The Birthing

The Birth of the Asphalt Apostles

In March of 2005, the Lord came to me during prayer and reading of the Word. He spoke to me and told me He wanted to birth a ministry that would be unlike anything we were accustomed to. It would be a family and an example to all, of God's true power and Lordship among believers.
I had been suffering from a major auto accident since 2001 and had no desire to have anything to do with ministry. I spoke to the Lord very clearly that I wanted no part of this. I wanted to be left alone and that He should talk to somebody else about it.
The following night I was awaken by God again. When he spoke to me, he said He wanted a family to be a witness of Him. I told Him that there were others more capable and worthy of this than me, and He should go tell one of them. He answered and said that He did, and they heard, but would not listen. I told Him that I did not want to run another motorcycle club and did not care to be in one. He said that all He was asking me to do was listen and share, what He would speak with those that would listen. He would take care of the rest. And with that, I went back to sleep.
Over the next two weeks I was awakened regularly as the Lord spoke His plan to me. This ministry was to be a family willing to do whatever He would speak, even if it defied human logic. Great, I'll tell them! He then began to tell me how He wanted it structured. First, it's family, real brothers and sisters with hearts that put others before themselves.
1. It is not a motorcycle club. The patch is for others to easily identify who and what you are.
2. There are no officers. Nobody is above anyone else. God is in charge. Direction on any issue will be given by the Lord thru prayer and agreement by the family. Every member has been given unique talents and abilities and a persons ministry makes room of itself. (Do what God made you good at)
3. There are no by-laws or consitiution. You are christians, followers of Christ. The word of God should be all you need. The Bible is not incomplete.
4. There is no striking or prospecting. God will lead those that He wants involved, it will manifest itself, and there will be unanimous agreement within members.
5. Accountability is to your church and to each other. The patch is not God. The patch is not church.
6. There is no clubhouse. The ministry is to go out, not hang out. The basis of the family is the banding of everyones personal ministries and the strengthening thru fellowship, corporate prayer, growth and support, encouragement from each other.
7. Meetings are open to all. The only business to be discussed is Gods, nobody elses so it doesn't matter who hears it.

So after I wrote all this down, I laughed and told God that there was no way it would work. People can't function without making up rules and having somebody in charge to tell everyone what to do, not even churches. He told me that He was God and could do things however He wanted. I just needed to trust Him and relay the message.
I began to put together a meeting of all those the Lord spoke and some He didn't, just in case He may have forgotten. During this time He showed me as well as two others, the patch. Our drawings were virtually identical. There was alot of controversy over the original drawing from within. I along with Billy Flick, went and spoke with the clubs about what was happening and why. A couple of interesting things happened. Even though there is a clamp down on flying a new patch in Western New York, we were told repeatedly that because of our reputation within
the community, we received blessing from all. The other interesting thing was that as we showed the patch, a number of the clubs suggested that we change one thing that was identical to something that was being used with their coalition patch. This very thing was what had so much contraversy with some from within. We were also asked to not wear our rockers "broken" since we were not an actual motorcycle club. It was very interesting to see the Lords hand in all of this. Many were driven away from joining the ministry because the patch was not how they felt it should be. The Lord allowed this in order to separate those that would place more importance on the patch than what the Lord would have done.
I shared all that the Lord had spoken to me, what He was expecting and how He was expecting it. There were those that said that it couldn't work, that God wouldn't do things that way, somebody needed to be in charge, the name was no good, etc. In the end, there were those that were Asphalt Apostles and those that weren't. And with that the ministry was birthed. I backed away, dealt with my health problems, which brought with it other problems and the ministry flourished and grew.
One last thing I would like to share. The vision for the patch was given to myself, Bill Flick and Ronnie Tomkins. Ronnie did the actual drawing as the Lord gave it to him, as well as Psalm 45:4. "Apostle" had been spoken very clearly to me. As I searched Apostle in the Strongs Concordence and read their limitations before Pentecost, and their mission and position after Pentecost, I couldn't help but laugh to myself. The drawing Ronnie had was the same patch, except the name he had was asphalt church. I asked him about it, he said he hadn't heard "church" spoken clearly, it was more like a feeling placed on his heart. We decided that since the Lord was clear on Apostle, that was what we would go with. But we knew that "church" was somehow important.
Fast forward to 2008. The Apostles have grown and prospered with no man in charge. Everything is discussed, prayed upon and decided unanimously. God has risen up individuals to accomplish specific tasks within the ministry.
During one of my recent bible studies, I learned that in the beginning of christianity in the first century, the church did not have an individual in charge. It was organized around elders and deacons. There was no vertical hierarchy of importance among elders until the second and third century. Until the Bishop of Constantinople demanded that he be honored as universal Bishop in the sixth century and the church of the apostles was no more.
The Lord had spoken in the beginning that He called the Asphalt Apostles to be an example. This example is for all the body of Christ, not just motorcycle clubs, ministries or bible study groups.
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fully framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. Ephesians 2:19-21