Riding for the Son

“Doesn’t that sound good?” he asks smiling.

Secrist, who plans to put many miles on his bike now that the long winter is behind him, has always had a passion for the shiny, two-wheeled machine.

“Ever since I was 11 years old, I’ve had two wheels with a motor,” he said.

But, he has had an even a greater love in life of 54 years — Jesus Christ.

To join his two passions, Secrist became a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association, a ministry organization that partners with three other ministries — Jesus Film Project, Missionary Ventures, and Open Doors —to spread the Gospel around the world. The group extends an Evangelistic outreach primarily, but not exclusively, to the motorcycling community. CMA members can be found in 27 countries, with about 1,050 chapters in the United States.

Secrist said his involvement with CMA came in 2002 after his classmate, Don Schmidbauer, “received Jesus as his Lord.” To celebrate, they jumped on their bikes and took a motorcycle ride to the Black Hills in South Dakota.

“Almost every place we stopped, somebody would ask us who we rode for,” Secrist said.

Although they didn’t have a distinct answer for the curious onlookers, he said they had heard about the CMA organization and made various attempts to contact the chapter in Superior, Wis., to inquire about memberships.

“We happened to be in Keystone, S.D., and as we were checking into a motel and lady come up to us and asked us, ‘Who do you ride for?’” he remembered. “We told her we didn’t ride for anybody, but we were trying to get involved with CMA.”

To Secrist’s luck, the woman had a son involved with organization. In fact, he was the president of a chapter in Arkansas.

“By the time we got home, we had letters of membership at our homes,” he said.

Eventually, in 2004, CMA membership in the International Falls and Fort Frances area grew enough that Chapter 811 The Frozen Chosen was established.

“What a feeling it was to be chaptered,” Secrist said. “It was a blessing of a day.”

Secrist now proudly wears his CMA back patch and shares his experiences and teachings whenever given the chance.

The motorcycle, simply put, is the ministry’s tool to spread the Gospel — meaning the good news of Jesus, he said

“People are interested in motorcycles,” he said. “They come up and talk to us. When they do approach us, we have a chance to minister to them. We ride for Jesus Christ. We ride for the Son.”

Secrist emphasized that the CMA is an interdenominational organization and welcomes people of all faiths. The group holds monthly chapter meetings and a Saturday ride that will take off from the Falls Dairy Queen at 10 a.m. weekly, beginning May 14.

In previous years, members of the Borderland CMA have taken rides on Sundays following church services.

“Going on Sunday limited us to how much time we could spend on the road,” Secrist said.

The CMA organization also holds annual fundraisers to support major international efforts. The U.S. and Canada chapters hold annual “Run for the Sun” fundraisers and raised more than $4 million in 2010.

Secrist hopes this year’s fundraiser, to held on May 7, will bring in more money than last year.

“We will be leaving from Hardee’s at 9 a.m. and headed to Bemidji,” Secrist said of this year’s event. “Anyone is welcome to come with us, even if they don’t have a bike. They can join in a car, if they’d like.”

The group sends money raised from “Run for the Sun” to missionaries and have Bibles and soundtracks printed for the CMA ministry.

CMA supports Brother Andrew, an organization that smuggles Bibles into countries where they are banned. Members support the Jesus Film Project, which uses video to teach the Bible to the illiterate in more than 400 spoken languages. The group also funds Missionary Ventures, which supports rural missionaries around the world with bikes, horses and boats.

Within The Frozen Chosen chapter, 12 teams work to spread the word of Christ.

“My wife, Sharron, and I are in the prison ministry, or the ‘Jail Team’,” he said. “I go to the jail every Thursday and minister to the men there. When there is a lady who wants to be talked to, my wife goes. When we are able to talk to someone about Jesus, it is like God opening up a door for us.”

During his discussion about ministering to others, Secrist was brought to tears.

“Usually I don’t have much expression in my face because I have Parkinson’s,” he said. “But when God is working through me, people see it in my eyes. When you work for the master, it is exciting.”

Secrist added although the CMA members are a Christian group, a negative stereotype follows them.

“Even in our own church,” he said. “One Sunday, wearing our leathers, we collected money. There was kind of a rumble in the church that people were unhappy about bikers.”

Secrist said he hopes The Frozen Chosen can overcome the negative biker stereotype within the community and that there is a positive turnout for CMA’s group rides on Saturdays. He said as long as people have a way to get around, they are welcome to join.

“We’re all God’s children,” he said. “Why shouldn’t we all come together to serve Him and ride for His Son?”