There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle. Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold. The wind's big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don't even feel like water. They feel like shards of bone fallen from the skies of Hell to pock my face. I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that's just an illusion, just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds.

Despite this, it's hard to give up my motorcycle in the fall and I rush to get it on the road again in the spring; lapses of sanity like this are common among motorcyclists. When you let a motorcycle into your life you’re changed forever. The letters "MC" are stamped on your driver’s license right next to your sex and weight as if "motorcycle" was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition. But when warm weather finally does come around all those cold snaps and rainstorms are paid in full because a summer is worth any price.

A motorcycle is not just a two-wheeled car; the difference between driving a car and climbing onto a motorcycle is the difference between watching TV and actually living your life. We spend all our time sealed in boxes and cars are just the rolling boxes that shuffle us from home-box to work-box to store-box and back, the whole time, entombed in stale air, temperature regulated, sound insulated, and smelling of carpets.

On a motorcycle I know I'm alive. When I ride, even the familiar seems strange and glorious. The air has weight and substance as I push through it and its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer. I feel the cool wells of air that pool under trees and the warm spokes of that fall through them. I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around, wider than Pana-Vision and than IMAX and unrestricted by ceiling or dashboard. Sometimes I even hear music. It's like hearing phantom telephones in the shower or false doorbells when vacuuming; the pattern-loving brain, seeking signals in the noise, raises acoustic ghosts out of the wind's roar. But on a motorcycle I hear whole songs: rock 'n roll, dark orchestras, women's voices, all hidden in the air and released by speed. At 30 miles per hour and up, smells become uncannily vivid. All the individual tree- smells and flower- smells and grass-smells flit by like chemical notes in a great plant symphony. Sometimes the smells evoke memories so strongly that it’s as though the past hangs invisible in the air around me, wanting only the most casual of rumbling time machines to unlock it. A ride on a summer afternoon can border on the rapturous. The sheer volume and variety of stimuli is like a bath for my nervous system, an electrical massage for my brain, a systems check for my soul. It tears smiles out of me: a minute ago I was dour, depressed, apathetic, numb, but now, on two wheels, big, ragged, windy smiles flap against the side of my face, billowing out of me like air from a decompressing plane.

Transportation is only a secondary function. A motorcycle is a joy machine. It's a machine of wonders, a metal bird, a motorized prosthetic. It's light and dark and shiny and dirty and warm and cold lapping over each other; it's a conduit of grace, it's a catalyst for bonding the gritty and the holy. I still think of myself as a motorcycle amateur, but by now I've had a handful of bikes over half a dozen years and slept under my share of bridges. I wouldn't trade one second of either the good times or the misery. Learning to ride one of the best things I've done.

Cars lie to us and tell us we're safe, powerful, and in control. The air-conditioning fans murmur empty assurances and whisper, "Sleep, sleep." Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that's no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride.

Author unknown.

Question & Answers

What is Bikers For Christ? - Bikers For Christ (BFC) is a motorcycle ministry where members ride their bikes  and participate in events which put them in places where God can use them to minister & evangelize.

 Is BFC affiliated with a church? - Is BFC affiliated with a church? - Yes. This means it doesn’t matter which Christian church you attend, you are welcome to join up.  We currently have members who attend many different churches including Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Assembly of God, Christian & Grace Churches. In addition, any local Christian church can sponsor a BFC chapter.  

Why is it important that BFC be affiliated with a church? - Accountability!  Unlike other independent MC ministries, we firmly believe that every ministry of God should be conducted under the supervision of a local Christian church.  This way, if anything gets weird or out of hand, the church has the authority to correct us.  Biblically, the church is the God ordained vehicle used to correct Christians and the ministries we serve in.       

I’ve heard of BFC before, but the patch was different? - In fact there are several other motorcycle ministries called Bikers For Christ or Bikers For Jesus.  Along with this ministry, the other most prominent one is the Mid-Atlantic based BFC in Pennsylvania which covers 5 states.  We have been in contact with that ministry and there is no conflict in sharing a similar name.

