Biker Church aims to make anyone feel welcome

BY BETH PRATT
A-J RELIGION EDITOR

A red concrete floor and multicolored disco lighting create atmosphere in the large room, which has a low stage in one corner.

A dozen or more plastic round tables surrounded by plastic lawn chairs complete the caf-style atmosphere. A praise and worship band sets up drums, including bongos, and tunes instruments.

"Call us the Bike Church Band on Thursday nights," the band members quip. On Sundays the band is the praise and worship team at Turning Point Community Church.

As the musicians warm up, others put out snacks in a kitchen area and a small pail of peanuts in the shell on each table. Votive candles in the center of the tables are lighted to create ambiance.

Staci Gray / Staff

Thursday nights at Refuge Outreach Center are Biker Church services, and the parking in front is reserved for motorcycles. Round tables, chairs and snacks provide an informal setting for a little preaching or a skit and music by the Biker Church Band.
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Outside, a sign identifies the barn as The ROC, and a message display board reads: Biker Church, 7 p.m. Thursday.

A cloud to the northeast indicates showers might be approaching.

Will cloudy skies keep the bikers away?

The minutes tick by.

About 7:15, a few people straggle in, each greeted with a hug. Among them is Leman "Butch" Rushing.

Staci Gray / Staff
The Turning Point Community Church worship team morphs into The Biker Church Band at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at the ROC, aka Refuge Outreach Center.
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He had heard about the Biker Church from a friend at the Rip Griffin Truck Stop, and this was his third visit to the fledgling ministry.

"We have pretty good services out here," he says.

Rushing is still getting his bike ready, and he is excited that in a few days he will be certified as a chaplain for the Unchained Life Prison Ministry, a group of bikers who travel to prisons throughout the state to give their testimonies and hold worship services for inmates.

Occasionally the workers preparing for the service go outside and peer down the road, willing the motorcyclists to appear.

Staci Gray / Staff

Getting into the rhythm at Biker Church are, from right, Roger and Darla Reno of Amarillo and Pop and Don Stroud, members of the Unchained Life Prison Ministry, a biker group that does ministry in prisons throughout the state.
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Finally, they hear the distinctive sounds of the bikes approaching. In just a few minutes a row of motorcycles - red, yellow, black - is parked in front of the building.

Standing around the door, about a dozen bikers greet friends and visit before going inside.

Don Stroud and David Charlebois come from diverse backgrounds, but they have two things in common - they ride motorcycles and do prison ministry throughout the state.

Staci Gray / Staff

Randy Daniel is a motorcycle enthusiast. A former youth minister, Daniel and Don Kubica (not pictured) founded the ROC in September as a place open and welcoming to all. The Biker Church is one of several ministries at the ROC, which also has a youth night, Sunday morning service and other programs.

Stroud started riding when he was 8 and for years raced motorcycles, according to his father, who is called Pop by the group.

"He was fast," Pop says.

"We used to bang heads," Stroud says, admitting that for many years he was a fit for the tough-guy image of biking. He is tough now, too, but in a different way. He wears a patch on his jacket that says "Outlaws for Jesus - Stealing Souls from Satan."

Pop is sporting a cane after surviving an aneurysm. He is not able to ride a motorcycle now, but he counts it a miracle that he is alive and comes to give thanks to God. Stroud has been home this year because of Pop's condition, but is looking at getting back on the road soon.

"We go all over the state to prisons," Stroud says. "I've run 34,000 miles going to prisons, traveling 30 to 39 weeks last year."

Charlebois, pronounced Charley Boy, was 60 before he started riding. A young-looking 65, he's had to cut back on distance riding because he broke his shoulder in a motorcycle accident.

Services at The ROC
Sundays: 10 a.m. continental breakfast and worship service.n Wednesdays: 6:30 p.m. youth service; 7 p.m. Bible study.

Thursdays: 7:30 p.m. Biker Church.

Saturdays: 6 p.m. fellowship.n Location: One block east of the Tahoka Highway on FM 1585.

Type of ministry: Christian nondeminational outreach programs, seeking to meet physical and spiritual needs.

Scripture theme: Psalm 71:3, "Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go. ..."

Ministers: Don Kubica, Randy Daniel, Jerry Kimberlin.

"About an hour is all I ride now," he says, demonstrating that he can't lift his arm above shoulder level.

"I have three churches," Charlebois says, adding that he is a member of The Heights Fellowship, a part of the praise team at Hope Lutheran Church and now goes to church on Thursdays at the Biker Church. He also is the father-in-law of Randy Daniel, founder with Don Kubica of the Biker Church.

The new Biker Church meets at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays in a former workshop barn that has been turned into a center for a variety of ministries at The ROC, an acronym for Refuge Outreach Center.

The ROC is a ministry partnership of Kubica and Daniel, who want to create a place where everyone feels welcome, no matter their problems or appearance.

"I've loved motorcycles my whole life," Daniel says.

"We try to find different ways of presenting the message - sermon or a skit or whatever," Kubica says

With the Biker Church getting started primarily with family and friends, "we never know who is going to be here," Kubica notes.

Roger Reno of Amarillo, president of The Unchained Prison Ministry, was a recent speaker at the Biker Church. His topic was "Wheels of Grace."

Kubica has a soft spot for prison ministries.

"I've got a brother that has been in prison 10 years," he said, "and about two years ago he became a Christian."

To comment on this story:

beth.pratt@lubbockonline.com 766-8724

shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com 766-8747