Pastor says his taxi cab is like a 'church on wheels'

NEW YORK, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A New York cab driver who is also an evangelical preacher said many passengers offer confessions in his "church on wheels."

Joseph Djan, 52, who moved to the United States from Ghana in the early 1990s and became a pastor while studying at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, said he started driving a cab to make ends meet and to give him extra cash for charitable deeds, said customers often seek advice after discovering he is a pastor, the New York Post reported Monday.

Djan said one of his most memorable passengers was a closeted gay man who hailed his cab in the Chelsea neighborhood.

"He heard my Christian hip-hop and while talking about it, it slipped out that I was a pastor," Djan said. "His mood changed instantly. He told me he wanted to tell me something that had never told anyone before."

The customer asked if being a closeted gay man made him a sinner for living a lie.

"I told him that we all keep secrets. We all have to come out of the closet in some way or another. He was so relieved," Djan said.

He said many customers come to him with similar inquiries.

"When some people come in my cab, they are in dire straits. They feel guilty about something that has gone wrong in their lives," Djan said. "And they just want to start talking.''

"You could say that my cab is a church on wheels," he said.