How does BFC compete with other clubs for members? - Bikers For Christ is not in “competition” with any other MC club, gang or ministry.  We do not act in a way to draw people out of other worthwhile activities, but rather supplement or support those activities.  For example, our current National Administrator is an active member in 5 different MC groups including the Christian Motorcyclists Association and ABATE.    Other members belong to MMA, HOG, RAT, SCNOC, VOC as well as other MC ministries.  Of course how “involved” you choose to be should be kept in balance with your other priorities such as family & church.  

What is the BFC “method” for ministering to others? - BFC does not dictate how members should minister, that’s left between you & God depending on your calling, gifts & talents.  Some members pass out tracts, others are better one on one, some hang out at biker bars and wait for a response, some just ride around with their colors and let God bring the prospects to them.  

How is leadership handled with BFC? - BFC has no presidents, no vice presidents, no lofty titles.  Each chapter has an elder who takes care of things in his/her geographic area.  A National Administrator oversees the business end of things and is available to help out the elders with any needs they have.  Each chapter is free to choose members in various positions to help out.  Chapters cover areas by either state, county or city.

Where can I find the Policies & Procedures for BFC? - You won’t!  BFC has no by-laws.  Being under the authority of a church, we are also under their by-laws.  Less red tape and bureaucracy to hinder God’s work.

How big is BFC? - BFC currently covers 40 states & 4 countries.  Our actual numbers are always changing and I would be making this brochure obsolete by printing it here.  When people ask “how big are we”, I prefer to answer that Jesus is bigger...  

How does BFC deal with members who backslide or go astray? - We trust the Holy Spirit to keep the membership in line.  If He can’t do it, then neither can we.  If a member is continuously grieving the Holy Spirit and sinning, we ask that they be honest with themselves and God by turning their patch in to their local elder.  The elder will hold on to it until they get their life straightened out again.  We do not conduct inquisitions into people’s lives and we do not judge or condemn others (Luke 6).  We also don’t threaten people or forcibly remove their colors.  God deals with all us sinners accordingly.    

I ride a Kawayamazuki KYZ-500-SS Super duo-sport touring cruiser, can I still ride with BFC? - BFC strongly supports an individual’s freedom to ride whatever they want to.  No one should tell you what to ride.  Our members own everything from Japanese sport bikes, British iron, German touring bikes as well as Harley-Davidson cruisers.

How much are the annual dues? - BFC is a “free” ministry, there are no dues.  The small amount of money needed for administration is raised through the sale of merchandise such as patches, T-shirts, stickers, hats and any other neat stuff we happen to run across.  All donations to BFC are tax deductible.  

How do I get a patch? - You first need to be a member in good standing, then just tell us what you want and we will send your stuff out when we get your money.  Simple.  However, if you are not a BFC member, we can’t sell you anything with the logo on it.  Non-members could wear it while being outside our scope of accountability and damage our reputation, so please don’t give all your secular friends BFC T-shirts as Christmas gifts, thank you.  For those who already sport another club or ministry back-patch, we also sell a smaller “arm” sized patch that can be put on a jacket sleeve or vest.

Why doesn’t the BFC patch have a territorial rocker? - We do not “claim” territories.  This kind of behavior can and does antagonize outlaw biker clubs who also “lay claim” to the same territories.  By flying a rocker, they will see you as competition and that’s not the best way to open doors.  If other people want to “claim turf”, that’s fine - we just want to tell people about Jesus Christ.

Why does the BFC patch use so many different colors (7)? - Again, to avoid antagonizing “outlaw clubs” which may claim a particular color scheme as “theirs”.

How does BFC interact with other MC ministries? - By supporting them.  Go riding with them, help them out during their events, pray with them.  We’re on the same side.

How do I become a member? - You must request an application from your local chapter elder or by contacting our headquarters (at the end of this brochure).  You will have to answer a few questions and then your pastor will have to sign off on it for you.  We will be calling your pastor to verify.  Make sure you pray about it first, read the scriptures listed on the application and discuss it with your wife/husband.  We do not have a “prospect” process, but we do want you to understand the seriousness & commitment involved.