539 professions of faith
Aug. 19, 2011
Encounters at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally between 160 evangelistic volunteers and 4,800-plus biker enthusiasts led to 539 professions of faith in Jesus Christ over an eight-day period at the famed event.
It was the sixth year for the outreach to bikers, biker-wannabes and onlookers organized by the Dakota Baptist Convention (DBC) and supported by volunteers from across the nation drawn by word of mouth and by the ministry's website, www.sturgisbikegiveaway.com.
Motorcycle enthusiasts comprise one of the nation's largest affinity groups, with South Dakota rally drawing about a half-million participants each August.
"We know that what we do in Sturgis is not just dependent on people being prepared to share their testimony, or in the number of volunteers, but on the Holy Spirit being there in power," said Garvon Golden, DBC interim executive director and coordinator of the Sturgis ministry. "Prayer is the key component to the effectiveness of our ministry in Sturgis."
The Sturgis outreach is a multi-faceted initiative by the DBC that involves a month of focused — often onsite — prayer; evangelism training for the volunteers; a ministry tent in a prime downtown Sturgis location; the giveaway of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle; and chaplaincy ministry among the hundreds of vendors and city/county sanitation and law enforcement personnel.
The biker enthusiasts had been drawn to the DBC tent by on-the-street "catchers" who'd told them their name would be entered in a drawing for a new Harley-Davidson on display at the front of the tent if they'd listen to someone for three minutes tell how Jesus changed their life.
Fifteen-year-old Dalton Boudreaux of Zion Hill Baptist Church in Negreet, La., was among the volunteers who repeatedly told his three-minute story at Sturgis.
"Dalton was scared to death at first to share his faith," Golden said with a grin, "but we trained him how to do it, and I think everybody finds a way they get into sharing their faith. When he'd be given someone to talk with, he'd start by saying, 'Hey, I need to talk to you!'"
Totals for the first six years of the evangelism ministry at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally — an outreach event conceived by Dakota Baptists' former executive director, Jim Hamilton, and fleshed out by the entire state convention staff — consist of 28,583 recorded Gospel seeds planted and 5,472 recorded professions of faith.
"I'm grateful God has given us the opportunity to not only sow the seeds of the Gospel but to see the harvest of that many people come to Christ," Golden said. "I don't think we'll ever know the total impact of this ministry until we get to heaven….
"One of the most exciting parts of the Sturgis story is to hear of people who go back home and continue to share their testimony, and to hear how their churches have been transformed as a result," Golden said of the volunteers. "Churches across the nation are growing and multiplying because they send their members out on mission to Sturgis." (BP)
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This year's Sturgis rally goal: plant a church for bikers
July 19, 2011
After this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Baptists in the Dakotas want to birth a church.
"We would like to have a church planter and core group in place in the Black Hills by the end of this year," said Garvon Golden, interim executive director of the Dakota Baptist Convention.
"What we envision is that this would be the first of many churches across the Dakotas and beyond started as a result of what we do here at Sturgis the first week of August each year."
Dakota Baptists' evangelism ministry at Sturgis involves about 250 volunteers from across the country who share their faith at the annual gathering of about 500,000 bikers and biker-wannabes — arguably the largest motorcycle event in the world.
The volunteers are trained in giving three-minute testimonies of the change God has made in their lives to "the affinity group we call 'bikers,'" as Golden put it. Anyone at Sturgis willing to listen then can enter a drawing for a brand-new Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
The annual rally in the northern part of the Black Hills in western South Dakota has, over its 71-year history, enticed many people to move to the area, but few churches are ready to meet their specific needs.
"For some, Sturgis is where the healing begins," Golden said. "We have people come to the tent [on Main Street in Sturgis] who are on the fast track to unmentionable places, and they know it, and we talk with them, and they see a way out.
"Their lives change, and it's a whole new world for them."
Some people return to their homes, but some start a new life in the Black Hills. The church that hopefully will start this fall in the Black Hills Area Baptist Association is for those who stay and those who made their home years ago in the area because of their biker interests.
"We need a church planter who wants to start a church for bikers," Golden said. "We're just waiting on God to send His man here, someone who is comfortable with people in the biker culture, someone who can start a church that multiplies itself."
And while Dakota Baptists are waiting, they're busy with the final details for this year's outreach at the Aug. 8-14 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The tent will be open from Aug. 6-13 in the usual location on Main Street across from the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.
"It starts months out with prayer," Golden said, "praying while on our website — www.sturgisbikegiveaway.com — virtually prayerwalking Sturgis and the Black Hills, and dedicated intercession by prayer warriors across the nation for the people we will be having contact with….
"About one out of every five people we talk with makes a profession of faith," Golden said. "The Holy Spirit takes the words of the volunteers sharing their faith, and somehow turns it into just exactly what someone is needing to hear."
Also during the rally, a "clean and sober" camp for bikers at a camp owned by First Baptist Church in Custer will be operated by Set Free Ministries leaders from South Dakota, Montana and Colorado.
"How to effectively share your faith in three minutes" training will take place Monday and Tuesday during the rally at First Baptist Church in Sturgis.
Chaplains from Oklahoma and Dakota disaster relief teams are set again this year to minister to vendors of T-shirts, tattoos and everything remotely interesting to bikers, as well as to police and fire personnel and other behind-the-scenes people who make Sturgis "happen," each year.
In Dakota Baptists' five years of intentional evangelism ministry at Sturgis, 23,779 Gospel seeds were planted and 4,933 people prayed to receive Christ.
For more information on Dakota Baptists' outreach at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, contact Garvon Golden at Garvon@dakotabaptist.com or 605-877-1163. (BP)
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More than 1,000 accept Christ during Sturgis bike rally
Aug. 17, 2010
Soft breezes and sun filter along the Black Hills near Custer to fill a rustic camp at the edge of town. As evening settles, Jeff "Noose" Nuzziard performs a sound check for a band from Nixa, Mo.
