By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal

When at least 50 bikers hopped on their motorcycles and drove 90 miles Saturday, it was for much more than a joy ride.

Bikers For Christ raised roughly $4,000 for Teen Challenge, a Chrisitian ministry that helps addicts get clean through a one-year long faith-focused residential program. Teen Challenge program director Bruce Purvis was thankful for all the money Bikers for Christ raised for his ministry.

Purvis and nearly all of his Teen Challenge staff are graduates from the Teen Challenge program themselves. Purvis said that 11 years ago, he was saved by the program after battling drug addiction.

“I had a lot to thank God for, and the Teen Challenge definitely facilitated all of that,” Purvis said.

Nowadays, Purvis stays true to his faith by mentoring drug addicts of all ages at Teen Challenge and keeping them from going down the same road he once went down.

“It’s a blessing to give back. It’s a blessing to be able to tell a student, ‘I know exactly what you’re going through,” Purvis said.

Teen Challenge, which has been around Selma for seven years, had 27 people graduate from the program in the last year. Purvis said there is an 86 percent success rate of those who enter the program.

Purvis wasn’t the only person at the Saturday’s event who said he was saved through his involvement ministry.

Dallas County Bikers For Christ Elder Larry Poe said joining Bikers For Christ has strengthened his faith as well. Poe had a family member who battled drug addiction and was saved through a ministry similar to Teen Challenge. Poe wanted more people to experience what his family member went through.

“He went through the same type of ministry, so it made it personal for me, and that’s why I felt like it was a good thing for us to support,” Poe said.

Bikers For Christ gives bikers a chance to use their faith to create a family amongst one another and help others in need.

The bikers were successful in raising money to change others’ lives Saturday. Poe said his life was changed simply by joining Bikers For Christ and has affected the way he approaches each day.

“My primary purpose on earth now is to minister for Jesus Christ, to take care of my wife and kids and then everything else comes after that,” Poe said. “It’s a lifestyle for me.”

Poe invites anyone in the Selma area interested in Biker’s For Christ’s benefits for next year to get in touch with him at 375-5611 or visit bikersforchrist.org.