Biker church: No dress code, no judging

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

After more than two decades of riding the nation’s highways on his Harley bringing the Gospel to motorcycle clubs, biker evangelist Steve “Slowride” Haskin is looking to establish a spiritual home here in Van Wert.

His church, Whitehorse Biker Church, will begin services Sunday, July 17, to provide a place of refuge and positive, non-judgmental Christianity for people in the area.

“Most of the people coming to this church will probably be people who don’t go to church on a regular basis,” he said, but added they will be people “looking for something they can believe in.”

The new church is an idea whose time has come, Pastor Haskin added, noting that Van Wert is a perfect site for the Whitehorse Biker Church because of its centralized location between Fort Wayne, Indiana, Defiance, and Lima. Being approximately an hour or less from a large number of biker clubs and communities is a plus, Haskin said, since bikers are “always looking for an excuse to go for a ride”.

Haskin, a man large in stature as well as faith, named his Whitehorse Ministry in the mid-1990s after being inspired by a painting showing a scene from Revelations 19:11 of Jesus returning to earth on a white horse — so inspired he still wears that picture today on the back of his biker leathers.

A Vietnam veteran and former motorcycle club member himself, with all that entails, Haskin later found God and decided to use his club connections to help those in the biker world who needed spiritual healing. Today, Haskin is one of the few evangelists who is offered open access to just about any major biker club in America.

“We’ve ministered to most of your major clubs around the country and around here, been to a lot of the major parties and functions,” Haskin said. “We’ve also received invitations from national clubs (to attend their functions).”

Haskin said he feels that acceptance comes from the reputation he has acquired over the years as someone who “walks the walk” and doesn’t judge.

“If you’re real, then they enjoy you being around,” he added. “We are approachable, we’re a touchy-feely ministry.”

Haskin said he also gains respect from being a military veteran, noting that veterans originally formed many of the major clubs.

The new church will meet initially in the large living room of Van Wert resident and former fire captain Roger Wurst, who lives at 744 Liberty St. Haskin said Wurst has been following his biker ministry over the years and has also attended other biker churches in the area.

“They’ve been to some of the biker churches and they’ve seen God moving in a little different atmosphere: more relaxed for the common person, less formality; the Gospel still being taught, but in more of a laidback atmosphere,” Haskin noted.

In fact, the biker pastor said his church would have a very informal dress code: “Just wear clothes.”

Along with a Gospel message, the Whitehorse evangelist said his biker church would center on mutual respect, no matter what a person’s background is, and the absence of judgment.

The Whitehorse evangelist said church services would initially take place in Wurst’s living room, which can hold approximately 50 people. He also noted that Wurst and his wife have a reputation for “birthing churches” — this is the fourth starter church the couple has nurtured (three of the other four are still operating).

Furthermore, while the new church will have modest beginnings, Haskin said he feels the church will “explode” as bikers and other “unchurched” people discover the message he preaches. Knowing how the biker world operates, though, Haskin doesn’t expect people to just start walking in the door.

“This isn’t ‘we’re opening the doors, ya’ll come,’ we’ve got to go out and get ‘em,” he explained.

To do that, Haskin is planning to have a presence at area events, including the Van Wert County Fair and Van Wert Ribfest, for example, to acquaint the general public with his church’s message.

Haskin said he sees his congregation as a “melting pot”.

“There will some people who come in from the club world who know us, there will be some people who come in from the motorcycle partying world … and then we have a lot of people that, unfortunately, have been hurt in other churches over the years, there are a lot of wounded, broken pieces, and our job is a healing and restoration ministry,” Haskin said. “To create an atmosphere where all these people can come together, worship God, learn about God, and not be judged.

“Whether your hair is long, whether you have tattoos, body piercings, I don’t care what you did twenty years ago,” he added. “I don’t care who you are, what your reputation is, just come and let God be God.”

Because a sense of community is all-important to the biker world, Haskin said, his church will also be involved in the local community.

“This will be a church of involvement,” Haskin said, noting that congregation members will be involved in a number of community organizations.

He also said he hoped that other local ministers will pray for his church’s success.

“This is all about souls, this is all about building God’s kingdom,” Haskin explained. “We’re going to reach an element that they will not reach; they will reach people we cannot reach, but we’re all about doing the Lord’s work.”