Ministry Spotlight

Saddle Lights Ministry Spotlight:
Why college students? Why Bible Study? Why Cycling?

Equipping students to deeply study God’s word and feed themselves with His truth is critical for changing the course of a generation and the future of the Church in America. Saddle Lights mission is to establish students on God’s word, and our vision is to see them living exemplary lives as followers of Christ. We know that the statistics we hear about our generation are true; but they’re symptoms, not the root problem. We’ll first share with you some of these statistics, and then explain why we believe what we’re doing will really get to the heart of the issue. So keep reading!

The Barna Group found that of younger generations in general:

Between 65% and 80% of the younger generations that profess to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, that were actively involved in their high school youth groups, have put their faith on the shelf during and after their college years.

“Among individuals who describe themselves as Christian, for instance, close to half believe that Satan does not exist, one-third contend that Jesus sinned while He was on earth, two-fifths say they do not have a responsibility to share the Christian faith with others, and one-quarter dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches.”
– “Christianity Is No Longer Americans’ Default Faith”, Barna.org

George Barna also commented on how he thought this information reflected the American society today. He said,

• “The Christian faith is less of a life perspective that challenges the supremacy of individualism as it is a faith being defined through individualism. Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible.

• Today, Americans are more likely to pit a variety of non-Christian options against various Christian-based views. This has resulted in an abundance of unique worldviews based on personal combinations of theology drawn from a smattering of world religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam as well as secularism.

• Faith, of whatever variety, is increasingly viral rather than pedagogical. With people spending less time reading the Bible, and becoming less engaged in activities that deepen their biblical literacy, faith views are more often adopted on the basis of dialogue, self-reflection, and observation than teaching.


In Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love, Chris Tomlin writes,

“Isn’t it interesting that in Acts 11, at the end of verse 26, it says, “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” What I find interesting is the simple thought that the Christians didn’t name themselves. But rather, they were called (or named) “Christians” by those watching their lives. I wonder if it would be the same today. Could someone look at your life or look at my life and name me a Christian? A humbling question for sure…the life that Jesus calls us to is absolute craziness to the world. Sure it’s fine and politically correct to believe in God, but to really love Him is a whole different story.”

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus commands us to love Him,

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with allyour mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Really, does that Barna research sound like people that are deeply in love with Jesus, their Savior? Or is it a generation that has forgotten or never known what it is to love God from the heart out? Their understanding of God is distorted, destroying their faith; they are men ‘tossed about by every wind of doctrine’ (Eph. 4:14).

So how do we love God, not just know about God, and have a life that reflects that? In our Christian journey believing in God isn’t enough. James says in 2:19 that even the demons believe and shudder. What makes our belief different than the demons’?

It’s quite easy, after living a life of growing up in the church, to find the Bible and God dangerously common, to a point of living lukewarm. For some of us, having been surrounded by the language, phrases, and teachings of Christianity for years, God and His word have become too common to us. We lost our awe of Him, and in doing so, we sometimes begin to think we have Him all figured out; Bible study disappears when we’re this arrogant. Why would we study the Bible if have Him all figured out?

Before founding Saddle Lights, we (the founders) were at that point, and it was an incredibly arrogant place to be. Both of us have grown up in the church, filled with sound teaching, good people, and positive influences. But over time, ‘Christianese’ spilled out of our mouths with such fluid ease that no one would’ve guessed we were just getting by. To think that, as Francis Chan said, we could have Him figured out to the point where we stop searching for more is to say that my soda-can sized brain can contain the vastness of the oceans of who God is. We had just walked through the doldrums of a dangerously common faith, knowing it all, and in our arrogance lost a radical, intimate relationship with God completely.

No wonder the Barna Group researched students leaving the church rapidly, living no differently than the world, growing in doubt about the truths of the Bible, and harboring anger against the church. So many of us have forgotten, or have never known, what it means to know God intimately, relationally, deeply, with a crazy kind of love. We’ve used the church and our parents as the scapegoat to blame for our own lack of passion and pursuit of relationship with God. Many of us don’t read His word for ourselves, and if we do, we approach it with arrogant, cold hearts. This arrogance points to a love lost, a faith of only logic and facts, being lukewarm and void of deep intimacy and a radical love for our Savior.

