Message From: "JP" the founder
IT STARTED IN CHICAGO
In my late teens I became a born-again Christian and was also one of the original members of the famous Armitage Church which, at that time, was located right in the middle of Humboldt Park, in Chicago, an area known to be infested with many dangerous gangs roaming the streets shooting at each other. Our nationally well-known Pastor, Charles Lyons, formed "God Squad" which was made up of a small group of brave young believers willing to minister in the mean streets of that area. So I joined to evangelize around the vicinity and share the gospel with the gang members. Steadily, they responded favorably to our spiritual message and some turned to God.
As a result, the church grew very fast and had to relocate to a larger facility in Logan Square, the neighborhood where I lived, which is currently also a tough area to live in. In 1980, I decided to flee the extreme cold weather and relocate to Miami and attend college. I majored in Accounting, Computer Programing, and Business Administration.
THE MOVE TO MIAMI
As soon as I moved down to Miami, I started sharing my faith with everyone I met. Eventually, some of the people who listened to my message and turned to God, and were attending the weekly Bible studies which I conducted, decided to join me to start a street ministry called "Baptist Missional Ministry". We helped the needy on a regular basis and also provided them with opportunities for spiritual growth. Once again, as it happened in Chicago, I witnessed many people turning to God and enjoying a better life: socially, financially, and spiritually.
THEN I STARTED MEETING BIKERS
One day I was invited to a house church near FIU university which is the SW 8 Street branch. I attended weekly Sunday services for months and I became close friends with many of the wonderful members there. They were great people. One day they planed a trip so I stopped by to say hello before they left. I did not know they were referring to a motorcycles riding trip. To my surprise, when I arrived, they were all sitting on Harley Motorcycles and told me that they are bikers. I thought it was interesting but initially I didn't give it much thought.
Later, around 2010, I decided to learn leather craft and signed up for a group class near the Miami Airport. As soon as I walked into the warehouse, I noticed that the instructor was dressed as a biker, which explained the chopper parked outside his store. He told me that he has been part of the local biker community for years, he used to be a member of a local MC, and still had many friends who are active members of local biker community. During each weekly class, we would talk about leathercraft and about the local biker scene. I started learning about both subjects. The biker scene caught my attention... a lot.
During that period of time, everywhere that I would go I would run into a biker and, during conversations, I made sure that the subject of God always came up. Additionally, members of my weekly Bible studies were also running into bikers in their individual personal life. Just about every week we were talking not only about our ministry work but of Bikers that we kept meeting over and over.
Then the day came, in late 2013, when we decided to expand our street ministry and officially create a division to act as a motorcycle ministry. And that is how BAPTIZED RIDERS MINISTRY was born. I designed a cool patch and we were determine to provide local bikers with loving friendships and with opportunities to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
At first, I reached out to a national Christian Biker group that I ran into on Facebook for possible guidance and collaboration. And boy was that a huge mistake!! That group was enraged and went as far as threatening us with physical harm unless we disbanded. Me not knowing what was happening, I put the idea on a temporary hold until I got to the bottom of the situation. Being raised in Chicago, I learned how the streets worked, I understood the thug mentality, but I still had to learn at that time who is who in the local biker scene, and who was the backup that that arrogant group had.
So we kept calm and prayerful. We did not wished to escalate the situation and bring a bad name to Christianity. I knew that if God put in my heart to do something that nothing would be able to stop me. I have great faith. And it is my personal belief, to this day, that those so-called Christians are part of the crowd identified in the Bible.
Matthew 7:21-23 >> "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
I prayed that if God wanted me to stick to the vision which He put in my heart, then for Him to give me a sign. We waited on God.
Nevertheless, while we waited on God, we still continued our motorcycle ministry, but did so "without" wearing our vests which had our logo on the back. We had placed a pause on wearing our colors but not a pause on representing God in the streets and saving souls.
GOD PARTED THE RED SEA FOR US
One day, late at night I was working on creating a website for a client and, while I was posting spiritual things on FaceBook, I got a greeting message from a guy named Fred that resulted in a phone conversation that lasted hours. We became very close friends. We called each other daily and about a couple of weeks into the friendship he shared with me that he was a biker from the Kissimmee area and a former member of a local Christian biker group [I rather not say which one]. After hearing all about his unfortunate membership experience, and why he was no longer part of it, I suggested for him to consider starting his own Christian motorcycle group with my help, and for days that was all we talked about.
We talked about it so much that one day he finally decided to make it official. And "Wheels 4 Christ" was formed in Kissimmee, Florida, around September of 2014, with me as the co-founder. Gradually just about every MC in that area loved and respected us very much til this day.
I MET THE BOSS
It turned out that Fred was a personal friend of the AOA president in his area, because Fred is a biker at heart, and rode his bike daily to everywhere, and in the process they met somehow. One day Fred asked me to drive up there to meet his friend, and I did. The boss treated us very nicely and gave his full support for our plan. He introduced us to the officers in St. Pete and in Jax. I really took a liking to him because he was our mentor from the day I met him. And he liked that Fred and I were very involved in implementing acts of charity in the community. He liked that very much. He was very community-oriented.
