A Seventh-day Adventist biker recently helped to prevent a woman from committing suicide in a Brazilian city. This is just one of the high-impact actions members of the Adventist Motorcycle Ministry in Brazil (AMM-Brazil) have accomplished as they ride around, talking to people, praying, and caring for their needs.
Ministry leaders said that AMM has around 3,000 members across that South American country. The group is supported by the Federation of Adventist Entrepreneurs.
In the nine years since they began to ride the roads on their motorcycles, members of AMM-Brazil have led more than 300 people through baptism. They have delivered books, organized Life and Health fairs, and held various community events in central squares and motorcycle dealerships.
AMM-Brazil president José Juvenal Vieira Júnior said the ministry members attend events of other motorcycle clubs, and vice versa. “We invite them to our meetings and challenge them to stay a weekend with us without smoking or drinking,” he said. This was the case of Almir Bergamini, who was baptized at Indaiatuba Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in São Paulo State in early 2022. After belonging to other motorcycle clubs, he is now an AMM-Brazil member.
Street Impact
AMM-Brazil members recently rode to Tatuí, also in São Paulo State, where the Adventist Church’s Brazil Publishing House (CPB) is located. They visited the town April 3-4, in time for the launch of the Impact Hope 2022 outreach initiative. That weekend, church members across the eight countries comprising the South American Division of the Adventist Church went out to the streets to distribute free magazines and books with messages of comfort to the community.
In 2022, church members distributed copies of Clifford Goldstein’s book, The Last Invitation. As in previous years, AMM-Brazil was given customized copies with an illustration of a motorcycle on the cover, especially designed to be delivered to other motorcyclists. “We ride along the roads and we honk as we give away books to people,” Vieira Júnior said.
Preventing a Suicide
Motorcyclists in the ministry rode to Iperó, a town near Tatuí, to carry out Impact Hope. At that time one of the Adventist riders spotted a woman crying in the street. He approached her and offered help. As they were talking, he found out that she had decided to take her life and was about to proceed with it.
The woman, who worked caring for seniors, felt she could open her heart. “I have lost all hope,” she told him. According to her, serious health problems in one of her sons and regular family quarrels had taken her to a point of no return.
Motorcycle ministry members managed to calm her with words of comfort and fervent prayer. “You belong to Jesus,” the AMM-Brazil Rescue Project director told her. Vieira Júnior shared that the woman finally said she had changed her mind — she would not kill herself after all. “Now she is being supported by the local Adventist church, which is monitoring her case. She has even decided to begin Bible studies,” he said.
The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.
