Broken Chains History.

July, 2016

Celebrate Recovery Summit in Murfreesboro Tennessee I (Jeff Stultz) spoke to Michael Oyer and Billy Isenhour about some type of Celebrate Recovery Motorcycle Group.  I didn’t know Ron Nagel at the time, he was a PA CR State Rep and I later found out that they spoke to him about it as well.

About a week after I came home from the Summit, mid July 2016, I was added to a FB group that included the four of us, Michael Oyer, Billy Isenhour, Ron Nagel, and me, Jeff Stultz.  We began to discuss what this might look like.  We initially talked about the word “Celebrate” on the top rocker, “Recovery” on the bottom rocker, and the standing man emblem in the center. 

Because of my past as a motorcycle club leader and the spiritual gifting of leadership I kind of took the lead.  I had a personal relationship with John Eklund who was on the CR National Team, I was an NC State Rep at the time.  At first we thought we might just do it without asking permission however it didn’t take us long to realize that was a bad decision.  We decided to ask permission.  So I called John Eklund and asked him to share the idea with the CR National Team.  I was heartbroken when John called me back to tell me that CR wasn’t ready for a motorcycle group.  

Looking back, that turned out to be a pivotal moment in the beginning of what God was up to with Broken Chains JC.  John Eklund then told me something I’ll always be grateful for and I’ll never forget.  He said, “Jeff, just call it something else and you don’t have to ask for anybody’s permission.”  I prayed that night and when I woke up the next morning God had given me the name, “Broken Chains.”

So now we had a name.  We grappled with requirements for membership. By this time we had others getting involved, Jamie Rich and Mike Goulet.  Some wanted people to have to complete a step study in order to be members.  But God kept whispering the word “inclusive” to me.  As I prayed and realized God didn’t want us to make it hard to be members, he wanted us to make it easy.  He wanted us to be inclusive like Christianity.  So we decided that the only requirement for membership would be a displayed, verified commitment to the process of Celebrate Recovery.

We worked on our logo, Jay Woody designed it, and we were off and running.  At first we wanted to be a motorcycle club (MC), but again God reminded me of the word “inclusive”.  The word club means exclusive and Christianity is not exclusive.  Therefore we came up with the “JC” seen between our rockers.  We weren’t a motorcycle ministry (MM) because we already had a ministry, CR.  We weren’t a riding club (RC), and we weren’t an association.  We thought about how NA and AA described themselves and we settled on the word fellowship.  We were a “Fellowship”

By this time we were full steam ahead.  I’ll always remember the day, at dinner, that Mike and Billy presented me with a patch that said “President”.  Because of my past in the MC world God had prepared me for a time such as this and I was happy that my brothers had recognized God’s call on my life as the leader of this organization.  

We couldn’t find anyone to make patches right away so we had t-shirts made with our patch (logo) on the back.  We wanted these quickly so Mike Goulet could wear one to the West Coast Summit in August and begin telling other CR bikers about Broken Chains.

That was fruitful and we had more people join as Mike got the word out at the WCS.  I also had friends in Nashville, TN from the CR at Long Hollow Baptist Church that were bikers and I reached out to them, and of course they joined as well.

By September 2016 we had patches made.  As we put together the application process we realized that it wasn’t the old days and we couldn’t go and take peoples patches if they relapsed, quit, or walked away from recovery.  We prayed and decided to make a covenant.  A covenant not between me or us and the new member but between God and the new member.  We asked God to police the organization because as Christians we could not do it forcefully.

We had an application process, a covenant, shirts, patches, and it was on.  The only thing we lacked was an awareness problem.  Because we weren’t an official part of CR they weren’t telling people about us.  I prayed about it and told Pamela I felt like God was calling me to get on my motorcycle, ride around the country, and tell people about Broken Chains.  Then, less than one week later, in November of 2016 I was sharing my testimony at a little country church in NC and the pastor of the church came to me afterwards and told me I was a motorcycle missionary and his church wanted to support me in sharing the Gospel.  Pamela and I took that as confirmation from God and I began to make plans to hit the road.

