Christmas M25 Style

CHRISTMAS MISSION:M25 STYLE

Christmas eve morning brings Biker Sunday / Toys For Tots to a conclusion. On September 28, 2014 thousands of people lined up to bring toys for Biker Sunday / Toys For Tots! An incredible sight to see, rough and tough looking people carrying dolls, little trucks and even dressed like Santa Claus. On December 24, 2014, 60-75 people gathered in a chilly fellowship hall, broke into teams and grabbed the toys for over 170 children. Keith Burd, Ministry Co-ordinator for Hard CORE Motorcycle Ministry and his family head this event. They work and plan, get the routes divided, work with the Marines or in the past couple of years, the Navy, connect the givers with the receivers of these toys. The toys are all bagged when we arrive and ready for delivery, due to Keith working with volunteers to separate a trailer loaded with toys into separate bags with a name on it. 

This year there was a complete line of brand-new sparkling bicycles plus bags of toys everywhere. Matt Lawlis is holding one of the bicycles to be given away. 

A family from Kansas join us when they heard of this great event. 

A couple and friends of Christian Heritage Church dressed the part and was a delightful touch.

Carolyn and I were among those who braved the weather to be 'Santa on a Harley'. There have been Mom's share how they told their children, listen close, I hear that Santa is going to be riding a motorcycle this year! The temperatures were soaring all the way up to 36 degrees by the time we finished. 

CHC (Christian Heritage Church) is unique in many ways, not saying all others are wrong by any means, but what sets this church apart is her rolling up sleeves and doing the work MO (Method of Operations). While many churches in this great land were promoting their services, Christmas eve, Christmas Morning. They had spent a lot of money and time drawing people to their house to worship this Child born to us, the Savior of the world. There were other churches taking offerings and using promotional methods to purchase gifts for children, some of the most popular are those who have parents incarcerated.

Jesus states in Matthew 25 that when we for the overlooked and neglected or 'least of these', we were touching Him. This day, we were going to touch at least 170 people who represent Jesus! These little guys were 'Jesus' needing some love!

As we rode down gravel, dirt and some very nicely paved roads, visited houses from poor run down homes to a very nice apartment in a very nice neighborhood (a single mom), the idea of 'Unto You is Born a Child'.... Please indulge my thoughts:

Christ Engaged us on this day

"Unto" - He "came" to us! This is huge, He did not stay in a safe, warm, comfortable, exalted place and draw us. He came to a rough carpenter, a young virgin girl. He 'came' in humble style, a manger was His bed. 

He made us feel worthy, who otherwise felt unworthy. He made us feel important, meeting our self-esteem need.  

As we rode, my prayer, Lord allow our simple touch of these children and parents feel they are worth our time, our mis-comfort and love. We are not asking them come to us, stand in line with other 'poor folks' and then we will give them something. They are worth our going to them. 

Christ Elevated us

"A Savior is born" - now we have a hope and a future. This is not about a life of ease and abundance but a life of eternal hope. He states over and over that He had come to establish a Kingdom, it is one not built by hands, it is one that is eternal. A Kingdom where there will be no more tears, sickness, pain, etc. They like us missed it, they struggled trying to figure how a child was going to destroy Rome and re-establish Israel. 

My prayer today was Lord, you gave the people a 'taste' of your Kingdom while you were here on earth and then entrusted the Holy Spirit to reveal who You are and what Your Kingdom is about. 

Lord, please let the 'taste' of your love that we are giving, draw these people to a place where the Holy Spirit can reveal the true You and Your Divine Kingdom to them.  Lord let this act of unselfish love of so many people be seed in some people's lives and water in other people's lives and may the Holy Spirit bring the increase! 

The above picture is the team we were blessed to be with, Bishop of Great Plains Conference Scott Hampton and family, our son-in-law Jim Reilly and daughter Sasha Reilly and family and Carolyn and I. Not pictured was Mike Woolsey.

 

 

Honoring a True USA Hero

On November 1, 2014, at 7 am, Bo Pearson, Danny Stewart, Stephen Walker, Carolyn Burd and I (pictured below around a broken trike along with Johnny Joey Jones) left in sub-freezing temperatures headed to San Antonio, TX - ON A MISSION! Well over 500 miles later we checked into a nice warm motel, anxious for the next day.

