A Ministry for Professional Drivers

Rev. Jim Keys founded Transport for Christ in 1951 with the goal of reaching professional drivers with the message of Jesus Christ. Jim gathered a team to travel throughout Ontario, where they ministered to drivers stopped along the highway. In time, they moved out of a car into a small modified step van that allowed drivers to visit with the team in private.

The mission expanded when large trucking companies gave chaplains time to present safety meetings at the terminals to reduce insurance rates. TFC leadership started to modify rigs to hold chapel services alongside the safety meetings. The first mobile chapel was commissioned in 1968.

As drivers from United States connected with TFC’s chaplains, they encouraged the ministry to spread south. Chaplains took tours of duty across North America, and an average of 120 truck drivers came to faith in Christ each year.

Robert Thompson, a truck stop owner near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania persuaded TFC to park a chapel permanently at his plaza in 1986. At that location, 150 drivers professed faith in Christ the first year. This move changed the way TFC did ministry. Christ-following truck stop owners and others who observed the decline in prostitution and crime at the truck stops requested a chapel and a chaplain team. In time, up to 42 truck stop locations across Canada and the US had chapels or held worship and Bible study in driver’s lounge.

Early in the ministry (1957), Rev. Keys created a mimeographed handout about the ministry, called The Highway Evangelist. This paper grew into a newsprint magazine entitled, Highway News and Good News. The magazine includes features of interest to drivers, including photos of antique trucks, Christian life features, and driver health. Each month, nearly 16,000 magazines are distributed by chaplains at truck stops and many volunteers take them to trucking companies or businesses used by truck drivers.

Truck drivers operate in most countries in the world, and Christ-followers around the world have contacted TFC to explore developing ministry to truck drivers. TFC partners with national ministries in Russia, Zambia, Paraguay, Tanzania and Brazil.

In 2010, TFC launched Exit 58 to raise awareness with drivers to the injustice of  human trafficking. Based on Isaiah 58:6, TFC and its chaplains help drivers repent of pornography use and point them toward resources to break the addiction. TFC also joined forces with Truckers Against Trafficking. Chaplains are regularly given training to watch for evidence of transporting men and women of all ages for labor and sex slavery, and chaplains also make drivers aware of the issue and instruct them where to report trafficking. TFC chaplains have played a part in several rescues.

In 2019, Transport for Christ rebranded as TFC Global, positioning the ministry to expand into several programs that will reach a greater community and provide a higher standard of care to the trucking industry.  TFC has also extended its global reach to include a ministry in Paraguay, South America.