CMA HeartBeat May 2019 | Page 8

CMA International By YANITA Georgieva DREAM BIG, RECEIVE BIG riding season in Bulgaria lasts from the end of March through the end of October. Seven months of intense riding, ral- lies, events, and then five long months of waiting, recollection, assessment, and planning. As we are writing this article, we are right on the threshold of the new riding sea- son – filled with hopes and dreams well resting on the assurance of God’s mighty work through the past months and years. So, here’s what CMA Bulgaria looks like right now: CMA Bulgaria is the only Christian biker organization in Bulgaria, and we are well recognized by secular bikers as “the bright side of the motorcycling world.” We have around 20 very active and commit- ted full color members and a few working on joining the ministry all grouped in two chapters and three forming chapters around the coun- try. There are powerful stories of how God has brought us together and used us to touch and transform the lives of bikers and their families over the past year. We’ve seen peace found in God, broken relationships healed, and new purpose gained in the Lord. The Biker Sunday For two years now we’ve held an event for bikers at a local church in Sofia. We would invite non-Christian bikers to a regular Sunday morning worship service and have a preacher with a strong relation to bikers and their world. Once it was an ex-patch club member with his wife, both having met Jesus in prison and com- mitted their lives to serving the Lord also through CMA. Then there was this Iranian assassin who was also transformed by God and is now a witness for Him. Biker Sunday has been a blessed opportunity to pro- claim the Good News, introduce bik- ers to what church looks like, and encourage the congregation to open up to bikers and welcome them. Season Opening Rally in Sofia By far the largest biker event in Bulgaria is the season opening rally in the capital city. Thousands of bik- ers from all over the country get together for a day to celebrate the beginning of the new riding season. God has opened numerous opportu- nities for us to pray over bikers and their bikes asking for protection. Now as we are widely recognized as those doing the biker blessing, we have been invited to share space among the largest clubs. Bikers would come up to us to share spe- cific prayer needs and ask for inter- cession because, as they say, “there’s power in what you are doing.” And we never fail to point out that all the power belongs to the Lord Almighty. Starting with the opening of the season, our biker blessing ministry continues through all rallies and events during the year. And what a blessing it is, at the end of the sea- son, to meet a biker with an “I was blessed sticker” testifying that our prayers have been answered and he’s had an uneventful season on the bike, but also in other areas of his life. Fallen Bikers Remembrance Day For two years now CMA Bulgaria has been invited to give a message at a special gathering for the remembrance of bikers lost or injured in accidents. Non-Christian bikers and their families get togeth- er to receive a word of hope and share a prayer for the lost and the living. A CMA chaplain has been making quite an impact on those coming to the event as well as the media. National Meeting Every year we hold a national meeting of CMA Bulgaria which is a time to get away for a weekend together with our spouses and chil- dren. This is a time of bonding, shar- ing, learning together, seeking God’s will, and praising Him as a big fami- ly. We usually have our brothers and sisters from CMA Macedonia join us for the weekend and we also use this time to plan some cross-country ini- tiatives, e.g. the Balkan meeting, various rides, and events. Dream Big, Receive Big As we prepare for the new riding season we see one of our biggest dreams about to come true. For many months we have been praying for the possibility to put up a prayer