Biker church and black church hold biracial service seeking healing, forgiveness

Posted by Roy Hoffman, Staff Report August 10, 2009

(Press-Register/Kate Mercer)Patrick Moran prays with Sondra Simmons as they participate in a Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, worship service between two congregations, Cave Ministries and Fresh Fire on the Mount Ministry, at Plateau Community Center.

PLATEAU, Ala. — Their hands waving in the air, singing and testifying, members of Cave Ministries of Saraland, a predominantly white church of motorcycle riders, joined members of Fresh Fire on the Mount, a mostly black church from Eight Mile, for a 3-hour extravaganza of music and prayer Sunday.

The service, at the Plateau Community Center in north Mobile, was symbolic of the need for racial healing in the nation, said organizer Rod Odom, a religious program host.

Odom, 49, who had introduced Cave Ministries preacher Bryan Jones to Fresh Fire’s pastor, Aaron McKinnis, said he had wanted to bring whites and blacks together for church since his boyhood during the civil rights movement. “Sunday mornings are still the most segregated time in America,” Odom said.

“The Lord can use ‘a wretch like me,'” Odom said of his mission to address that separation, borrowing a line from the spiritual, “Amazing Grace.”

Apart from their racial differences, the two churches had clearly different styles.

Members of Cave, largely adults, were dressed in the garb of their beloved motorcyle riding — bandannas, blue jeans, jackets reading “Soldiers of the Cross” or T-shirts imprinted “My Life, His Way.”

Fresh Fire congregants, a number of whom came in family groups, were decked out in Sunday best — long skirts, coats and ties.

The music, alternating between churches, varied, too. “It’s black and white,” said Jackie Jones, worship leader of the Cave.

Jones stood behind a microphone alongside another singer and belted out a foot-stomping Christian rock song, “I Am Free.”

Gussy Hoeft with Cave Ministries shows 2-year-old McKenzie Williams a motorcycle during a racial reconciliation event Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, in Plateau, Ala.