If Any Man Be In Christ He is A New Creature I was saved when I was 11 years old, was Baptised and became a member of the 1st Baptist Church in Waldo Arkansas. After about a year I transfered my membership to the 1st Methodist Church which was a block away. The Methodist Church had a much more active teen ministry. I went to Church every time the door opened. I was eager to learn more about my Lord Jesus and how to be a good Christian. I attended and was very active in that Church until I entered the Air Force. I was moved around so much the first year or so that I got out of the habit of going to Church. While stationed in Warner Robbins, Gerogia, I met a young lady who would later become my wife. She was the piano player for a small Methodist Church, Pitts chapel in Macon Georgia. I attended regularly with her until I was sent to Germany for the last two years of my tour. We got engaged before I left and got married two years later, when I returned from Germany. Meanwhile, I was really lost in a foreign culture, went TDY four times and had three permanent changes of station. To hide the way I felt, I started drinking for the first time in my life. That's waht everybody else was doing and I wanted to fit in. Within a couple of months drinking became the most important part of my life. I literally worked at my Air Force job and stayed drunk the rest of the time. I felt bulletproof and wasn't so lonely when I was drinking. Diane and I got married 23 days after I hit american soil again, and we settled in Macon Georgia, her home town. We spent a lot of time in the church and became good friends with the Pastor and his wife. I formed a choir and and acted as choir director for the next year and a half. That's when I felt the call of God to preach. I made this known to my Church, was voted on and presented to the District Superintendant of the United Methodist Church. I was immediately assigned two Churches, Mt. Moriah and Keysville United Methodist Churches, which were 7 miles apart in the middle of nowhere, 60 miles from Augusta, Georgia. I was completely in charge of both Churches as their Pastor. I order to Pastor the Churches, I had to go to college full time. They called me a student Pastor, but I had no one to teach me. I felt I was called to be a fisher of men, not a politician, so after two years there I resigned and moved to Augusta and became a full time student. I had had it with God, I just couldn't find the power I needed to continue on. By this time I had become an agnostic and decided to do things Satans way. He made Sin look so sweet and prospered me and showed me how to gain an emense amount of power. I followed satan into 15 years of alcohol, drugs and sex. After going through three wives, I finally came to my senses. I had virtually lost everything. I decided to give God another chance. Probably for the first time in my adult life I was teachable. By this time I had gone through many drastic changes, the greatest of which was that I had left the three piece business suit world I had lived in for 15 years and opened Arkansas' first licensed Tattoo Studio, Altered Images Tattooing in Little Rock, Arkansas. I spent the next year working the shop and studying the Bible. I was determined to know what the Bible said how to gain enough power as a Christian to keep Satan at bay. I learned a lot about the Bible in that year, but I was still missing something. Wouldn't you know it, I got weak and decided to try the world one more time. This almost turned out to be a fatal decision. I was completely controlled by drugs until, I literally had nothing left. Physically or mentally. I had a lot of Bibical knowledge, but I didn't have a working relationship with Jesus Christ. i finally followed what God was telling me to do and entered the VA Drug Rehab program. Through this program and spending a lot of time in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, I finally figured out how to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I finally figured out that He was a loving God, not one who was really mad at me because of my sins, and my many failures I had trying to follow Him. He loved me enough to give His Son to die for me while I was yet in my sins. As soon as I repented, he forgave me, However I had to learn how to forgive myself. That was a tough one after all I had done. My sins were seperating me from God. Not because of Him, but because of me. When I finally forgave myself, I was free to love God and accept His love in return. It completely changed my life. In fact I met my beautiful wife Paula in the rooms of NA. I renewed my association with the Christian Motorcyclists Association. I had owned a bike of some sort all my life, except for the two years I was a Pastor. CMA just seemed to be the place for me. I knew the bikers and they new me. I was a part of that ministry for 15 years. I watched Highways and Hedges for several years. I knew Punkin before he got saved, and was amazed at what God was doing through him, and the Highways and Hedges Ministry. God kept telling me that was where I was supposed to be. So one day I stopped arguing with Him and called Punkin and asked if they would have me, and they did. I spent the first year or so, singing at the newly formed Biker Church, and at rallies and any other place they would let me. When the second church formed at Hardriders Custom Cycles Bar, I felt the call of God to preach again. I talked to Punkin about it and he agreed to let me share the preaching duties with Brother Glenn Russell. I eventually became the Pastor of the Church and I'm still there. Hardriders Biker Church will celebrate it's third anniversary in a couple of months. I am so blessed to be a part of it. Because of my past life I can identify with a lot of different people and what they are going through. God redeemed my wasted life and is now using it for His Glory. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, Behold all things are become new. God Bless You & Ride Safe!!! Tattoo Jim Smith |