Bikers find a space in the grass to relax and listen after a long day of riding and sightseeing in the region. More than 600,000 bikers rolled into Sturgis, S.D., Aug. 9-15 for the 70th Annual Sturgis Rally, the biggest biker party in the country. But the clean and sober Jazer Camp a few miles outside Custer offered a different tenor from the free-for-all in other parts of the Black Hills.
For $10 a night bikers get a place to park their ride and pitch their tent, and they're provided two good meals a day and good bands playing into the evening. Lodging is at a premium during the rally, as are locations where drugs, sex and alcohol don't flow freely. This makes the Set Free camp an ideal respite for weary road warriors and likewise a place where God's peace engages the senses in a way exactly opposite to the barrage of biker mayhem.
"They can come here and have fun without being confronted with all the stuff that's in Sturgis," said Bill Savery, pastor of First Baptist Church in Custer. First Baptist hosted Jazer Camp and has made a five-year commitment with the Dakota Baptist Convention and Set Free Ministries to run the camp at future rallies.
Nuzziard from Denver and J.T. Coughlan, pastor of Set Free Ministries in Great Falls, Mont., partnered with the Dakota Baptist Convention to provide security and ministry volunteers at the camp. Both have former lives and connections within the biker community and know how to provide an atmosphere inviting to bikers.
"We're just out here to reach these people who may not have any idea what goes on in a church," Coughlan said.
During the week, Jazer Camp hosted biker groups and individual riders whose first impression was a sign reading "No drugs. No alcohol. No joke." But the camp left a lasting impression as a place where judgments are withheld and truth and compassion are expressed through stories of God's power and acts of kindness.
Through the hands and feet of His people, Christ was in Sturgis this year, His love displayed by Southern Baptists who traveled from the nearby Dakotas and from states such as Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado.
Disaster relief chaplains from Oklahoma worked 9-hour days developing relationships with the hundreds of vendors selling their wares at booths throughout Sturgis.
"This is an outreach that has grown to reach not just the people who frequent downtown Sturgis but even vendors and those who stay on the outskirts of Sturgis," said Richard Leach, team leader for servant/ministry evangelism at the North American Mission Board. "This is a perfect example of what God does through people willing to step out of their comfort zone and engage people on their own turf. You don't have to be a biker to reach bikers. You just have to be open to God and willing to reach people where they are."
Dozens of Southern Baptist churches were represented, including members of First Baptist Church in Nixa, Mo., who came straight to the Southern Baptist booth in downtown Sturgis after a 900-mile trek.
"We were fueling up and got a call from Jim Hamilton saying they needed help talking to people," said volunteer Joe Harrington, who out of necessity broke protocol. "I started sharing, then I was trained."
The Southern Baptist intentional evangelism efforts at Sturgis are only four years old, though Southern Baptists have individually served as a Christian witness for many years, according to Jim Hamilton, executive director of the Dakota Baptist Convention.
"This year we hosted a booth in downtown, but for the first time we also expanded to Rapid City and Custer," Hamilton said.
"Many [Southern Baptist] churches have worked tirelessly serving bikers and meeting their felt needs," Hamilton said. "What we want to add to that is a very intentional engagement with the Gospel. If no one had told me about Jesus, I would never had heard. But now I'm a servant of Christ and a minister because someone took the time to tell me."
One of the connecting points volunteers used to reach the biker community was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle giveaway, which they parked just inside the SBC tent in Sturgis. The bike caught the eye of passersby as volunteers held their attention with the prospect of a free motorcycle in exchange for three minutes of their time.
Hamilton unashamedly refers to the bike giveaway as bait, which makes sense if, like Christ commands, believers are to fish for men and women.
An introduction to the God of the universe seems worth a three-minute story. Over a period of seven days, more than 7,000 people signed up to win a bike and heard a three-minute presentation of the Gospel. The opportunity to share the Gospel makes sun-scorched sidewalks and the shipping and handling for a $17,000 Harley seem a miniscule blip by comparison.
"Next year we're probably going to offer a custom-made bike. Attract a younger crowd," Hamilton said.
Hamilton and crew used the language and cultural cues easily caught by bikers during the seven-day Sturgis party. One of the activities at Sturgis among bikers is the trading of playing cards. Southern Baptists capitalized on the tradition by giving away hundreds of commemorative poker chips and evangelistic playing cards pointing people to FinditHere.com.
The culturally specific approach also included boldness enough to engage the lost at places like the Buffalo Chip and Full Throttle, two of the world's largest and most notorious biker bars.
"Anything goes in these places," Hamilton said. "We pray for the bikers' safety and we also pray for the safety of some Christians who might venture to these places to be a witness."
While volunteers were never encouraged to engage the extremities of the Sturgis Rally party, during prayerwalks with North American Mission Board missionary Garvon Golden and other leaders, Hamilton recognized that many believers at Sturgis were called into such places to share the Gospel.
"Bikers make up one of the largest affinity groups in North America," Golden said. "Some Christian bikers feel a special calling to reach their own no matter where they are."
Whether hitting the hardcore locations or serving at event booths, the efforts of Southern Baptists to make Christ known produced ample amounts of fruit this year. By the end of the rally, 7,317 people had heard the Gospel and 1,147 made professions of faith.
The true fruit of these decisions will bear out in how many transition into true discipleship within a body of believers. To see this happen, registration cards of those who made decisions are given to a church to follow up in the weeks after the individual returns from the rally.
"We share, we provide for follow up and discipleship and we trust God with the results," Golden said. "All we can do is work hard in obedience to share with others the Gospel of the Savior who saved us." (BP)
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