After a few years of assisting Fred and co-founding his group, the ministry in central Florida grew. I met very important contacts in the biker community and Fred preached in many MC clubhouses in his area, and as a result fame followed him. He helped other groups get accepted in the community too. As for myself, I decided that Fred was well established in his area and that I now needed to focus in my own area, Miami, and grow my Christian biker ministry which I had started years before.
In 2020, I started ministering in Miami once again, but out of respect to the local clubs we did it without wearing our colors, the MCs in the area at that time did not know me yet. But soon that was about to change. God was with me and my initial co-founders. And I learned long ago that once God is with you, who can succeed against you?
THE TROOPS CAME
One day I watched a video of a biker preacher and something inside of me told me to call him. I did not hesitate and quickly grabbed my cell phone and dialed his church number. I was in luck. He was the one that answered the phone and we had a very long conversation. It turned out that he was like a regional Pastor for AOA and after hearing my story he gave me encouragement, guided me in revising our patch design, and even made some calls to the powers that be in my area to show support of me.
After that, via phone I somehow started meeting influential MC members from all over the Northeast and Southeast coast. Important people like Brother Tim and several others. Just about every day I found myself on the phone for hours of long conference calls. Each contact I would make, would in turn introduce me to another important contact within the national biker realm, and it was like a domino effect. God had touched them to have my back, to mentor me further, and to just be friends with me. It was very touching to see how God was moving pieces to be my support troops.
And the local Christian group that initially interfered with our biker ministry started to diminish in membership, and the particular member that was intimidating us got promoted and was not around as much as before. As of today, they are no longer a barrier to us. God handled that situation personally.
THE MISSING LINK
Everything was all set except there was something missing. My group was an MM and not an MC. Being very kingdon-minded, we still did not wear our colors because my plan was always to link up with a local Christian MC. It was my plan from the start. When an MM and an MC join forces, there is greater spiritual impact in the community.
In meeting other Christian MCs, I developed great respect for them and admired the huge sacrifices they made, and all the hours they put in, to keep up with the biker culture and stay involved within it. But my group is an MM and was made up of caring people who loved Jesus and had a calling to represent him with the local bikers; but due to job schedules, family responsibilities, and other reasons, we did not have the necessary free time needed to minister to bikers on a higher commitment level. But we wanted to, therefore, be a serious supporter of a Christian MC who did. We have the Biblical "kingdom-minded" mentality.
I prayed to God that He would have me cross path with a local Christian MC with which I would affiliate with to create a stronger impact in the community. I met a few of them but something didn't click within me. But I had strong feeling that God would lead me to the right MC for our need. I waited on God.
Two years after I made that decision, Fred called asking for help in organizing things in the house he had bought in the Kissimmee area. My VP loved Fred too and risked losing his job by taking a week out from work in order to go help Fred. This caused my VP to lose his job, but we found our missing link as a result. It had paid big time to wait on God. I knew that at the right time, God would make things happen and open doors for us. But waiting on Him was essential to show our faith.
When my VP went over to help out, Fred introduced him to the National VP of the Gideons MC, a growing Christian MC whose members are sincerely dedicated to serving God and spreading the gospel to all who cared to hear it. One day, I got on the phone with the Gideon's National VP and I enjoyed our talk so much that I asked to meet their International President. Shortly after I spoke to him, in late 2023, I drove to WBP to meet him face to face and to discuss collaborative ministry work.
WE RECEIVED THE OFFICIAL BLESSINGS IN OUR AREA
A year after we engaged in weekly fellowship with the Gideons and offered our support, and have proven ourselves to be serious about our mission within the local biker community, they honored us by anointing us as their official support group. God showed His love towards us once again and made things happen. Shortly after, and by adhering to biker protocols, we were granted the official local sanction.
Our patience in waiting on God paid off. We were good to go in Central Florida and also in South Florida. We started to wear our colors once again. God had fought the battle on our behalf.
Immediately thereafter we got to work on a higher level and got actively involved with the local MRO to help contribute to the local biker community. Additionally, we have been fortunate to constantly meet and befriend several local MCs.
And we are just getting started. The Holy Spirit is with us because we take our mission seriously.
And that's how BAPTIZED RIDERS MINISTRY crossed the red sea.
HEREIN IS HOW THE POWER OF GOD IS MANIFESTED:
When people meet me, they wonder why would God place me in the biker community and not in another setting. That is because my physical disability, and my need to walk on crutches, triggers that question. And I get it because I myself was confused and also used to ask God why me?
And God led me to the following Bible verse:
" But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence." 1 Corinthians 1:27-29
And who am I to question what God wants?
Thank you for reading.
Here are my co-founders:
