Video: Cheyenne’s Truck Stop Chapel -- A Place Where Truckers Find Peace

Tucked inside an inconspicuous, small building at the Sapp Bros. truck stop in Cheyenne, a chapel holds church services for truck drivers every Sunday and stays open on most weeknights to lend a listening ear. 

It’s called the Coffee Pot Bible Fellowship, a reference to the chapel’s main rule: Always have free coffee ready for drivers and visitors. Chaplain Alan Matie and his wife, Kristi Matie, run the chapel, a branch of Cheyenne’s Faith Baptist Church, the main church they attend.

Alan, a truck driver for more than two decades, and Kristi, a mother who stayed home to raise their children while Alan was on the road, have a unique perspective they bring to running the chapel. They’re not only offering support to drivers. They know what they're going through firsthand. 

Truck driving is a taxing, lonely job, with some truckers turning to drugs, alcohol or other damaging habits to cope, Alan said. At the chapel, drivers can find a path to Jesus or an ear willing to listen to their troubles and guide them back on the right roads.

While it’s hard to estimate how many truck-stop chapels exist in the U.S., there are at least 100,  according to a rough survey of churches run by Truck Stop Ministries, news reports and online trucker travel guides.

On a chilly Easter Sunday morning, the Maties opened up their chapel. They do so whether truck drivers show up or not, and they livestream on Facebook for those who don’t have time to stop. On Easter, no truck drivers stopped in. Still, they kept things running as usual. 

Opening Up 

Each Sunday morning, Alan Matie calls out to truckers rolling through Cheyenne over a CB radio.

“Good morning, drivers. This is a reminder that the chapel will be having services in about 15 minutes, at 8:30 a.m.,” Alan said Easter morning. “We have free coffee and a nice warm building.”

For those parked at the Sapp Bros. gas station, Alan asks a cashier inside the store to announce the service schedule over the station’s public-address system. 

The chapel primarily serves truck drivers and travelers, but a few Cheyenne locals regularly attend services, as well. A musician or two also plays gospel music.  

Alan, who preaches once a month, said sometimes he talks to empty rows of chairs, but some Sundays, as many as 20 people pile into the small mobile home-turned-chapel. The Maties have run the chapel for five years, and according to them, you can’t predict who will show up. 

On Easter, he called on his truck driving experience to preach directly to truck drivers. 

“Truck driving is a lonely road, both physically and spiritually. [You] spend long hours away from family and away from your church, facing dangers on the highways, fatigue, the wind if you're here in Wyoming, and the daily pressures of delivering the load on time,” Alan spoke from a lectern. “Maybe you've seen more sunrises in your mirrors than most people see in their entire lifetimes, but I want to tell you something this Easter morning: you're not alone.”

Alan spoke to people already involved in their own churches, but also those who might feel like they don’t belong in church.

“Maybe today you feel like you've been driving through life, and you've got a load of guilt, shame and doubt… Maybe you've been running hard, trying to fill that emptiness, trying to put in more miles, music, or even substances that you shouldn't be using anything to keep your mind off of the silence,” Alan said.

He reminded drivers that Jesus drives with them. 

The Maties keep the chapel running throughout the week. Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings, plus Wednesday through Friday evenings. They often run into people needing a listening ear or advice. 

Trucker Struggles

Truck driving is lonely. Many drivers don’t have a mentor who can tell them if they’re going down a bad path, whether that’s overworking themselves, relying on drugs to keep going, or habits they pick up off the internet, like pornography or digital gambling, the Maties said.

Substance use is understudied and underreported among truck drivers, but an international study in 2019 found 21.3% of truck drivers used amphetamines, and 2.2% used cocaine. In 2022, drug violations among commercial drivers grew 18% from 2021, according to data from the federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. That included refusals to take tests, as well as violations.

On the other hand, the mental toll of being a professional driver has been well documented, but it rarely makes national headlines. Trucker chapels offer a place to speak openly about these struggles.

Alan either witnessed the mental toll and habits firsthand as a driver, or the Maties have truck drivers stop in and tell them what they’re struggling with.

“If it's something that can make people feel, or I guess, in some cases, not feel like themselves for a little while, it's probably an issue more in truck driving than you'd see it in a regular day to day, where there's a lot more social interaction,” Kristi said. 

The expectations of a truck driver can push a person to the brink. While there are mandated breaks and maximum hours a driver can drive, most of them get paid by the mile, Alan said.

“When you're doing a life like this, you've got a dispatcher who is constantly getting on you because you're running behind,” Alan said. “You drove 11 hours yesterday, but you only made it 450 miles. Why aren't you driving faster? Whatever the case may be, a lot of drivers will start leaning toward other sources for some energy to stay awake longer.”

While it’s often up to the driver to get help, the Maties stand by as a listening ear and try to give advice, sometimes spiritual and sometimes not. At times, though, they can make a real intervention. 

Once, a driver stopped in to ask Matie if he should continue driving during a high wind warning before the highway was closed. The driver said he had a light load, and Alan told him to park his truck.

“He said, “Well, my dispatcher is going to yell at me.” And I said, “Well, your dispatcher is not the one behind the wheel of that truck, and your dispatcher is not the one that's going to die if that truck flips over in the wind,” Alan said. 

Full Circle

About three decades ago, Alan was driving from California to Pennsylvania after leaving the Marine Corps. His truck broke down at the same Sapp Bros. truck stop that is now home to the Coffee Pot Bible Fellowship. 

When Alan stopped in the store for a candy bar and Pepsi, he walked right by Kristi, who was working there at the time. When he went out to start his truck, it wouldn’t start. That kept him in Cheyenne for a bit while his truck was getting fixed up. During that time, Kristi helped Alan out. 

“By the time I got my truck running, I'd been offered a job here. We'd actually started seeing each other by that time,” Alan said. 

“The odds of two people meeting at a truck stop and being ok 30 plus years later is probably not statistically high,” Kristi said.

They both laughed, adding they’ve been inseparable since.

While they didn’t expect to come full circle, they figured, “God’s got a plan,” they said. 

Alan, who often attended truck stop chapels when he drove long routes, thinks it’s his purpose to pay it forward for the support he received on the road. 

“Basically, just to be an encouragement to fellow drivers to give spiritual leadership,” he said. “Even if they don't totally agree with everything that I agree with. Even if I don't agree with them. Just to give some encouragement.”