? When he realized what I was doing, he was very pleasant and said, “by all means, turn it off.”
We had a thirty-minute devotional time together. His name is Randy. I prayed with him and we watched the end of the game together. He was my first trucker. I have seen him several times over the last 2 years and we know each other by name. Sunday nights were very slow. It was kind of discouraging, but it seemed like we would always get a couple of good conversations with truckers coming in and out.
My father was a coal truck driver. Other than that, I didn't know much about truckers and even less about Truckstop Ministry. I have always been mission minded, having done my Doctoral project entitled “Leading Churches From an Attraction Based Model of Ministry to a Missional Model." I was a volunteer police chaplain for four police departments over a 10-year period. I also worked part time for Marketplace Chaplain Ministry at Gordon Food Warehouse near Imperial, PA for two years. My last position, before I retired, was the Director of Chaplaincy Services for three nursing homes. So, I had a missional heart, but truckers were something new to me.
Barkeyville, just off Interstate 80 in western Pennsylvania, is a hub of numerous service stations, truck stops and small businesses. A friend who had experience with truck stop ministries informed me that Travel America (TA) Travel Centers are open to truck stop ministries. So, we went to the TA truck stop together and talked to the manager about our idea. The manager was familiar with truck stop ministries and very receptive, but he would have to talk to Corporate. We got the green light, with a few guidelines, and started it in the spring of 2023. I felt so inadequate and questioned myself more than once as to whether this was of the Lord. I contacted every Truck Stop Ministry that I could to get ideas.
I promoted it through the local ministerium, ARC Compass, and visits to area churches who would give me a few minutes out of their morning services. I pursued invitations from churches and local organizations to spread the word of this ministry. Early on, I spoke to at least seven different churches on Sunday mornings about the ministry. Out of those visits, I found several faithful prayer warriors, financial supporters, and some volunteers. In addition, I was invited to the Grove City Ministerial Association. They have given me an open door to their meetings to report updates in their meeting minutes.
About a year in, Chris Navetta, the Director of High-Way Ministries, gave me a call and that became a turning point for our ministry. High-Way Ministries comes under the umbrella ministry of Way of Truth Ministries headquartered in Altoona, PA. We had a very encouraging discussion. He offered to help us connect with their ministry. We accepted and they have been a blessing. They were very open and gave us a lot of resources and guidance.
One of the suggestions he had was to walk the parking lot and talk to truckers at their trucks, invite them to the services, and offer to pray with them. This has become the highlight and most effective aspect of the ministry. We don’t just stay inside and try to do a service, instead, as soon as we get there, we put on a fluorescent vest and walk the lot to each truck. If there’s somebody sitting in the truck at the door window or outside, we approach them.
We do not knock on the doors as it can go against the law to wake anybody up. We have had amazing times as truckers have shut the truck down to hear us. We pray with them through the window of the truck, right there in the parking lot. We give them Bibles if they need one.
We started counting the trucks in the parking lot for several weeks to see what volume of trucks were coming in. I decided to ask the staff when it gets the busiest around the truck stop. They reported midweek evenings get very busy. That is when we decided to move to midweek evenings to do our visit.
In addition, we decided to move out of the dark secluded theatre room and into the restaurant. They gave us access to half of the restaurant where we have tremendous one-on-one conversational ministry with the truckers and staff. The restaurant business is not going well at many truck stops. TA had half of their restaurant blocked off because of lack of business. We advertised it as free coffee, Bible study, conversation, and prayer. It has increased our visibility to truckers immensely. We often have as many as 10 or more in-depth conversations in an evening just in the restaurant. That does not count our parking lot visits before we go to the restaurant.
Every time we meet a trucker we tell them who we are, what we are doing there, and let them know that we appreciate them. We know they have a hard job. Secondly, we let them know that we pray for them in our churches every week for protection. The Christian truckers are very encouraging. They’ve even followed us around the parking lot, trying to give us money and donations for the ministry. We tell the staff we appreciate what they do for truckers, and they are very much appreciated.
The network of supporters has been growing since those little mustard seed beginnings. For example, out of that first ministerial meeting, a representative of the Beloved Disciple Catholic School contacted me to pick up 50 large gift and goodie bags packed by the students for the truckers. They had colored messages on them such as “Thank You Trucker”, scriptures, and personal messages. They filled them with goodies, fruit, toiletries, jerky, devotional materials, etc. We gathered them and delivered them personally to the truckers, as well as the staff. The smiles they put on their faces were just amazing when we told them where they came from. Many of the truckers and staff said, “Nobody has ever done anything like this before!” We handed it to them and told them they’re appreciated and asked if we could pray for them? These bags are great icebreakers and conversation starters.
Currently we have six active chaplains. We had as many as ten at one time. God is really bringing the ministry together and we have a fantastic relationship with all of the staff. Some of them are believers and are really appreciative. They are very helpful and will do anything that we need. Of course, we always have others that need the Lord! The word is getting around in the community and actually there’s another nearby truck stop where it was rumored that they are saying, “why don’t you come over here”? So that’s always good news.
“I just want to start by saying how blessed I was at the ministry and I pray that we were a blessing to others. The conversations we were able to have today, each one, the Lord opened a door of opportunity to share His Word and to be a light to others on a personal level.”