John Barker of Eagles Up organization had requested we attend the Boot Campaign Ride and interview Johnny Joey Jones, a double amputee for the possibility of building him a trike in 2015. A mission the five us were incredibly honored to do and one we took very serious.

An appointment was made for early Sunday morning to meet this hero of our nation at the Boot Ride. There are no words to express our instant admiration for such a quality young man. He stood erect on his two prosthesis and poured out his passion to assist the wounded warriors in our country. He stated without any hesitation, 'I would really appreciate a trike built for me, however, there is an immediate need, a brother who also walks on two prosthesis, due to an IED in Afghanistan, needs his trike rebuilt. My first mission is to help others and this is very important. It blew a hole in the piston the other day while I was riding it'.

Seeing we were there to interview and not commit for Eagles Up, Mission:M25 committed to picking up the trike and rebuilding the engine for him. Boot Campaign committed to cover the cost of the parts to rebuild the motor.

The only missing step was getting the trike from Austin, TX to Amarillo, TX. When the local leaders and mechanic of LeFleurs Transportation, Mike Carlisle, Craig Lawlis and Jeff Kestner (seen below standing behind Johnny Joey Jones) heard of our dilemma, they immediately responded. They met with Johnny Joey Jones and the pickup was made.

This is where a gifted and talented mechanic comes on the scene. Bo and Debbie Pearson, High Expectations Motor Works, in Amarillo TX took the task of rebuilding the engine. The engine had to be disassembled (pictured below), flushed out, diagnosed why the piston come apart and reassembled. Bo's 40 plus years of working on Harley Davidson's engines performed a masterful job of rebuilding the engine. (second picture below is Bo, Debbie and myself after the work was completed) The engine made music at the twist of a key!

Now the special moment when the owner, Dustin Johns' arrival to take his newly rebuilt trike home. On the morning of December 18, 2014, Dustin arrived with a trailer in tow to pick it up. The statement was made, 'we fell in love with this quality young man immediately'. Pictured below is Jeff Kestner; Pastor and Texas Pointman for M25 Kevin McBride and Bo Pearson, Mechanic and National Biker Missionary for the IPHC, with Dustin setting on his newly rebuilt ride.

Mission:M25 looks for ways to honor our true heroes for the church. We want to let the veteran know the church really is thankful for our Freedom of Religion, and of course, other Freedoms as well. We know the price of Freedom is not cheap, take a look, these two young men had their life altered forever due to this war on terrorism. The church is very thankful but falls short many times of telling those who will newer come to our services. This is where Mission:M25 comes in.

Thanks to all, Eagles Up, Boot Campaign, LeFleur's Transportation, High Expectations Motor Works for allowing Mission:M25 to be involved in honoring Dustin Johns by rebuilding his trike to bring him a little enjoyment!

Gary Burd, National Mission:M25 Director

Love THE Key

RADICAL, RISKY, VIOLENT LOVE

1 Cor. 8: 1.....Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.

I would assume we all go through the same process in this journey of Christian living. We become Christians, see men and women of faith quote the sacred text, are challenged as children to memorize the scriptures and sit in amazement as teachers and preachers open the understanding of the Bible to us. We determine and are very intentional about following this path. We do all we can with our abilities (not all of us are equipped the same) to grasp this same level of 'spirituality'. We want to be a light to a dark world and it seems 'knowledge' is the answer. 

Still, no real light from our life! So we summarize it is a lack of spirituality due to sin in our life and the fact we are 'unholy'. So we set out to achieve HOLINESS.  Can you remember all the different ideas of what Holiness meant to different people? 

• Some people in my past thought it was not drinking coca-cola from a bottle, because we are to 'shun the very appearance of evil'. You drink alcohol out of bottles. 
• Some thought it was the clean vocabulary, not even saying 'shoot' because it was so close to s.....
• Some thought it was cutting my hair, taking off my 'hip hugger' jeans, once I was even asked to leave a banquet at church because I wore white shoes without socks :)

Isn't it humorous what man, the carnal church does to bring us to being a light. In the past 15 years the scripture that has driven Mission:M25 is Matthew 5:14-16, where Jesus states to be a light we do good deeds so that the Lord may be glorified. So here we go, doing good deeds! We work hard at Being A Light Not A Mouth (BALNAM). 

Here again we stumble onto another human effort to bring a hope filled God to a hopeless society. 

The text quoted above gives us all the answer we need, LOVE. If we learn all the text in the entire Bible and quote it from end to end, get all of this evil world from our life (impossible) and give our bodies to be burned and have not LOVE, it means nothing. 

