The annual Sturgis Bike Rally takes place in early August, and Christians in the area are planning how they can minister to the hundreds of thousands of bikers who come annually.
One of the first things on their list? Planting a church aimed at the growing number of bikers who decide to stay in the area:
After this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Baptists in the Dakotas want to birth a church.
“We would like to have a church planter and core group in place in the Black Hills by the end of this year,” said Garvon Golden, interim executive director of the Dakota Baptist Convention.
“What we envision is that this would be the first of many churches across the Dakotas and beyond started as a result of what we do here at Sturgis the first week of August each year.”
During the rally, the Baptist Association will provide a prayer tent, will plan services, and hope to give away a motorcycle:
“It starts months out with prayer,” Golden said, “praying while on our website — www.sturgisbikegiveaway.com — virtually prayerwalking Sturgis and the Black Hills, and dedicated intercession by prayer warriors across the nation for the people we will be having contact with….
“About one out of every five people we talk with makes a profession of faith,” Golden said. “The Holy Spirit takes the words of the volunteers sharing their faith, and somehow turns it into just exactly what someone is needing to hear.”
For more about the ministries going on during the Sturgis Bike Rally, check out the Black Hills Area Baptist Association’s site.
(picture via Baptist Press)
