08

April HeartBeat

November of 1981 , after

25 and a half years , Chief Warrant Officer W4 Carl Feil , a lifelong motorcycle rider , retired from the United States Coast Guard . He describes his life then as living like a sailor , acting like a sailor , and speaking like a sailor . He moved to Mena with his wife Phyllis , and the following are his recollections of some of the early days of CMA .

As he rode back and forth past the original CMA location on Highway 71 , he was curious as to what was going on . In those days , the little red office building was out front , and the pavilion behind it was under construction . Carl eventually stopped to investigate the situation and met some guys who spoke a different language than he was used to . They befriended him and drew him into their fellowship ,

and soon he was working with them . In January of 1983 , he and Phyllis officially became members12662 and 12663 of the Christian Motorcyclists Association .

The local CMA members worked as a type of volunteer chapter , fulfilling the needs of the fledgling organization . They provided office skills , building maintenance , and grounds upkeep , and stuffed , labeled , and marked for mailing all the correspondence and monthly newsletters . The local folks were involved with local motorcycling activities , but all were working and involved in their lives , with only weekends available to do any outreach . According to Carl , as a few folks from out of state began moving in to help at the work center in Hatfield and brought with them the vision and experience of seeing CMA at work , things started to happen . In 1993 , around a dozen people were inspired to form Home Front Warriors Chapter # 377 . He

recalls that David Spurgin was the first president , and he was the second . Carl designed the chapter patch , depicting a Bible superimposed over an outline of the state of Arkansas with a flame coming out of it to picture spreading the Light into all the world .

During those early days , about half of the chapter began riding to the Bill Glass Prison Ministry Weekend of Champions . God put a calling on several , including Carl and Phyllis for this type of ministry , eventually opening doors in the Arkansas Department of Correction to CMA for our own weekend events . The rest of the Home Front Warriors had begun to move out into other areas of motorcycling ministry , locally and out-of-state . Thirty-two years later , the Home Front Warriors with about three dozen active members and a growing number of new arrivals , are still volunteering their talents to the Support Center in Hatfield , assisting on Iron Mountain , and are fully involved in