One of my mentors would say to me, 'Love is a verb' it is to be lived. So true but so many people act on 'love' but it is a mask of resentment, anger, bitterness and an expression of past rejection. Love is given simply as a product of something inside. Pastor Kevin McBride spoke last Sunday that we were to have a 'river of living water flowing from us to those around us'. Have you noticed it is free flowing? Have you noticed people that seem to just ooze the love when you are around them? Have you noticed people feel comfortable being who they are, no false pretenses, no coverups for their behavior, when they feel true love coming from within side you? 

Let us not get 'puffed up' because we know, become holier than thou because we have conquered some sins in our life or become exalted because we are servants. 

May the Lord of the Harvest cause us to be a vessel for 'living water' to flow from as we walk through life, wherever we are, doing whatever we do! 

May our life flow in such portions that people 

• receive that river of living, loving water. 
• Then, the love will flush out the evil inside their life 
• and create room to 'know more' and a natural process of serving others by doing good deeds will be done with pure motives! 

Entitlement and Christmas

Santa's Workshop @ CORK

Christian Heritage Church

December 10, 2014

 Christmas is about 'giving' but that nature does not come naturally. Pastor Kevin McBride stated while receiving the offering on Sunday morning, December 7, that giving was in God's nature. The carnal nature is selfishness. No need to teach a child to be stingy, to horde, to hit, scream or cry (or all of the afore mentioned) when another child takes it's toy, it all comes naturally. Recently watching the movie, 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee', a young educated Native American states there is no word for 'own the land' in any of their languages. Interesting what greedy and self-centered Christians that came to this land 'taught' them.  The early church sold their lands and gave their goods and they had all things in common. The new Kingdom of God was trying to address the issue that had became so important, possessions are not the gauge for success in the Kingdom.

We talk about 'entitlement' in this country a great deal and yet we continue to promote and use it in this culture. Mother Teresa states that during Thanksgiving and Christmas many of the benevolent ministries or businesses thrive due to people easing their guilt by 'giving to the poor'. They live in their fancy homes, drive their luxury cars, dress in their latest name brand suit and then come 'down' to 'give back' and it makes them feel they are not all that bad. Is this all bad, absolutely not, it is a time to share the wealth to a degree. The problem is it is only driving our problem deeper if not balanced.

CORK, the children's ministry at Christian Heritage Church several years ago under the inspired idea of Dustie Vibbard, Children's Minister for years at CHC, brought to the table an idea that has addressed the issue. The church gathers items of toys, clothing, etc and sets up tables. The children are brought in by buses or they walk to the church. Awaiting them is the usual hot meal but this Wednesday they will not have a kid's service, they will 'GO SHOPPING'! The idea is for them to learn the art of giving. While they do not have the money to purchase the gift, we at least give them the opportunity to think about giving and then to 'shop' for their siblings and parents.

There are tables awaiting them manned with men and women, teenagers ready with wrapping paper, tape and assistance to prepare the gift to take home and hopefully put under a tree waiting the big day of opening gifts. They leave with a huge plastic bag of gifts to be given. 

Oh, we make sure they have their gifts also! On Christmas Eve morning there will be close to 50 people get together and divide toys out and go in four teams to deliver the toys. One of the best times in the year to ride our motorcycles to lead a group. Parents have told their children, 'listen for a motorcycle (Harley Davidson's make a lot of noise), I believe Santa Claus is riding one this year'. 

May God help the church to be instrumental in 'teaching' our young to give in many ways! May we break the bondage of entitlement and look for it in every crevice of our own hearts. 

Thanks Dustie Vibbard for the consistent teaching on giving you have provide for many years at our house! 

Temple Fascination

Have you ever driven around town and taken in the beauty of the churches of our day? Some of the most massive and impressive buildings across the skyline are temples dedicated to our Lord, the Messiah. They are built in the name of the Kingdom as a place to worship our Lord. 

They pale in comparison to the Temple in Jerusalem during the times of our Lord. It was over 500 years old, newly restored, was magnificent and could be considered one of the wonders of the world. 

Herod had taken eighty-four years to remodel it. Not because he 'loved our God' or believed in the Kingdom of God but to appease the Jews and keep the under his control (I challenge you to think on that). 

