Big big rigs

Wide open highway is wide open opportunity | Andrée Seu

Hector Mata/AFP Photo/NewsCom

Mario walked into the Wilco-Hess Travel Plaza at exit 77 on Interstate 81 north of Harrisburg, Pa., spent all his money gambling, and now was going to commit suicide. He spotted the big trailer with the words "MOBILE CHAPEL" emblazoned across it and couldn't move. "I felt like I had cement in my boots," he told the other drivers. Mario—­former "special services" marine, former L.A. gang member, victim of child abuse, and man whose marriage was in the process of imploding—went up to the reconverted 18-wheeler, where David Hershey happened to be the on-duty volunteer chaplain. After the worship service Hershey took Mario to the back room and led him to the Lord.

Besides sometimes manning the chapel, David Hershey, who got saved in the same kind of divine ambush on a truck lot, has built his own studio, out of pocket, where he produces CDs and DVDs of personal testimonies by the hundreds and goes wherever the Spirit leads him. And the Spirit often leads him to Johnstown, Pa., where he sets up a tent and hands out his wares, along with food. Mario often accompanies him.