Riding with Purpose

How One Man Uses His Passion for Motorcycles to Share the Gospel

Keith Honeycutt

Joining the CMA

My relationship with the Christian Motorcycle Association (CMA) started approximately 5 years ago. I've always loved motorcycles and have ridden them on and off for most of my life. When my kids, Josh and Sheena, were young, my wife Gwen and I were moving back and forth from Florida, and we rode some there, and some here in Boone. Both Gwen and I enjoyed riding, but when our kids reached the age where they were actively involved with sports, activities, dances and such, Gwen and I realized that they needed all of our focus, so we sold the motorcycle.

Those years with the kids flew by. It seems like just yesterday that Gwen was packing sandwiches shaped like dinosaurs & hearts, Sheena was having sleepovers, and Josh was playing sports. Now Sheena lives in Asheville, NC and is captain of a roller derby team. Josh has two beautiful kids of his own, a boy and a girl. Nothing melts my heart more than to hear those grandchildren call me “G-daddy.”  

It had been twenty years since I rode a motorcycle. One sunny afternoon, my good friend and co-worker, Danny Critcher, asked me if I wanted to take his motorcycle for a spin. My wife jokingly says that I should have never taken that ride, because that's where it all began. My life would never be the same. I got "the fever" to ride again! I took the plunge and went out and bought a Harley, but little did I know at the time that God was going to use my love for riding to advance His kingdom. 

Danny Critcher and Kris Fowler were very influential in my decision to join the Christian Motorcycle Association. Soon after I joined the CMA, the Road Captain began to have some personal problems and decided that he could no longer serve in the CMA, so I was asked to be the Road Captain. The next year, I was asked to be the Chaplain for our local chapter. I really enjoyed that. Not long after, the CMA state leadership asked me to be a Prayer Warrior for the chapter, to help take care of prayer requests all across the state. Even more recently, the state leadership asked me to be the State Prayer Coordinator/Chaplain for State Leadership.

The CMA has allowed me to go in to places, because of a motorcycle and a black leather vest, that otherwise I would not be able to enter. The CMA has done such a great work, not only in the United States, but internationally. Their ministry is incredible. I feel truly honored to be a part of it. 

There are hundreds of CMA chapters across the United States. As prayer coordinator, I take in prayer requests from all over the country. Daytona Beach, Florida has a big bike week every year. The Prayer Coordinator from that state will call me up and say, "Hey, we've got a big bike week coming up, and we really need to cover this event in prayer." I'll pass that prayer request out to all the Prayer Warriors across the state, and then we'll begin praying. The prayers can be felt. 

Doors of Opportunity

About two years ago, I began praying the Prayer of Jabez, which is found in I Chronicles 4:10. Here’s what it says: O that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain (NKJV). That’s when all the CMA stuff started happening, and I really knew that God was the One calling me and placing me in the CMA. I told the Lord right then that if He would open doors of opportunity, we would walk through them together, and I would go wherever he led me.

God has really opened some doors. I told God at one point, not so long ago, that if he would open a door for a certain club, that I would be willing to go to that clubhouse and share the truth. God opened that door. I was able to stand in the midst of that clubhouse and share God's truth without fear. 

All throughout the Old Testament, God told His people not to fear. He told Gideon, He told Moses, He told Joshua, He told David and all of His kings, "I am with you." He told them to have peace and not to fear. I feel that peace. I have to admit that I have found myself in the midst of a few uncomfortable situations (with some of the bigger clubs) where I should have absolutely been fearful, but the living God that I serve removed every ounce of fear and replaced it with confidence. 

I have the opportunity to work at all kinds of rallies. Through these events I've been able to minister to so many. The back patch that I wear is respected, probably due to the fact that the CMA takes a neutral position. I'm proud to wear my patch. There's a saying... "If it’s not in your heart, don't wear it on your back. If you’re not willing to live it, breathe it, and die for it, don't wear it." 

“but the living God that I serve removed every ounce of fear and replaced it with confidence.”

Once, in Rockingham, NC, a guy let a word fly that he shouldn't have, and he apologized to me for it. He respected me because of my back-patch, and that means a lot. When these guys see our CMA patch, they feel safe. Because of my motorcycle and vest, I can walk right up to most bikers and start a conversation. It's almost as if my patch serves as a master-key to doors that would otherwise be locked.   

Mission to Serve

In my ministry, I often think of the story of Elijah. Elijah met with the prophets of Baal -- 450 against 1. That's stacking the odds against God. The prophets of Baal called, they screamed, they yelled, and they even cut themselves, but the Bible is very clear that there was no answer, no voice, there was nothing, but when Elijah called, everything changed! Right before Elijah prayed to the Lord, he said, "Why do you stand here between two decisions? If God is the Lord, then serve Him." Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but through me." In Acts 4:12 it says: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name in Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." That is one of my favorite verses. I know that I'm serving a living God. That's what gives me courage, that's what gives me strength. It gives me the ability not to be afraid and to march onward. 

I heard a story once that rocked my world. A guy from one of the big national motorcycle clubs shared his story with me. He had been away from home for a while, and decided to ride home from Southern California to Louisiana, to where his home was. When he got home, he went to a little Baptist church with his mother. While he was in church the Lord began to do a work in his heart, and he was under conviction, and he knew that he needed to do something. After church, they were standing outside and he was talking to some folks that he hadn't seen in a while, and one of the deacons in that church came up to him and said, "We don't want your kind here." It crushed this guy, and made him mad. He left that place, rode all the way back to California, and it was two years before somebody led him to Christ. Now he is back in North Carolina, in the ministry! He has given his life totally to Christ. He said, "I'm going to minister to the people that the church doesn't want."  

When he told me that story, it totally rang my bell! It spoke to me in volumes, because a lot of hard-core bikers are not going to church. Jesus said to go out into the highways and byways, and to compel them to come in. I feel like that's my mission, that's what God wants Keith Honeycutt to do. That really struck a chord with me. It's my driving force, it's my testimony.  

Somewhere between the prayer of Jabez and the testimony of that biker, God has called me and He's pushed me, He's opened doors that only God can open. I'm happy to say that it's been a "thrill ride" from the beginning. I've always loved to ride, it's a rush that only bikers can understand. Riding is awesome... riding with purpose is "Out of this world."

This article was originally written for the Winter 2013 Edition of The Journey Magazine.