Let's read the story of Jesus and His disciples' experience on a day after visiting the temple in Mark 13

1 As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.” 2 Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

Reading this story recently my heart began to feel a little of Jesus' heart. Can you imagine being the Messiah in this story? They are walking 'with' God and are fascinated by a building. 

The temple had them in awe and yet the One the building was built for was walking with them. The Messiah, the King, the Lord of Lords was speaking to them. Yet a building had them in a breathless state. 

The enormity of the rocks in the walls had captivated their attention when the Chief Cornerstone was standing beside them. They had heard Jesus speak of Himself being the 'Chief Cornerstone' in Mark 12:10, and yet they still did not grasp the truth. 

The strength and longevity of the massive stones crumble under the comparison of the Alpha and Omega. Jesus is reading their thoughts (oh He still reads our thoughts) and pain hits His heart. They think these massive stones will stand forever and I know for a fact in less than ten years this will all come down. 

A deep burden in my spirit, a deep pain in my walk with the King, the Messiah, we have evolved into the same place of those attending the temple during his walk for the most part in this country. We are overtaken with our buildings, some not so magnificent because they are so 'outdated'. So we spend money to keep up with our culture, to appease our people, to draw the 'unchurched'. When in fact, our buildings only draw those that are 'shopping' for ANOTHER church because the one they were attending did not 'meet their needs'. 

Buildings are necessary to make a place for believers to join to worship the King and to disciple His people. The building just must not be the focus, the main thing. The King must still receive the attention. 

The Kingdom of God is within us, desires us to be in awe of His love and His work in our life. The Messiah, during this season of the year more than any other time, should grab our attention. 

Finally, we must not spend so much money on the 'building' that we have no resources to fulfill the mandate of serving those outside the fold. Oh how many countless times have I sat with a pastor or leader who would love to feed the homeless, help those coming out of prison, give assistance to struggling addicts, provide a home for the rejected because she made a mistake and has a gift from the Lord in her womb, help a little child with clothes that is living in poverty, due to the deep debt they carry on the 'building' built for the Lord. Jesus stated when you do it to those ignored or overlooked, the least of these, you do it to Me. 

How much is the church spending on the building 'for' the Lord verses spending resources on the Lord in the ditches? 

BALNAM - Showing our Thankfulness

Thanksgiving @ Falcon Children's Home

Carolyn and I had the distinct joy of participating in the Harvest Train, Falcon, NC. Harvest Train is a tradition reaching out to hurting, abandoned, abused and troubled children in our world. International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) people from Florida to Maryland joined in this opportunity to bring money and commodities to take care of approximately eighty children. The unofficial estimated total of over $300,000 was raised to express our Christian love to those not as fortunate.

A firetruck led the way with the President of Falcon Children's Home (FCH), Joey Leggett, joined by presiding Bishop, Dr. Doug Beacham led cars, vans, a little passenger train and 25 motorcycles. Young men, trouble children from a military style disciple home twenty miles away marched in front of us, true to form. As we proceeded from the Fire Department, we passed slowly in front of children of all ages awaiting the blessings of candy that was to be given from our vehicles. Most took the time to place the candy in their 'pillow cases' being held out, while anxious face was aglow and the smile wide. The tender, 'thank you' was such a special moment.

We stopped in the parking lot of three new buildings designed to hold those precious little ladies that now has a blessing from the Lord in her womb. These young ladies also greeted us with a smile and held out a bag. Precious girls not sure how the church world will view them, knowing their transgression of sexual purity was very obvious by the change of her body. What a joy to see a church that loved and did not condemn! A church that does not embrace the sin but loves the transgressor. A church willing to place her resources to express love, not mere words.

The service included a video and words of thanksgiving for the newly dedicated school. This state of art school is for grades 6-12 and is open to not only the children in the home and the girls during and after their pregnancy but to the community.

Mission:M25 was blessed to lead the motorcycles, positioned toward the front of the parade. But this was not all, Harvest Train took another step toward their expression of love for the 'unwanted' child by including an appeal to support these new houses for the one still in the womb and one for young ladies and their newborn babies. Pastor Mark Richardson, M25 Pointman for Cornerstone Conference joined me as we roared into the Tabernacle on our Harley Davidson motorcycles from two opposing entries. A near capacity crowd of approximately 3000 was stunned, Mr. Leggett pretended to be surprised as the two bikes stopped in front-center of the stage. When the microphone was handed to me, I briefed the crowd of M25's mission, reaching out to the overlooked and ignored listed in Matthew 25 and then challenged the people to pray, yes, but become visible with our dis-approval of legalized abortion in our nation. However, the job is not done by only praying and going to Washington DC to march but help must be offered, such as our Royal Home alternative to abortion. There was a video played and then Pastor Richardson presented checks to total $1570 toward the support of the home.

