MOBERLY—On May 2, The Gathering, a biker-friendly church plant here, MO, was commissioned as the fifth, and northernmost, F.A.I.T.H. Riders chapter in Missouri.
Rick Hall, co-founder and Crossroads Baptist Association director of missions, organized the service. Rodney Harrison, a professor and director of the F.A.I.T.H. Rider chapter at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, led the commissioning service. His message from Exodus 4 challenged members to give God whatever is in their hands, whether it be a spiritual gift, talent, ability, experience or motorcycle handlebar.
F.A.I.T.H. Riders is unique among motorcycle ministries in that each chapter must be a ministry based within a local Southern Baptist church. Five members of the chapter in Friendship Baptist Church, Holden, rode to the service despite the unseasonably cool weather.
Buddy Newsome, who in 2002 founded the ministry at First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, Fla., said, “There are hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists in this country who are lost and in need of our Savior. While this is our target as a motorcycle ministry, we are committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet, not just motorcyclists, in hopes that all will come to repentance and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”
In the past five years, the ministry has won hundreds to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through intentional evangelism at events like the Sturgis motorcycle rally, local events, and Sunday School classes for F.A.I.T.H. Rider members.
BY STAFF