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| The Rev. Dennis King, himself a biker, says, 'people will stick their heads in here and say this isn't a church, but the people
are the church.' carmen k. sisson |
Motorcycle ministry: A 'biker church' in Texas draws a devoted flock
Dennis King preaches in a converted blues bar to motorcycle riders and others who like his brand of everyone-is-welcome worship.
from the January 23, 2008 edition
Page 3 of 3
Vee Miller agrees. She was initially suspicious of the church when her son joined, but King quickly put her fears to rest. "I was really impressed with the sincerity of the men that went there, how they worshiped," Ms. Miller says. "You have these men who come from very rough backgrounds, and I watch these tough-looking men praying, raising their hands in worship, and singing, and I know it's sincere."
She thinks that King is uniquely fitted to understand the needs of his congregation because he has walked in their shoes – and that empathy has worked a miracle in her family.
•••
That, in fact, may be the biggest value of "niche" churches like Hope Fellowship: They can take the Gospel to segments of society that traditional churches often eschew. "If we look at the ministry of Jesus, he associated with those the religious establishment had no time for," says Eddie Gibbs, a senior professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "He was at ease with the outcasts of society."
Yet in catering to special groups – there are now cowboy churches, Goth churches, even NASCAR churches – ministers need to avoid adopting the same exclusivity they fled. "We all feel most comfortable with our own," says David Wells, a theologian at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. "But what the church is about is giving us something in Christ that is greater than any of the things that typically, and naturally, divide us."
Church is over at The Pigeon Hole for the day, but the ministry continues. As the men tromp down the wooden steps, slinging on denim jackets with patches proclaiming "Real Men Love Jesus," they stop to fashion a game plan.
The mission for the day is to visit a sick parishioner, part of the group's weekly "Ridin' 'n Prayn' " ministry. Sometimes their visits are routine, sometimes not. King recalls one house call where they'd driven away and were scarcely a mile down the road before they received a phone call – the woman they'd just seen had passed away peacefully right after they left.
One by one, the motorcycles file out of the parking lot, chrome flashing in the afternoon sun as they head down West Irving Boulevard. Outlaws. Sinners. Believers.
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