As the motorcycles rumbled during their departure, the microphone was handed to Bishop Beacham who spoke of his leading a stand in Washington DC on January 22, 2015. This will be during the annual "March for Life" in our nations capital. M25 will be leading a group of motorcycles to join him on January 21, departing Falcon, NC. The motorcycles will be carrying a banner with all the church's, organizations, individuals names on it, called, "50 For Life". The minimum of $50 is requested to place your name on the banner. The proceeds will go to support the Royal Home, alternative to abortion!

The service concluded with a program, "There Is A Way Out", put on by the children and staff of FCH that moved the house. The final song was sung by a little boy (6-8 years old) dressed in a dark blue suit with a red handkerchief hanging from his front pocket. His powerful voice rung in the sanctuary which had the crowd standing, crying and shouting.

After dismissal, a meal was served of East Coast Barbecue, chicken tenders, potato salad, cole slaw, hush puppies and deserts.

If at all possible this event should be on your list to attend if you can possibly make it. If not, you need to visit the website and view this great ministry and consider donating to either the Royal Home or Falcon Children's Home.

Boot Campaign

Boot Campaign 

Bo Pearson, Danny Stewart and Stephen Walker (Sgt Rock) joined Carolyn and I on an incredible ride on Nov. 1, 2014. We rode 521 miles one way to stand with our wounded warriors. When we pulled out of our garage it was 36 degrees and the wind was blowing about 25 mph, right in our face. These are the days you know if you are committed or if it is just fun, if you have a conviction this is what you are to do or is this convenience. Carolyn was all set with her electric clothes on and then we plugged it in and as life runs, it blew up. We rode the first 120 miles just bundled up. She was the only one with all electric gear on. The culprit ---- a small fuse could not carry the current! 

We arrived at the Harley Dealer's at 8:30 am on Sunday morning, November 2,  hoping that our contacts will be made. We are there supposedly to meet with a young man who lost both legs above the knees for an effort spurn out of Run For The Wall called Eagles Up, www.eaglesup.us - three of our heroes and dear friends had asked us to go. We were to assess the potential of connecting with Boot Campaign and look at building this young man a bike in the future. This was an honor and an assignment we did not take lightly. 

Short meeting, but plans to meet later, and we did meet. Johnny Joey Jones is a very impressive young man. It hurt to see such a fine young man, big smile stand there without his legs. He began by telling Boot Campaign's mission, bring awareness of our heroes needs and sacrifice and support charities helping our wounded warriors coming home. He then quickly turned to his mission to connect with us. The words flowed without any hesitation as he spoke of his first priority is helping others. There was a contract that placed him on a trike coming out with the celebrities on the 40 minute ride of the day. A fellow soldier who had last both legs in Afghanistan had loaned him a trike setup for double amputees. However, the motor had blown a piston! Pictured below. 

We were there to access the need to build a bike and could not commit the other organization. HOWEVER, we were there to represent the church first and foremost. This Sunday morning, standing on a Harley parking lot, rock and roll music blaring in the background, it was an opportunity for the church. I began to share the reason Mission:M25 serves our military, represent the church outside the walls of the building. As the unction of the Holy Spirit blew up inside of me, just as if I were standing in a pulpit that morning, these words came out, 'Please allow us to partner with Boot Campaign to repair your brother's trike'. The smile was worth any cost!!! 

Then the parade began (having ridden 521 miles the day before we opted to 'watch'). After the bikes all left the parking lot we proceeded to the rally point, John T Floores Country Store (do not be fooled, it was a huge bar with an outdoor stage!). We found a place inside the bar to drink ice tea and visit with great friends, Joseph and Lynda Spellman aka Master Chief and wife.

A trip, cold in the beginning, full of unknowns, unsure of opportunities became a huge opportunity for Mission:M25 to one more time become a 'witness' of the church's thanks for our Freedom of Religion! If this opportunity comes to fruition we will be followed during the 're-build' on their website. This will broadcast our mission of THANKING THE VETERAN for our FREEDOM OF RELIGION!