Rusty Rawls
By Suzanne O'Keeffe, 700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –FREEDOM
The first Freedom Biker Church, not a club or ministry but church, was started in July of 2006 on the side of the road in Johnston County, North Carolina. Their focus in to connect with the fellow bikers who don't attend church and don't have a relationship with Jesus. Today there are 13 churches from West Virginia to Louisiana and one as far away as Vancouver, CA. Most however are found throughout North Carolina. Each church is independent but they contain the "original model for FBC..."
Freedom Biker Church in Virginia Beach began about a year ago. Pastor Rusty Rawls is now focused on taking a "once-troubled nightclub spot" located in the Great Bridge section of Chesapeake, Va., and creating a place for the Lord and his church. Blakely's Nightclub was originally a country music dance place that over the years eventually became another club that led to rowdy behavior and increased criminal problems. The name of this location is now Seven Cities Freedom Bikers Church, and is called that because there are seven cities near the church that they hope to reach. Although the appeal is to bikers, they welcome anyone who cares to attend. The key is to have an open mind while recognizing this is a different community of people who "are all about real relationship with Jesus Christ, and are passionate about the open road."
Having been a former Nags Head police officer and a private detective, Rawls is familiar with the territory that comes with the off-color behavior of clubs. However this location is "turning into something that is good." Today the 11,000 square foot building no longer carries alcohol and trouble, but serves those who attend and who are looking for a place where their appearance does not cause them to be looked at twice. Normal appearance for this body of believers and those searching for the Lord is the black leather and jeans that is associated with the term "biker." No one is looked at strangely or disapprovingly for any array of tattoos. It has been said that bikers, motorcyclist that is, will encounter Jesus and "get full of the Holy Spirit." On their website is this description: "We are a brotherhood of bikers bound by a faith relationship in Jesus Christ, a passion for bikers and the freedom of the open road; bikers reaching bikers with the message of true freedom in Jesus Christ."