The Rest of the Story: Daily Reports from Garvon Golden during the Sturgis Bike Rally

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

We had a great day at the rally. It seems that attendance this year is low at least for the first half of the week; maybe it will pick up later in the week. Today we shared the gospel with 441 people and 114 prayed to receive Christ. We have a Hispanic pastor who has shared in Spanish to several Latino bikers and many of them have received Christ.  He won one couple to the Lord from the Dominican Republic. One fellow came under the booth and prayed to receive Christ.  When the person who shared began to sign him up for the bike, he told him he didn't need the bike, that what he really needed he had just received. Amen! One gentleman shared with a father and his two sons and all three prayed to receive Jesus.  We have trained over 150 people on how to give evangelistic testimonies. There are many stories of victories and ministry opportunities to hurting people. So for the entire week we have shared the gospel with 1741 individuals and we have had 341 people pray to receive Christ. We had to close the booth early tonight because of weather. We look forward to tomorrow, to see how God works.  God is good! 

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Wednesday we shared the gospel with over 700 people and 170 people prayed to receive Christ!  The total for the week for gospel presentations has reached over 2400 and 509 have prayed to receive Christ. God is working! Pray for our volunteers as they come to the booth to share their stories, that God will bring more bikers under our tent and that they will be open to hearing the Gospel, and respond in a positive way.  Two and a half more days—we are praying for 500 more to receive Christ!  

Friday, August 7, 2009

Someone has likened sharing your testimony at the Sturgis bike giveaway booth to picking an apple off a tree. Bikers come under the tent ready to listen for three minutes so they can sign up to win the bike. Some come in watching their watch very strictly, determined to give only three minutes. But for some the watch arm vanishes as the Holy Spirit begins to work in their lives and time is no longer important, and soon they are bowing their heads and inviting Jesus into their lives. In fact, one fellow said it is like touching an apple and watching it fall into your hand.  What a great opportunity to learn to share your testimony, and then have three hours to share it with one person after another—the ultimate on-the-job training!  One person shared, “Hey, if I can do this at Sturgis, then I know I can do this back at home in my community."  Yesterday was another great day. We shared with 869 people and 155 prayed to receive Christ. With one full day left we have shared with over 3200 and have had 669 pray to receive Christ. Thanks for your prayers and all the volunteers who have shared their stories with bikers. God has done a great work here and we are still praying for  1,000 decisions for Christ.  

Saturday, August 8, 2009

We survived a hail storm yesterday to share our stories with 740 people and 157 prayed to receive Christ.  Today we will have the drawing for the bike at 11:00 am.  Pray for us as we share this morning before the drawing. Pray for the follow up on these people who have prayed to receive Christ.  So far we have shared with 4323 and have had 822 pray to receive Christ.  Thanks for your prayers; a final report will come later today.  

Later . . .

We finished our Sturgis Bike Giveaway Ministry for 2009 today at 11:00 am. We gave the bike to a young man from Gillette, Wyoming. He was 20 minutes away and came immediately to claim his new bike. He was shared with in the booth and was already a believer.  However, he is not in a church at this point and was overwhelmed when I told him how God had used this bike to touch people's lives. As we were waiting for him to arrive, two of his friends came to see the bike he had won at the booth. They were jumping around admiring the bike, marveling at their friend’s good fortune when one of them said, “Wow!  I bet David will love God now!"  We had a great time of sharing with the winner and his Mom as they waited for his father to come load the bike up and get it home. 

We shared with them our stories and asked if we could share their names with a church in Gillette to contact them. They were open to that. Pray that this bike that was a tool in touching so many lives will also touch this young man and his family.  May the testimony of what has happened at Sturgis this year resound to many others as this young man is asked how he got this bike. God has a way of getting his message out in a variety of ways. We ended the ministry with a total of 4393 presentations of the Gospel and 836 people prayed with someone in the booth to receive Christ. Praise God for how He worked and thank you all for your prayers this week.  

Garvon Golden is the Sharing Christ Team Leader for the Dakota Baptist Convention.