Odessa American Article
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
Hammer down with his bike, Bible and bride of 35 years, the Odessa man is one of nine motorcycle chaplains with the Assembly of God U.S. Missions. “We’re all ordained ministers who have been pastors — I’m basically a missionary that works with bikers,” he said.
At 6 foot 2 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, the longhaired Gryder works full-time with the HonorBound Motorcycle Ministry, traveling nationwide with his 99 Vulcan Nomad to spread a Christian message.
HonorBound is unique from other ministries, Gryder said, in that they are committed to local churches.
“Most of what bike ministries have done in the past is just evangelism, but we want to take it to the next level and take these guys who are getting saved and get them plugged-in to churches,” he said. “It’s one thing to get them saved, but it’s another thing to mature them as disciples of Jesus Christ.”
Although Gryder and his wife Janet receive monthly support as Assembly of God missionaries, the couple crosses denominations to speak at Baptist, Methodist, Disciples of Christ and Presbyterian churches with the biker ministry.
“Chaplains, by the nature of who they are and what they do, work across denominational lines,” he said. “My main focus is getting these guys saved and into a church.”
A motorcycle rider since he was “a young guy,” Gryder said he has found his niche reaching the biker groups though it took some persuading to leave his church job in McCamey.
“It took four years for me to say yes, but I had an opportunity with this to make a national impact,” he said.
Labeled in a culture that is territorial, very loyal, mostly patriotic and big into partying hard, Gryder said many bikers, even Christian ones, shy away from churches because of ridicule. “A lot of times they don’t feel comfortable — we’re trying to build a nationwide database of churches that are biker friendly,” he said.
Being part of the HonorBound ministry itself requires a commitment to following Jesus through a church — making it more than just a hangout for motorcycle fans.
“They have to be drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free for a year and a pastor has to sign off that they faithfully attend and financially support the church. They also have to attend a personal evangelism course so they can reach someone for Christ,” Gryder said. “I’m about training people for ministry.”
The Rev. Darrell Trout, senior pastor of Harvest Time Church, said he has known the Gryders for years and began supporting the biker ministry right from the start.
“It’s very effective — it reaches out to a lot of people,” he said. “Our church was really open because I have the mindset as a pastor that what we do outside of the church is more important than what we do within it.”
Trout said his church is open to accepting people from all avenues of life — something Jesus was known for in his earthly ministry.
“We feel like (Jesus would) be hanging out with the biker riders in the out and out,” Trout said. “Bikers should be able to walk right in and sit on the front row with their tattoos on their neck or arm and not be looked down on.”
Motorcycle Chaplain Mark Rittermeyer from Lakeland, Fla., said the group participates in national rides and rallies to build a consistent rapport with bikers they’re hoping to influence. “We do various bike events at local churches and anywhere else. Basically wherever they’ll gather bikes, we’ll show up,” he said.
The chaplains’ life-style evangelism provides opportunities to share hope in a personal faith in Christ, Rittermeyer said.
“There will be an accident, a death, a fire, some traumatic experience that happens, and they don’t know who to call on. But they remember the preacher guy, and they call us,” he said. “We share with them that there is hope beyond their situation.
“Our goal is not to take people out of church but to disciple them so that they will remain in church and be a productive part of it,” he said.