Chaplain Quote
Home Made Apple Cider
The 2026 National Trucker Appreciation Week is September 13-19. It’s on that week that we’ve done our apple cider event for the last two years running, and we’re planning to do it again. Pastor Don Dittman from the Hickory Grove Church of God has an apple press and he brought the apple press out on a Sunday evening. I was able to obtain about 10 bushels of apples, and we had a ‘Blessing of the Trucks’, which was the Christian Motorcycle Association members’ idea!
The second year, the orchard donated all the apples. We made homemade apple cider right there in the parking lot and handed out cider and goodie bags to the truckers. It was fantastic. I even made some jerky and bologna sticks and handed them out. It was a hit! It was pouring down rain, but we handed out Bibles, tracts, and devotional materials. We blessed several trucks and truckers. Our chaplains formed a prayer circle around a trucker who requested he and his truck be blessed.
During one cider event, an elderly gentleman came up to us at the tent for cider. I asked him how long he has been driving truck? He said, “60 years and I’m 80 years old”. I asked, “do you think you’re going to retire soon?” He chuckled and said, “I’ve retired many times, sold my truck, got bored, bought another truck, went out again, drove a while, retired again, then my wife passed away. Got another truck and went out.” He was from South Dakota. He said that this is his last trip, because he has stage four liver cancer. We all talked to him, and then surrounded him, prayed and anointed him with oil right there in the truck stop parking lot, in the pouring down rain. As he left, I took a picture of him walking away carrying a gift bag we gave just to remember to continue to pray for him.
Recently one of the chaplains and I were walking to the parking lot and it was like we were having a revival service. It seemed like every truck that we stopped at and trucker we talked to were born again Christians and very encouraging to what we were doing. We prayed with every one of them and had great conversations. However, two weeks in a row the very last truck that we walked up to responded with the driver waving us off. All I could think of was, “yeah, the Lord keeps me humble.” And that’s OK. We prayed for that trucker anyway!
A Grove City College student, the President of the Student Government, called me this spring. They were looking for a community outreach project. We decided a giftbag event would be a good idea that they could help us with. We met at one of our chaplain’s churches in Grove City on a Saturday morning. Six students came. They were just wonderful, joyful, pleasant young adults! We put together 25 bags. Two of the students came out to the truck stop with us to hand them out to the truckers.
“In December we gave out gift bags to truckers and staff. I had a staff member tell me no one has ever done anything like this. As a result of those Christmas bags, I had a trucker from Texas call me the next day to thank me. We talked for nearly an hour on the phone. One of our chaplains that lives close by went out to the truck stop and met with him another hour. One of the things he told me that stuck with me was “truck driving is ridiculously lonely.”
Chaplain Quote
One morning before my evening truck stop visit my Bible reading plan had me read the first two chapters of Job about his two tests. That evening when I went to the truck stop, I had three conversations with truckers in the restaurant. The first one shared with me about how his father just died. He recently got divorced. His sister stole items from his father after he passed that was to go to him. He could have sued her, but he did not. A second one was a Korean and Vietnam veteran who had experienced terrible things in war. He said he never talks about it. He did share that he lost sons age 25 and 40 due to overdoses. The last trucker I talked to gave an incredible story. He mentioned his first wife was killed on her motorcycle when they went for a ride together. He had numerous serious injuries and surgeries while driving truck. He did remarry and had a wonderful marriage. One last story he shared was about when he hit someone riding a motorcycle while truck driving. Or may I say, someone hit him. It was gruesome, but I won’t elaborate. The investigation of the accident showed what he believed happened, and that was that the person on the motorcycle committed suicide by driving into his truck. It was all caught on his dash cam. I thought it was not just a coincidence that I read the book of Job that morning. I felt like I talked to 3 Jobs that evening. I hope I did better than Job’s counselors.
These stories just go to show how many opportunities there are for the gospel to be spread among these truckers. The loneliness and unappreciation they must feel. Some of them are like sponges, just wanting to talk and to have someone listen to them. Many of them tell me that it is good to talk to people because you're in that truck by yourself all the time. I hope these stories will drive home the importance and the value of this ministry.
There were numerous times that I wanted to quit because of the distance, all of the barriers of managing it, keeping it going each week, and truckers not showing up. The other evening when I came home my wife, Deb, said to me, “When you go to the truck stop you go tired and weary. Then you come home you are always happy and energized, like I am when I play the piano.” It is true how far the Lord has taken me in this ministry in such a brief period of time. That story of the mustard seed is so true!
“It is hard to express the joy and hope that I personally feel when we are able to get out of the building and be the church, to meet people where they are and share the gospel. Many may never step foot into a church building, but this work is a way to follow the example of Christ and take God's Word to the people. I was truly blessed.”
Chaplain Quote
Churches or individuals can get involved in the Truck Stop Ministry and various levels of commitment. We need people that are knowledgeable on how to use social media. You can find our Facebook page here, called Barkeyville TA Chaplain Ministry. That’s where I post updates and events that we’re having. Churches can provide items for the gift bags to give out to the truckers and of course they can give financially through the Allegheny Regional Conference. Most importantly, pray for the truckers and the ministry.
Rev. Dr. Mark Yarger is an ordained pastor, currently serving with the Allegheny Region Conference of the CGGC. Pastor Mark has been licensed since 1986, and is also a graduate of The University of Findlay with a BA degree, Winebrenner Theological Seminary with M.Div and D.Min degrees and retired from traditional ministry in 2022 having served multiple different churches in across the Allegheny and Eastern regions.
CGGC eNews—Vol. 20, No. 28
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