Bikers find new kind of freedom
By Melissa Lilley
Bike after colorful bike rumbles and snarls into the parking lot. Riders rattle their engines for one good, last roar, then let them idle while stripping their helmets.
Riders, most donned in black leather, jeans, boots and Harley-Davidson T-shirts, mingle and greet one another with smiles and handshakes.
A young boy in an orange vest waves his orange flag and the crowd parts as the next biker makes their way to a parking spot.
While cycle exhaust drenches the bikers, it cannot erase the lingering scent of old, worn leather.
The raucous, but casual, scene shifts gears when rock music reverberates out the door of the church—yes, church—where the bikers have parked. They trickle inside and, in step, start singing, clapping and lifting their hands in praise.
Bikers on this warm spring day are not at a bike rally, but a worship rally at their church—Freedom Biker Church in Garner.
Getting started
In July 2006, Mike Beasley and his core leadership team launched the first worship rally at Freedom Biker Church. Beasley was a pastor more than 15 years when he felt called to start a church just for bikers.
A long-time rider, Beasley noticed a disturbing trend– bikers getting saved but unable to plug into a local church. He wanted to create a place where bikers would feel loved and appreciated, and where they could be discipled.
As it turned out, bikers wanted the same thing.
About 100 bikers came to the first worship rally under an awning in front of a motorcycle shop. Four months later the new congregation moved into an uncompleted building without air conditioning, heat, lights or plumbing and now more than 200 worship in a complete and comfortable facility.
North Carolina Baptists and Johnston Baptist Association partner with Freedom Biker Church for training and startup funds, available from gifts to the North Carolina Missions Offering. Like other associations, Johnston Association receives about eight percent of the North Carolina Missions Offering funds its own churches contribute, and the association invests some of that into new church starts.
Kelton Hinton, director of missions for Johnston Association, said every new church start should be about one thing: expanding God’s kingdom. “A new church is all about getting the unchurched into the fold,” he said. “You do whatever it takes to get them hooked into Jesus.”
Come as you are
“Sometimes you can’t clean the fish until you get it in the boat,” Beasley said.
So Beasley and the core group have to make sure Freedom Biker Church grabs bikers’ attention and lets them come as they are. “We’re providing an atmosphere that’s biker friendly,” he said.
To create this tailor-made church, Beasley did what he encourages all church planters to do—“Sit back and evaluate your target group.”
Beasley knows bikers enjoy a good bike rally, so a Sunday morning service became known as a worship rally. Because bikers do not fellowship – they hang out – the hour before worship is called hang out time, and it’s done around the “grub station.”
Beasley adjusted his preaching style to fit his new audience. “Most know they are lost,” he said. “We spend more time talking about forgiveness.”
Beasley and his core group also focus on building relationships, making connections and earning trust. “We work hard to build that bridge,” he said.
A God thing
No matter how hard Beasley tries to make worship a comfortable place for bikers, he knows he cannot do it all.
“I can’t save you and I can’t clean you up,” he said. “I let the Holy Spirit do his job.”
Rusty Rawls, a core group member from the beginning and motorcycle rider all his life, is excited to use his bike for ministry. “God is letting us use that passion as a witnessing tool,” he said.
Church leaders take advantage of every opportunity to witness because they keep God at the forefront of all they do. “We’re going to stay true to the vision God has given us,” Rawls said. “It’s not about how many come on Sunday; it’s about lives being changed for Jesus.”
A woman who had been an alcoholic for years finally realized people loved her when she came to Freedom Biker Church. A homeless man with nowhere to go found comfort in knowing Jesus Christ.
“These bikers have been searching for so long for acceptance,” Rawls said. “It’s humbling to see what God is doing.”
John 8:36 is the theme verse for the church. Bikers who cherish their freedom on the open road learn what it means to have freedom in Jesus Christ.
For more information about Freedom Biker Church, visit www.freedombikerchurch.org.
To learn how your church can get involved in church plants and other ministries supported by the North Carolina Missions Offering, call (800) 395-5102, ext. 5515.