By JAY Wilber

10

August HeartBeat

WHAT A GREAT MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY

I heard the Lord

If you have ever had the opportunity to serve at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota, you know there are a lot of bikers there. You also know that CMA serves in many areas, including working with the City of Sturgis, helping with parking lot security, assisting at the Motorcycle Museum, Jack Pine Geese’ s Hill Climb, AMA Flat Track Race, and ministering at five local hospitals. In addition to these areas, everywhere a CMA member is, whether walking along Main Street or riding the Black Hills, CMA is ministering to bikers.

I would like to share with you a new opportunity we had in 2025. The year before, I was approached by a promoter who had worked with CMA in Daytona and other locations about setting up in his parking lot. He asked that we just be there for the bikers and help with vendor parking. It didn’ t have a special name other than " Free Bike Parking " for our sign-up sheet. Well, it didn’ t take long for it to have a new name. We renamed it“ The Ministry Parking Lot.” You see, God was showing up in a mighty way. As members

worked the lot, helping keep bikes away from the vendors and in a straight line, we soon realized we had an opportunity to greet over 300 bikers per day with smiles, handshakes, and prayers. Those conversations helped bikers feel welcome and led to opportunities to share Jesus and bless bikes. Because of the low-key situation, no one was in a hurry, and we had many chances to pray with them.

Here is a brief recap of the ministry that went on in the parking lot at Sturgis.

“ There were many divine appointments and more prayers and ministry opportunities than in years past, particularly at the Free Lot( Ministry Lot). We estimate that we handed out over 5,500 angels. We handed out over 6,500 rag tracts. We handed out over 100 Bibles. We blessed nearly 1,000 bikes.”

Here are a few examples of how God worked. As we worked the lot each day from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, we had the opportunity to speak with and fellowship with the vendors who were working there. Each day as they came in, we would greet them and talk a little about their day. They really enjoyed sharing with us, and we had opportunities to pray with them.

We also had divine appointments with people who came on the lot to park. Many parked there

for several days in a row, which allowed the opportunity to build relationships with both visitors and vendors. One opportunity I had happened towards the end of the day. A biker was rounding the end of a row of bikes, and suddenly, he just went down. We all know how that can happen, and you can’ t stop it. Well, we did what all bikers do and helped him up and made sure the bike and rider were okay. He got back on and started the bike, so we started to walk off. I realized he turned the bike off, so I went back to check on him to make sure he was ok. He was kind of short with me and just said that the bike seemed to run badly. He did not seem to want to talk. I just said if he needed anything, we would be here.

Well, a few minutes later, he walked up. His whole demeanor was different. He wanted to say thanks, not just for helping pick up the bike but for caring. He said he has been riding for 30 years and has only dropped a bike twice, and both times it was this one. I’ m sure they were both in the past year since he had the same 24 Road Glide as I have. So, we chatted for a few minutes, and he said he was standoffish because he was embarrassed. We laughed a little and we all agreed we would drop a bike at some point.

I said maybe you didn’ t drop the bike; maybe God pushed it over as

( continue on page 11)