{"id":77880,"date":"2016-07-08T07:49:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T12:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=77880"},"modified":"2016-07-09T07:56:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T12:56:07","slug":"vw-biker-church-to-provide-non-judgmental-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/07\/08\/vw-biker-church-to-provide-non-judgmental-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"Biker church: No dress code, no judging"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

After more than two decades of riding the nation\u2019s highways on his Harley bringing\u00a0the Gospel to motorcycle clubs, biker evangelist Steve \u201cSlowride\u201d Haskin is looking to establish a spiritual home here in Van Wert.<\/p>\n

\"Pastor<\/a>
Pastor Steve “Slowride” Haskin poses on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.<\/strong> (photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the people coming to this church will probably be people who don\u2019t go to church on a regular basis,\u201d he said, but added they will be people \u201clooking for something they can believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new church is an idea whose time has come, Pastor Haskin added, noting that Van Wert is a perfect site\u00a0for 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 \u201calways looking for an excuse to go for a ride\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Haskin's<\/a>
Haskin’s “These ARE my church clothes’ patch says it all about his church’s dress code.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve ministered to most of your major clubs around the country and around here, been to a lot of the major parties and functions,\u201d Haskin said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also received invitations from national clubs (to attend their functions).\u201d<\/p>\n

Haskin said he feels that acceptance comes from the reputation he has acquired over the years as someone who \u201cwalks the walk\u201d and doesn\u2019t judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re real, then they enjoy you being around,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are approachable, we\u2019re a touchy-feely ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haskin said he also gains respect from being a military veteran, noting that veterans originally formed many of the major clubs.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This picture from Revelations is the inspiration for the Whitehorse Ministry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been to some of the biker churches and they\u2019ve 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,\u201d Haskin noted.<\/p>\n

In fact, the biker pastor said his church would have a very informal dress code: \u201cJust wear clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with a Gospel message, the Whitehorse evangelist said his biker church would center on mutual respect, no matter what a person\u2019s background is, and the absence of judgment.<\/p>\n

The Whitehorse evangelist said church services would initially take place in Wurst\u2019s living room, which can hold approximately 50 people. He also noted that Wurst and his wife have a reputation for \u201cbirthing churches\u201d — this is the fourth starter church the couple has nurtured (three of the other four are still operating).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, while the new church will have modest beginnings, Haskin said he feels the church will \u201cexplode\u201d as bikers and other \u201cunchurched\u201d people discover the message he preaches. Knowing how the biker world operates, though, Haskin doesn\u2019t expect people to just start walking in the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t \u2018we\u2019re opening the doors, ya\u2019ll come,\u2019 we\u2019ve got to go out and get \u2018em,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s message.<\/p>\n

Haskin said he sees his congregation as a \u201cmelting pot\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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 \u2026 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,\u201d Haskin said. \u201cTo create an atmosphere where all these people can come together, worship God, learn about God, and not be judged.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether your hair is long, whether you have tattoos, body piercings, I don\u2019t care what you did twenty years ago,\u201d he added. \u201cI don\u2019t care who you are, what your reputation is, just come and let God be God.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis will be a church of involvement,\u201d Haskin said, noting that congregation members will be involved in a number of community organizations.<\/p>\n

He also said he hoped that other local ministers will pray for his church\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all about souls, this is all about building God\u2019s kingdom,\u201d Haskin explained. \u201cWe\u2019re going to reach an element that they will not reach; they will reach people we cannot reach, but we\u2019re all about doing the Lord\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor After more than two decades of riding the nation\u2019s highways on his Harley bringing\u00a0the Gospel to motorcycle clubs, biker evangelist Steve \u201cSlowride\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 05:49:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}