The Biker Pastor is Alive

‘The Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated’. Yes! This has actually been said a number of times over the last few months after I suffered a minor health scare back in February that has left me now with M.E. But because I said from the outset of this blog that I wouldn’t make this all about ME (Sorry), all I will say is that I am back on line, and give credit to the church family across the world who have been supporting me and praying for me.

The reality is, physical life is fragile. Our lives can change very quickly and unexpectedly when our bodies break down, but thankfully there is a greater and far more stable life that we can know, and now I am back, this is the life that I will continue to promote and proclaim.

Back on the road the first opportunity to do this came from the Irby Motorcycle Show, held at the Shippons Inn in Irby on the Wirral on the 25th May. Supported by Irby Evangelical Church and the CMA, the day presented many opportunities to give out biker bibles and to have those conversations that we hope will lead people to further investigate the good news of life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The on-going work continues as we take the bike to the regular biker meeting points, parking it up with the biblebikes.com banner on it, again with the hope of giving out bibles and talking to bikers about the Lord.

But why go to all the trouble? Why not do what every other biker does and simply go out and ride the bike? Sure, I enjoy biking, I enjoy the open road and the freedom you feel on a bike; but this life that we can know in Christ is so much better. Jesus said, ‘I have come that you may have life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10).

This isn’t physical life, because physical life can easily fail; rather, this is eternal life, life that will last forever in heaven, but even more than that, life that lives in a relationship with the God who created the universe. This life, once received does not fail, get ill, grow old or die. This life can only come through Jesus as we put our trust in Him for the forgiveness of sin and make Him the Lord of our lives. This Biker Pastor did this many years ago and thus despite the reports, he is very much alive.

It's not about me either

A little over a week ago I was riding the bike in our local village event 'Santa Comes to Irby'. Santa was riding in on his own bike to switch on the village Christmas lights and other bikers, including myself, were riding in with him.

After the lights were switched on all the bikes were parked up in the local pub car park for all the kids to come over and sit on. Of course, the children enjoyed doing this, but it was the fathers, as I have seen so often, who look at their kids sat on the bikes with that sense of envy, and the look that says 'if only I could have one'. It has to be said that the look of the nearby wife is often one of 'not on your life.

Of course, this creates in me a sense of pride that my wife allows me to be part of this rather exclusive club, to which others are not allowed to belong.

Pride in this case is only a bit of fun, but in my role as a pastor, pride is something, that if not controlled, can easily become destructive. People do look up to you for help and encouragement, and it is too easy to get a feeling of self importance if you forget who it is you are serving and the help you need from Him every day.

The other day I was reading in Paul's letter to the Philippians, from chapter 4 verse 10 , where Paul writes, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'. This isn't just referring to the strength that we need to do things that are naturally beyond us, but the strength we need to do everything. We can do nothing without the strength of Christ; and if I can do nothing without His strength, then my ministry is not about me, it's all about Him.

The Biker Pastor

All for a Good Cause

How far do you go for a good cause? The cause in this case is the greatest cause, to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19), the area of work, as always, is the world. This very often requires us to put ourselves in places that we wouldn't ordinarily go, amongst people that we wouldn't ordinarily associate with and in support of causes that we wouldn't ordinarily support, all for the sake of what is often referred to as bridge building.

The reality is that less and less people, even at Christmas, will voluntarily come to church unless they are invited to come. Church hasn't just become an unpopular place to go; for this unchurched generation it has become a frightening place to go; what will happen when I get there? Will they let me out again?

Bridge building requires building of friendships and the building of community relations; both take time and both require us to meet with people where they are with their interests with the hope that they see us as warm and welcoming and therefore accept our non-threatening invitations to come to the place that they might hear and, in God's time, respond to the gospel of saving grace.

This evening, the church that I pastor will be supporting a village event called 'Santa Comes to Irby'. There will be many Christians who will look at events like this and talk about how worldly and commercial the whole thing is, and how the real meaning of Christmas is Jesus, and will therefore not be involved; and I do understand and sympathise with the arguments.

All I can say is this, 'It's not about you', it's about the good cause, it's about allowing the people of this world to come to a place where they can hear the gospel. Step out of the box, as Christ Himself stepped out of Heaven for us, so we also should step out into this world for Him.

The Biker Pastor

The Biker Pastor online

It's the usual sort of thing; something that seems a good idea at the time, never tried before, but now pursuaded that blogging is something that has to be tried. It's not even that I believe that I owe it to the world to put anything down for them to follow, but I am an evangelical pastor with a couple of bikes and I have sought to recently bring the two passions of my life together into some sort of ministry.

That's not to say that it was ever my intention to do so. When I took up biking again after a period of some 15 years of absence I never intended for it to become a part of my ministry, but it was in the Lord's plan to lead me to a church that was over the road to a pub that hosted a bike club, that also happened to put on a bike show once a year, how could I not be involved?

More than that, how could I not be involved when I try to encourage the church members to be involved in anything (fitting to the gospel) that builds bridges into the community?

So, not only am I a pastor with two bikes, but I also now have a website (www.biblebikes.com), I have a customisation project on the go, simply to meet with bikers where they are so that in time they might meet me where I am so that I might share the gospel, the good news of Jesus as Saviour, with them.

I don't know if this blog is of any value at all, but come back and see how it develops.

The Biker Pastor