The Front Seat Pastor: How Being an Uber Driver Shares Hope Through Rideshare Ministry
Creating a mobile chaplaincy in my city
When COVID-19 shut down Nashville in 2020, the city faced an unusual crisis: a severe shortage of rideshare drivers. Essential workers couldn’t get to their jobs. Healthcare professionals struggled to reach hospitals. The city’s circulatory system was failing.
As a pastor, I saw an opportunity to serve in a way I’d never imagined. Since my office hours went to zero, what if my vehicle could become a rolling chaplaincy? What if the front seat could become a confessional, a counseling office, a place of service and encounter between the sacred and the everyday?
Even though burdened with wearing a mask and wiping down my backseat after every ride, I signed up to drive.
The Glitch and the Calling
When my wife Hayley and I moved back to Oregon, I tried to continue driving. But a technical glitch locked my location to Nashville. No matter what I did, the app insisted I was still in Tennessee. Frustrated and overwhelmed with the passing of my sister shortly after we moved there, I gave up.
Fast forward to our move to Wisconsin—2,700 miles from family, following what we believed was a call to shepherd people in Southeast Wisconsin. I retackled that stubborn glitch both out of wanting more financial security between writing and speaking gigs but also what better way to get to know the city and its people? God intervened (with a tiny bit of inspired ingenuity on my part) and I quickly achieved Diamond status in Milwaukee, the highest tier of driver recognition.
But I discovered something profound in the transition from Nashville to Milwaukee: I’d moved from a city of tourists to a city of necessity.
In Nashville, I mostly drove visitors—people exploring, celebrating, experiencing the city’s music and energy. In Milwaukee, I mostly drive people without cars, without driver’s licenses, people in seasons of financial hardship with vehicles broken down and no means to repair them. The difference isn’t just demographic. It’s theological.
These aren’t people passing through. These are neighbors. And neighbor-love, as Scripture reminds us, isn’t abstract theology. It’s incarnational practice.
Eavesdropping on Providence
One of the reasons I started driving rideshare is to serve others that I didn’t know; to open myself up to “God appointments” I otherwise wouldn’t have margin for. The purpose? I offer tangible help to those in need. I committed to pass on whatever I made on three semi-random days of the month (a tenth of the calendar) to people who God puts in my vehicle where I sense a need. I’ve learned that some of the most sacred moments happen when people don’t know they’re being witnessed. People in the service industry know this all too well and rideshare drivers are no exception.
A single mother on her phone, heading to her shift at an assisted living facility, explaining to her friend that she’d found three mattresses online for $70 each—exactly what her kids needed to replace their broken-down beds. But it would take two more paychecks to afford them, and she worried the sale would end.
I handed her $200 at the end of the ride.
“This gives me hope,” she said, tears forming. “Hope that God hasn’t forgotten me.”
Then there was Santa and his slightly hungover reindeer “Dancer” who needed a ride to the tow yard the morning after a downtown Christmas party. (You can watch the encounter and see their reaction in the Instagram reel below.)
Instagram
Sometimes the gift isn’t money. It’s wisdom, offered only when invited. Teaching a young person how to set boundaries with a parent without severing the relationship entirely. Affirming a young woman who’d just navigated a phone call with a possessive boyfriend, reminding her of her intrinsic worth.
The Incompleteness of the Moment
But here’s what gnawed at me: these moments of practical help, while valuable, felt incomplete.
I could meet an immediate need. I could offer perspective in a crisis. But then the ride ended. They stepped out of my vehicle and back into their lives, and I had no way to leave something lasting with them—something that might continue speaking when I was no longer there.
The front seat is a powerful pulpit, but it’s a fleeting one.
That’s why I created Your Daily Lift: An Uber-Inspiring Little Book to Start Your Day and Jumpstart Your Life.
A Book for the In-Between
Your Daily Lift is a 31-day devotional designed specifically for people in transit—both literally and spiritually. People stuck in traffic, stuck in cycles, stuck between who they were and who they’re trying to become.
It starts with hope, not religion. It introduces purpose before belief. It reveals presence before doctrine. And only in the final third of the book does it gently name God and offer a clear invitation to follow Jesus to carpool into the family of God.
I wrote it for the riders in my backseat. But I also wrote it for every rideshare driver who wants to share hope with their passengers in a non-threatening way that lasts longer than a seven-minute ride from Point A to Point B.
This book is my voice carrying on the conversation. It’s my ministry extended beyond my shift. It’s the seed I can plant that God tends long after the ride ends.
An Invitation to Partner
I enter the lives of at least 50 different people each week through my typical rideshare schedule. That’s an evangelism/discipleship calendar that most pastors would envy (or dread 😢.) But it’s also expensive if I’m giving each person a book.
At $6 per book, that’s $300 per week, $1,200 per month. Just this morning I gave away six books!
Here’s how you can participate in this front-seat ministry:
Level One: Buy One, Gift One
Purchase a copy on Amazon for $11.99. For every copy sold, I’ll gift a copy to a rider who needs it.
Level Two: Sponsor Part of My Calendar
$60 = 10 books gifted covering one day’s rides
$300 = 50 books gifted covering one week
$1200 = 200 books gifted cover one month
Clicking the button below is a one-time sponsorship, not recurring. You can even pick the day/week of the month to remember a loved one that needs the hope of God and I’ll dedicate that day and my prayers for sharing the gospel in thanksgiving to you and your loved one including some stories of our shared God appointments! Just make a comment on this post telling me about your sponsorship and what day you’d like or message me on social media.
Level Three: Equip Your Church’s Drivers
Share this post with rideshare drivers and pastors at your church. Buy copies in bulk directly from me. Print labels with your church’s information and place them inside the back cover with an invitation to visit (use the back cover so that the 31 days build a relationship before any invitation.) Turn every Uber and Lyft driver in your community into a distributed chaplaincy and hope dealer.
Not every rider will take a book. But most will. Here’s a sample entry from early in the devo:
And every book carries the potential for an encounter with hope they didn’t expect to find in the backseat of a stranger’s car.
The Stories You’ll Hear
When you partner with this ministry, you’re not just funding books. You’re funding encounters. And I’ll share those stories with you—the Mattress Moms and Hungover Santas, the quiet victories and unexpected moments of grace.
Because here’s what I’ve learned in the front seat: God is already at work in people’s lives. Sometimes He just needs a driver willing to show up, an author willing to write, and partners willing to believe that hope can travel from the front seat to the heart.
I came to Milwaukee wanting to reach the community with the love of Jesus. Who knew that so much of my shepherding would happen from behind the wheel?
God did!
(To read the conclusion to the devotional to see how the book ends with an invitation to travel the next mile of life with Jesus along with a note to other rideshare drivers, click the download button below.)
To purchase Your Daily Lift on Amazon:
To sponsor books for riders:
To order bulk copies for your church or other drivers:
Let’s flood the backseats of America with hope and the love of Jesus, one ride at a time.
Brief FAQ
Q: Can any rideshare driver do ministry work?
A: Absolutely. You don’t need to be ordained. You just need to care about people and be willing to listen, serve, and share hope in appropriate ways.
Q: Is it legal to give religious materials to riders?
A: Yes. Offering (not forcing) a free book is perfectly legal and falls under personal expression. The key is the gentle offer without pressure.
Q: How do I start a rideshare ministry?
A: Begin with prayer, intentional listening, and practical generosity. Create space for organic conversations and let God guide the encounters.