Emily Graves spoke with Tribe of Judah

Bob: By being there and riding with the lads; by showing that we can ride and have similar machines to them, rather than some old thing that fell off the back of a wagon; by presenting ourselves in the way they present themselves.

The actual bikers that we deal with - and it's more bikers than motorcyclists and there's a slight difference on that: the bikers are hard bikers and riders. He doesn't put his bike away in September and take it out at Easter - he rides all year. We have to make friends with them and the only way you make friends with them is being amongst them and showing them that you do the same as they do and you ride the same way. But some of those men are in particular groups and particular gangs - and I have to be careful I don't start naming names here - but you will recognise them by the things they wear on their back and the kind of people they are. They were based really out of the military, so they tend to be a military-based organisation. They weren't all from the army, please hear me on that, but the organisation, the structure tends to be more military: they have presidents and vice presidents but they have sergeants and they have road captains and so on and it's quite well-organised and well-structured. You don't just get in it, you don't just join it: you have to be accepted into it and once they've decided that you are acceptable you get to wear half of the back patch and you're called a prospect, it's like an apprentice, and then when you've earned that you will get your full patch and you're accepted as a full member of that particular bike back patch club.

We do the same thing, but some of our lads, because we are training ministers, (they're not joining a club) - Tribe of Judah is a motorcycle ministry and so we're training ministers, so it could take two, three, four, five years to become a fully back-patched member of the Tribe of Judah. I think somebody said it's easier to get a submarine insured with a canvas top than it is to get into the Tribe of Judah, because we are not training lads just to ride bikes: we're training ministers, ministers who have to know the biker lifestyle, but also to be sensitive enough to know when to speak and when not to speak; when to enter into a conversation and when to stand back. The kind of Christian that wades in: 'Do you know Jesus?', you may find you get to meet him sooner than you wanted to, because some of these people can be violent, so you've got to be very careful how you handle those situations. I'm not saying all of them, please hear me, but there are people out there who are dangerous, as there are in any walk of life, but they tend to move towards the motorcycle groups because they can be accepted for who they are - no matter what shape or size or age or whatever, they're accepted and the violent ones can also be accepted. You don't get into their faces: you have to earn respect and earn favour and earn honour and bit by bit and little by little we've been accepted into some of their clubhouses, which is a private place: you can't walk in off the street to some of these places. We've been accepted and we've been invited and we get invites to their places because they like us - and also because at times we do wedding blessings and we do children's dedications, which is also interesting: you've got some big bikers who want to dedicate their child to Christ and you don't think of it, you don't put the two together. We also, unfortunately, we have to do the other end when we do the funerals as well.

Emily: So being an example of Jesus when you're meeting with people is really important?

Bob: Absolutely. We have to be a little bit whiter than white - cleaner than clean. We have to show ourselves to be something like them, but not like them: like them but different. Jesus went amongst the sinners but he didn't enter into sin. He was completely free from sin all of his life and he said: Look lads, there's a way to do this: follow me and I'll show you how to live this life. So when we become changed through Christ, it's in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit we get the power to overcome the previous life. We can't just turn over a new leaf: we need something to overcome the sin and it's that power from Christ that comes in through the Holy Spirit. We just tell these lads: Look, there's a way you can live a life of joy, of freedom and be completely free of those things, whether it's sin, whether it's sickness, debt, depression or death itself. Christ overcame death itself and we just show lads this is the way forward. We can show you how to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and be set free completely from your sin. Across the world we've seen so many lives changed. Men, hard-drinking, drug-abusing, sexually motivated men, who have been set free totally, who have become good husbands, good fathers to their family: total, radical changes - and that's through Christ in them.

Emily: So what are some of your hopes for the future?

Bob: More of the same. I think I'd like to see more - if I talk about more chapters, I don't want just chapters for the sake of it: it's more chapters because more people have been saved into Christ, more people who get involved with the Tribe from out of that world system. But I want to see people saved. I want to see people set free from debt and depression and all those things. I want people to meet Jesus like I did. I was an addict for ten years before I met Jesus. So if you go back 30 or 40 years I was not a nice guy and I did things if I were to look back I would regret. Praise God I've been set free from my regrets as well as everything else, I've been set free from my sin: I've been forgiven for it through Christ. My word, I did some things I wouldn't like to advertise on the radio. So we just want to do that: we want to show people there's another way.

Emily: So if anybody wants to find out more how can they do so?

Bob: www.tribeofjudah.com - there's everything on there.