January 31, 2024
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Philly Jesus, shown in Love Park in 2015, has returned to the public eye as a Lyft driver in Center City.
Philly Jesus now can be found cruising around Center City in an Acura, with a Bible on the dash and gospel music on the radio.
Philly Jesus, whose real name is Michael Dennis Grant, has returned as a rideshare driver after taking a multi-year break from the public eye. He was known for wearing a white robe and carrying a shepherd's crook as he walked around Center City speaking about the Bible. But he had stopped going out in costume while he dealt with the deaths of his father and grandmother, and got divorced, FOX 29 reported.
Now, he's serving as a Lyft driver.
"I pick up a passenger, and they see me dressed like this, and I turn back and I say 'Jesus is taking the wheel today,'" Grant told FOX 29.
Before his hiatus, Grant frequently was seen around Love Park and had a large presence on social media. In a post about his new path, Grant said it's much better than staying in one spot.
"I get to drive all over Philadelphia and the many different neighborhoods of Philly basically doing a church on wheels ministry.. I have so much fun in The Philly Jesus (PJ) mobile driving for Lyft," he wrote in a post Monday.
what Philly Jesus ( PJ ) is doing now pic.twitter.com/k2ROir7QET
— Saint Michael D. Grant (Philly Jesus a.k.a. PJ)✝️ (@phillyjesus) January 30, 2024
Philly Jesus had retreated from the public in 2020 after he was cited for trespassing the installation mass of Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez.
Prior to that, he claimed that protestors at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day march harassed him in 2017, and in 2016 he was arrested at an Apple Store in Center City (though he received a "Saturday Night Live" shoutout for it). He also sued the city in 2020 after getting arrested at the Christmas Village.