Those early days were difficult.  I had decided early on to not take a salary or expense reimbursements from Broken Chains because I wanted the organization to become financially strong.  I started the Motorcycle Missionary organization in order to raise money for me to travel.  As a CR State rep I knew that I could get into the One Day Training Conferences for free.  I also knew that many folks wanted me to come to their ministries to share my testimony.  I had already been doing that for at least 6 years.  So I decided that I needed to go to every One Day Training conference and I could surround these trips with stops at CR ministries along the way.  Getting the word out about Broken Chains at the conferences and ministries.  In 2017 I rode my motorcycle over 50,000 miles.  And in those days we didn’t have Jamie as the resource guy.  No, I bought a little trailer to pull behind my motorcycle and it held the patches, shirts, and welcome packets.  When someone would join or order something I would have to find a post office, no matter where I was, put the orders/packets together, and mail them.

We were growing and God was showing me what I thought was a byproduct of me being on the road.  Not only was I sharing my testimony at CR’s around the country.  I began to notice that when people saw my vest/patch they would ask, “Broken Chains, what’s that all about.”  This was happening at gas stations, restaurants, hotels, motorcycle shops, everywhere I went.  I was sharing about the hope and freedom in Jesus I had found through the recovery process at literally every stop.  I eventually realized this wasn’t a byproduct but actually our purpose.

As God began to show me this purpose, reaching hopeless people outside of the church, he also began to whisper that word “inclusive” to me again.  God also told me that if we were all about a motorcycle we missed the point.  It was all about Jesus and making him known.  I realized that people could wear a vest and patch as a tool to start conversations rather they were on a motorcycle or not.  With much prayer and consultation we decided to bring in “Associate” members who didn’t ride motorcycles.  Their vests and patch start just as many Gospel conversations as mine!

In April of 2017 I was on one of those trips.  By this time Pastor John Baker and Mac Owen had been seeing the growth and excitement that Broken Chains was bringing at the ministries and conferences.  I was headed to a CR One Day in Des Moines Iowa and I had vests and patches for John Baker and Mac Owen.  We planned to “patch them in” as honorary members.  The day before I arrived in Des Moines I got a call from Mac, asking me if I’d like to share my testimony at the conference.  I was out of breath with excitement.  Like I said earlier, I had been travelling and sharing my testimony for years, even before Broken Chains.  This was the first time I’d been asked to share at an event of this size or at an official CR event.

That Saturday in April 2017 is one I’ll never forget.  Mike Goulet and I patched in John Baker and Mac Owen.  I shared my testimony and Mac found me afterwards and told me I needed to email him a copy of it right away.  We had quite a group of people join Broken Chains that day.  To include Tim Long and others.

Within a couple weeks of the conference I was asked to share my testimony at the Celebrate Recovery Summits.  That was a dream come true for me, more than I ever imagined.  As I arrived at the East Coast Summit that year I’ll never forget Mac telling me that him and John Baker wanted to meet with me. 

We met a day or two later and John Baker told me he wanted Broken Chains to become an official arm of the Celebrate Recovery Ministry and that he wanted me to join the CR National Team.  It was all announced after I shared my testimony a month later at the CR West Coast Summit.

I’ll be forever grateful for my friendship and relationship with Pastor John.  Serving on the CR National Team for over 6 years was one of the greatest honors of my life.  At the announcement of BCJC becoming part of CR we had about 400 members.  As an official part of CR our numbers multiplied quickly to around 6000.  CR has been a blessing to Broken Chains and we’ll never forget this relationship.  Not where we began but where we grew exponentially.

Late in the year, 2022, God began to impress on me the need to pull out from under the covering of Celebrate Recovery.  All those years ago, when CR didn’t want a motorcycle group God knew his plan for us.  Because of that we have always been our own non profit organization, even during our time as a part of CR.  God began to show me that CR was an amazing way to the hope and freedom available in Jesus Christ but it was not the only way.   Jesus is the only way and there are many ways to the Only Way!

