By BRAD Staton

12

September HeartBeat

MORE THAN A MACHINE: HOW ONE MOTORCYCLE BECOMES A MOVEMENT

you’ ve been in

Through our nearly four-decadelong partnership, CMA riders have raised funds through Run for the Son that have put more than 10,000 motorcycles— and many other forms of transportation— into the hands of national pastors, evangelists, and church planters across more than 115 countries. Numbers like that are hard to hold in your head all at once. But every single one of them is a story like the ones I want to share with you today.

I’ m always moved when I hear what happens after we hand over the keys.

A pastor in Nigeria recently told us he wanted to express his gratitude

to MV and CMA for a motorcycle that would open up the Ruga Fulani mission field to him. With his motorcycle, he can now visit villages among the Fulani where the Gospel has never gone before. He said this motorcycle would let him reach places he’ d never been able to reach on foot. That’ s what this partnership is about. When you remove the barrier of distance, you unleash the power of a Spiritfilled leader, and the Kingdom grows— from anywhere, to everywhere, for the glory of God.

And that’ s the story of more than 17,000 national leaders in over 115 countries who have received transportation. And when I think about what that means in terms of eternity, it takes my breath away.

Let me take you to Bangladesh, where Pastor SP has been using his motorcycle to carry the Gospel to eight preaching centers scattered across his surrounding

communities. Before the bike, some of those villages were nearly impossible to reach with any regularity. Now he travels between them consistently, visiting people, discipling new believers, and continuing to sow the Word in places that used to be simply too far.

One of the men Pastor SP reached is Ravi. Ravi had been a devoted follower of his tribal religion since birth, the kind of man everyone in the village pointed to as a true believer in the old ways. But earlier this year, Ravi heard the Word of God preached from Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents. Something in that message reached him in ways nothing else ever had, and God began to work on his heart.

Ravi was the first in his village to respond. And as the people around

Myanmar

Bangladesh