JC and US MINISTRIES
To Bikers and Others
Rich
and Jennie Hardesty
6594 Point Pleasant Road, Elk Grove, CA 95757
(916) 599 – 0705 -- www.
jcandusminstries.com
Non – Profit Federal Tax ID No. - 94-3372919
* NOTE* Left Click On Any Photo to see a Larger View
JULY And AUGUST 2005
Greetings;
This newsletter is different than we thought it might have been.
There was no Sturgis outreach for Rich and Jennie. Jennie’s mother Tillie went home to heaven August 5th. The write up of her life, which we had placed in the newspaper, we are enclosing with this newsletter. Also Eric Towle’s dad went home to heaven shortly after our last newsletter went out. Our hearts and prayers were in Sturgis and the Lord was there as well. It is His Ministry not ours. We have been inviting Al Kuhn, a member of J C and Us Ministries, for years to go with us to Sturgis. This year we hardly had said anything about it to him, but the Holy Spirit did. About two weeks before the Sturgis Rally was to start Al called up and said he would like to go. At that time we didn’t know if we would be able to attend, but he still wanted to go. Al invited David to go with him and another member of J C and Us Ministries Eric Towle went along as well. With Eric’s knowledge of the do’s and don’t of the biking world they were in good hands. Here is their report. In South Dakota we stayed at the Gentle Eagle Manor a campground about five miles from downtown Sturgis that is operated by Pastor Bob and his wife Chris. The campground is opened to both Christians and non-christians alike so an opportunity for outreach is right in your backyard. Each morning there is free coffee and donuts in the main hall where we would sit around and talk and get to know each other. Late in the afternoon Al would fire up his big bar-b-que that they towed back there and cook up a free dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips soda and sometimes even rib eye or tri-tip for anyone who came around. Across the street is one of the biggest party camps in Sturgis and even some of them came. When you “stomp into someone’s campsite to preach at them” the walls can go up pretty quick, but when you share a meal together, sharing is just part of it. There was a lot of sharing in camp; everything from a short testimony to the complete gospel message was shared at various times and at least one person prayed to receive the Lord. God used the bar-b-que as a tool to draw people together and we hope to have it every year.
After the Bar-B-Que Eric would ride his "Motor" in and park on Main Street to be Available for Whatever God wanted to do. Two Major walls that hinder bikers from receiving the gospel are " Christians are Crazy", and there were a few there proving that theory, and "Christians don't have any Fun" and some were proving that as well. Eric rides a motorbike (Moped) that he built to look like a Circa 1900 motorbike, and wears clothing from about that time period with nothing to identify him as a Christian at first glance
. There are hundreds of thousands of motorcycle at Sturgis which blur
together so that you can’t see the forest for the trees, but one bike stands
out in the crowd and hundreds, even thousands of people would stop by to take a
picture or talk to Eric about his bike, motorcycling and the good ole days.
After they see that Eric is just a “normal” guy out having a lot of fun he
directs them to read his gas tank. Painted on his bright yellow gas tank are
these black letters that no one can read. The black are not letters they frame
the name JESUS. He tells them to, “focus on the light not the dark, because
there is no hope in darkness”. People stare at it awhile and then their faces
light up in amazement as JESUS appears on the tank. Eric looks at them and says,
“Jesus was there the whole time you just didn’t see it. Jesus is here all
the time…” There was a lot of ministry done in Sturgis this year and we are
all looking forward to next year.