On October 29th at Luetta Moore Park, the most extreme church sermon in Statesboro came to town in the form of Zero Gravity. The Zero Gravity event demonstrated the power of the Christian faith through the sport of motocross.
“The easiest picture is if you take a Billy Graham Crusade, the X Games, the Fast and the Furious, and a digital rock concert and squish it all together,” said Tim Wilkinson, the President and Director of Operations for the Zero Gravity Outreach. “Not everybody needs to jump their bikes or do backflips or all that stuff, but it really shows people that there is no limit to what you can do in Jesus.”
The professional motocross stunt performers who participated in the event arrived from across the country. Some were from Utah, Florida, Kentucky, or Texas. The motor stunt show was formed from a holy alliance of 6 to 7 different churches, along with the help of vendors and other volunteers.
“It’s a bunch of different people that came together to make it happen,” Wilkinson said. “You have multiple churches, you have the city, you have the county, there’s a Christian motorcycle organization that’s part of all of this. So it’s a whole bunch of people, and everybody taking a little piece of the puzzle.”
This year marks the first time the event has ever been held at Luetta Moore Park in Statesboro, and it certainly drew a jam-packed crowd. There were two sermons in total, one at 1:00 pm and another at 4:00 pm. Many food vendors were present to keep the audience well-fed with tacos, tea, and even homemade meals. Kids could let themselves run wild on the playsets and bouncy castles or even participate in some fun games provided by the volunteers.
T-shirts were also made available for those who wanted them.
DJ D-Lite was keeping the energy going with his hip-hop gospel music as the event came closer to a start. The crowd gathered at the barriers separating them from the extreme air stunt performers. As the festival began, parents held their kids high to get the best view possible.
For 45 minutes, the crowd was wowed by an onslaught of professional motorcycle air tricks. Even for the experienced cyclist, these stunts were no easy feat.
“To be honest, today I was a little nervous because the ramp was different than any ramp I’ve ever jumped,” said Alan Dixon, one of the motocross cyclists at the event. “Usually our ramps are eight feet tall. This was 10 feet tall. But once you start jumping, the faith overcomes the fear, and it’s just awesome.”
Dixon has been a motocrosser for quite a while now. In fact, his interest began when he first witnessed the sport as a child. He mowed lawns until he finally got enough money to buy a dirt bike himself. Once he learned how to ride it, he moved towards doing air stunts.
Near the end of the event, Wilkinson gave a passionate sermon about the power of God and how He helped him through the darker moments of his life. He detailed a rough period when his mother was hospitalized, leaving him struggling to find a way to keep pushing on.
“You never have to do any of this stuff alone again,” Wilkinson said. “There’s so many times that I thought that all of a sudden, as I was going through all these struggles, that I was all by myself. Nobody else understood. Nobody else got it. Jesus gets it, and there’s other people here that get it.”
While the event was meant to reach out and inspire faith in others, it was also just an all-around excellent time for those who wanted a show and a good time in town.
Zero Gravity Outreach was brought to the community by Fostering Bulloch and the following sponsors: New Covenant Church, Connection Church, First Baptist Church, Agape Worship Center, City of David Church and The Worship Center. Corporate sponsors include The US Air Force, Queensborough Bank, Catalyst Promotions, Rolling Monkey, and Lanier, Deal, Proctor and Bloser CPA.