Commerce City – A bitter chill rapped at the windows, and snowflakes, broad and heavy, fell onto the pavement, but the seven faithful inside John Mitchell’s tiny chapel hardly seemed to care.
This was Easter morning, and they were happy just to be there.
“It’s important to come to a service every Sunday,” said Warren Johnson, “but Easter Sunday is especially important.”
Despite the cancellation of two of the metro area’s biggest Easter services because of the weather – the sunrise services at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Cherry Creek State Park – thousands of people across Colorado ventured out onto wet and slick roads to attend services.
More than 3,000 sat in the snow at Coors Amphitheatre for the Cherry Hills Community Church’s service there. Nearly 600 people crowded into Calvary Baptist Church in Denver on Sunday morning for services, while nearly 700 more logged on to the church’s webcast of the event, church spokeswoman Jackie Howard said.
In Colorado Springs, Colorado Episcopal Bishop Rob O’Neill presided over a service on the Colorado College campus for those members of Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish who have chosen to remain loyal to the diocese, while hundreds of others attended services at Grace Church for those who have split from the diocese.
“It was a great celebration,” said church member Timothy Fuller, who is loyal to the diocese. “I think people actually felt at home, even though they were displaced.”
Perhaps the most humble service of the day, though, took place in Mitchell’s little chapel, a renovated semitrailer parked at a truck stop in Commerce City. It seats only 19 people, and if Mitchell were to stand in the middle and stretch his arms outward, his fingers would almost touch both wood-paneled sides.
Easter morning, this is where five burly men – hundreds of miles from home and strangers to one another – found a congregation.
“It’s nice to be able to be with other people who share the same beliefs you do,” said Dale Hazen, a truck driver from Canton, Ohio.
Mitchell’s chapel is one of 31 Transport for Christ chapels stationed at truck stops across the United States and Canada. For Mitchell, a retired truck driver, the ministry is a chance to serve those who often go overlooked.
“It’s such a needed thing for the drivers because they’re more or less trapped in their trucks,” he said.
For the drivers, the church is a place that will accept them as they are and provide them a little consistency on trips crisscrossing the country.
“I was trying to be home for church tonight,” said Johnson, a truck driver from Goshen, Ind. “But I had some problems earlier in the week, and I didn’t get out of here as early as I wanted to.”
On Sunday, along with Mitchell and his wife, Edra, the five truck drivers sang favorite hymns like “Amazing Grace” and “The Old Rugged Cross.” When the group goofed up a song, Mitchell would stop them and start the verse over.
When Mitchell led the drivers in prayer, the men would bow their heads and shut their eyes tightly.
“We pray that Jesus Christ would watch over all the drivers out here and keep them safe,” Mitchell said during one prayer. “I just ask you, Lord, that you put your hedge of protection around the drivers who are here today.”
When the services ended, the men chatted for a bit, then dispersed, back to their trucks and the road. For the truck drivers, it wasn’t the grandest of services, but it was enough.
“Just a little place like this,” said Lotus Schwartz, a truck driver from Minnesota, “gives a fella the chance to thank the Lord for what he has.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
