STURGIS, S.D. — The sights and sounds in Sturgis, S.D., change where
Main Street meets Junction.
Roger Persing, pastor of Church at the Warehouse in Sioux Falls, S.D., points
across Junction to a strip of bars “where anything goes.” Bikers stagger in and
out of the bars, as scantily clad women sit atop outdoor counters as a lure to
the false hope inside.
“There’s a wall here. You can’t see it but it’s there. It’s spiritual darkness,”
said Jim Hamilton, executive director of the Dakota Baptist Convention.
And this is exactly where leaders such as Hamilton and North American Mission
Board missionary Garvon Golden wanted to have a gospel presence. Only a few
yards away from Junction, more than 100,000 bikers out of an estimated 600,000
in Sturgis will cross paths with Southern Baptist volunteers each day who offer
them true hope before they are bombarded with an alternative message only a few
steps away down Main Street.
“That’s why we’re here,” volunteer Matt Searing said. Searing had never told a
complete stranger about Jesus, and his first time was three days ago following
a trek on a sport motorcycle from Missouri.
He and his wife Amy are part of a 20-member team from First Baptist Church of
Nixa.
“I just drove 940 miles. I basically got off my bike and started sharing my
story. It was awesome,” Searing said. “All I had to do was tell people how
Christ had saved me. I just told my story.”
The Searings are two of hundreds of volunteers sleeping on church floors and in
RVs who have traveled hundreds of miles to make Christ known to the swarms of
bikers and motorcycle enthusiasts at the 70th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Like every other vendor in the town, Southern Baptists provide a natural way of
starting a conversation. If you listen to a three-minute story of how God
changed a life, you can register to win a Harley or a four-wheeler. This year
the Baptist ministry expanded to three venues — Sturgis, Rapid City and Custer,
each with its own giveaway.
“Using a bike to draw people in communicates to them we’re serious about
connecting with them,” Hamilton said. “We want to engage people in a way they
understand with a language they understand.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of people who stay way past the three minutes
just to talk,” he said.
Whatever the initial draw, God is using the stories inside the tents to create
new stories among the hard-driving, hard-living bikers. Many of them leave the
tent with a New Testament in hand and a deeper understanding of the gospel.
“Everybody has been very open and receptive, which I wasn’t expecting,” said
Tonya Hodgin of the Faith Riders from Beulah Baptist Church in Douglasville,
Ga.
Seeing an opportunity to reach women in the biker community, Hodgin said, “I
just want to reach out to bikers and let them know that Jesus can save them. It’s
not just for churchy people. It’s for all of us.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Miller is a writer for the North American Mission Board
covering Southern Baptist ministry at the 70th annual Sturgis Bike Rally in
South Dakota.)