Jesus said in the parable of the sower that the seed (the Word of God) can fall on soil that chokes the seed because of all of the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God.

“When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it.” –Francis Chan in Crazy Love

Having heard this parable in church life from the age of two, we first assumed that we were the good soil, not the thorn-choking soil. On deeper reflection, our lukewarm, know-it-all faith didn’t reflect a life of change to the core of who we were; certainly Jesus would have spit us out of His mouth. Without guarding our hearts (through His Word) from the thoughts and influences of the world, we had quickly forgotten who God really was, what it felt like to walk in deep relationship (not just head knowledge) with Him, and the fulfillment that exists when we live obediently out of a close connection with His heart.

Our decision to believe in Jesus should lead to a surrendered life, generated from a deep heart response that, out of awe and gratitude to our Creator, becomes a deep intimacy between us and God. But we can’t have this intimacy, or obey the command to love our God with all of who we are, unless we really know Him and understand His great love for us. Knowing Him is knowing love, and the desire to live life sacrificially, righteously, and radically, on His behalf comes out of that.

So how do we get to know the heart of God? This is the ministry focus of Saddle Lights tours. How do we know what He is like, His character, His being, and His behavior? How do we know how to communicate with Him, or be pleasing to Him? How do we know anything about God?

Through His word. He gave us His word, which He magnifies together with His name (Psalm 138:2) You see, to some of us that have been around American Christianity for a long time, reading the Bible can feel like a rigid set of rules that we must force ourselves to obey because ‘we’re supposed to’ , or to be ‘good Christians’, good enough to get to heaven, or to at least be better than our neighbors. But seeing God’s commands that way is to say that the leaves on a tree are supposed to grow the tree, not the other way around. On the contrary, out of our great love for our Savior, and a desire to intimately know our Creator, comes a desire for obeying His Word, and our deeds (the leaves) grow from our relationship with (the tree) our Creator. When we really know Him, the love we share together with Him, through our faith and trust in Him, creates the desire in us to sacrifice our everything, knowing that His rules are for our good out of His great love for us.

With Saddle Lights, we see the need for discipling college students in this loving relationship with God among young believers, and we know that showing them how to find Him in His word will change their lives, and those statistics, forever. Our passion behind our mission of establishing them on God’s word comes from this understanding that many don’t really know who God is, don’t see themselves as thorny soil, and don’t know how to find Him in His word. It will have a profound impact on their relationship with God.


So then, why are we doing the bicycle touring for six weeks with Bible study? How does bicycle touring fit into this mission? As Romans 5:3-5 says “…we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

If you can understand that trials can bring about perseverance, proven character, and hope, then you can understand how the physical trials faced on a Saddle Coast to Coast will deepen and mature college students in their understanding of God and His body. When students experience the challenges that come from pedaling 3200 miles across America, their entire body, mind, and faith will experience trials that will develop perseverance and proven character. Having their attention, separate from school, work, family, and life’s responsibilities for six weeks will provide an opportunity for them grow close the heart of God without as many distractions. They’ll also be able to develop life habits of searching the scriptures daily, because they’ll be pursuing that every day for six weeks straight, which will hopefully go home with them.

What the study program looks like: When they’re done riding each day, they will be working through topical Bible studies and the book of Romans, both in private time alone with God and group discussions and teaching. The material comes from Precept Ministries, our partners. Both studies use the inductive study method and are meant to equip students to study the Bible deeply for the rest of their lives.

The topical studies focus on group study and discussion, giving every student an opportunity to facilitate discussions, and possibly share some teaching to a group of their peers. The Romans study is done individually, with weekly group teaching and discussion times provided by Saddle Lights staff to the tour group as a whole. The entire experience is meant to establish them in God’s word which will radically challenge and deepen their walk with Jesus. Our prayer is that when they go home, they are equipped and excited to continue to study the Word inductively, to view the world Biblically, to make disciples intentionally, and to serve the church faithfully in the power of the Holy Spirit.