That voice that I had heard back in 2016 and again in 2017, whispering the word “inclusive” began to speak to me again.  God showed me that it was narrow minded to only promote the Christ Centered Recovery Process through the ministry of Celebrate Recovery.  He was using other ministries, other recovery processes too.  There was nothing wrong with CR but my mind had become convinced that CR was the only way.  God showed me he was at work in many other Christ Centered Recovery Processes and that Broken Chains needed to be inclusive!  I brought this idea to the Broken Chains JC National Team.  After many conversations and prayers we were all in agreement.

In March in of 2023 I had a conversation with Mac Owen and Johnny Baker and they told me they didn’t want to see us separate from CR but that they wouldn’t try to prevent it.  They asked me to release a video announcing the separation.

In April of 2023 I put out a video announcing to the world that Broken Chains JC would no longer be an official part of Celebrate Recovery but that we would continue to embrace the Celebrate Recovery process while also embracing all other Christ Centered Recovery Processes.

This was a difficult time for me personally and for Broken Chains members everywhere.  It would have been simpler and much easier for me and for the organization to just continue coasting down the path we were on.  However we would have missed the God thing.  We would not have been what God would have us to be.  In the hard choice, the tough transition God has been revealing more and more.  Confirming that the right choice had been made.  Not the easy choice but the right choice, the God choice.

In the time since we have certainly gone through a time of pruning.  BCJC always boasted about the 6000 members, but the truth is that many of those were never active.  Many only joined because it was the “cool thing” to do at a conference.  Today, we continue to work towards cleaning up our rosters and working with the committed members we have around the country and around the world.

*what you’ve read thus far was our history published in the binder at the 1st Annual Hope Dealer Training Conference in May, 2024.  The year since, we have continued to embrace new opportunities to reach people outside of the church.

At last years 1st Annual HD Training Conference we were totally amazed at the move of God.  The conference was a time of refreshing, connection, and renewing.  Many people told me it was life changing for them.

Following the conference we began to share more about community engagement, partnering with other organizations in our communities in order reach people the church wasn’t reaching.  This lead us to realize the importance of reporting on all the activities that Broken Chains members were doing around the country.  We have put together a process in order to streamline the way this is done.  We can have greater impact as we track what we’re doing, realize what works and what doesn’t, as well widening the net we are casting.

We have become willing to consider we might not know what we think we know.  As we endeavor to find more ways to reach lost, hurting, broken people.  We’ve taken a new look at things like harm reduction, medically assisted treatment, etc as we continue to embrace the Christ-Centered Recovery process.

In September of 2024 we had our first annual, national Suicide/Overdose prevention ride, The Ride for Tomorrow.  Riding for those who have gone on from suicide or overdose.  We had Broken Chains members from all over the country participate in groups and individually to honor these loved ones on the same day around the country.  These rides not only honored the ones gone on but the loved ones left behind were able to see that someone cares.  We were also to raise funds for respective suicide prevention organizations in our individual communities.

In February, 2025 we had our first annual, national Tatanka Ride.  A ride to remember our Broken Chains JC members who have gone on to be with Jesus.  The ride was named after Big Roy Rivera.  Roy often joked that he was so big they had to kill a couple buffalo in order to make his vest, thus the name Tatanka.  We used the ride to not only honor our fallen members and their loved ones, but also to raise funds to produce and send the custom made arrangements we send whenever a member has passed away.

Our beloved organization has continued to evolve into what God has for us.  We have gone through difficult, sometimes uncertain times.  However we are a spirit led organization that has never veered or turned from our original purpose, letting others know that change is possible!

As I write this I am so excited about all God has done and for all that he has ahead of us.  I’m committed to the ideal that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 9:22 where he says, “I’ve become all things to all people so that by all possible means, I might save some.”  Paul isn’t saying you have to be an addict to reach an addict.  He’s saying we have to be willing to step outside of the church culture, into others cultures in order to be relevant and impactful.

In other words, we are willing to do anything short of sin to reach people with the Good News that change is possible, healing is available, hope is real, and has a name, JESUS!