Circuit Riders Christian Fellowship Ministries was founded by Edward "Doc" Louviere, along with his wife Pat.
FROM OUTLAW BIKER TO CIRCUIT RIDER
The following is the testimony of our founder, Brother "Doc" Louviere.
Born along the bayou of Louisiana, trouble was my constant companion. As a teen I was kicked out of school. My whole life was filled with the desire to make a name for myself. I left for Africa to get away from the problems that I got into, but in Africa I found myself in deeper problems. On a night of drinking and barroom fighting, I met a mercenary, and when I sobered up I found myself deep in the jungle in a war I had no business in. After five days of living in the jungle and getting shot at, I found out mercenary life was not for me. When I found a road to take me to civilization, I said my goodbyes. Partying and drugs were the center of my lifestyle. After three years I left Africa and returned to the states.
Once in the U.S.A. rock and roll was real strong. Going from one concert to another with my old Volkswagen van with painted peace signs and mushrooms, living in hippie communes. With the lifestyle I lived, bartending and bouncer was better suited for me, and drug dealing to support my habit.
I decided to move to the "Big Easy" as New Orleans was known. I got a job as a bodyguard for a drug lord, and continued working as a drug dealer and bouncer. It was at this point the biker life became my own.
During this time blood, booze and drugs were all around me. Caught up in the fights of gang wars, many of my friends were being shot and stabbed. Some were bleeding and some were dying and there I was with them. Breaking bones and seeing the mutilation of human flesh, my only thought was how lucky I was to be untouched by it all. Unknown to me at this time, my father was down on his knees for his lost son. The desire for his love would lead me to visit him. His heart was heavy from seeing the way his son was living. He would look me in the eye and call my sins out and ask when I was going to repent from all of my evil. He would try to tell me of a loving God, but I would not hear of it. His words burned in my hardened heart. I yelled, "You crazy old man, dope what it brings is my religion." Angrily I left with a single thought, "He's crazy!"
My luck, which I so prided myself in, seemed to be running out. Three times I went to prison for dealing drugs. A rival drug dealer took me out to the river where he pistol-whipped me and broke my nose and ribs. He left nothing but a bloody hulk of human meat to die. Many were the times that I should have died but my father was still praying for me. My father was standing on the promises of God's Word in Acts 16:31.
Needing a change of lifestyle, I decided to settle down. I met a girl in a barroom who had been abused as a child and had been married very young. She ended up with three children and divorced. She was now looking for "Mr. Right" but instead found me. As a front for my drug money, I took a job on a deep sea trolling boat three months out of the year. I will never forget the night we were twenty miles south of Corpus Christi, Texas. I was on deck about to smoke my last marijuana joint when a sudden gust of wind blew the joint out of my hand. Here in the gulf in the middle of the night a bright light appeared to me and spoke, "I am your God that created you. Quit serving the evil one and start serving the most high God!"
When the light faded and the voice silenced, the seas grew rough. The captain took us to shore where I learned my dad was dying. Rushing to see him one last time, he gave me his dying message - "I've always tried to show you right, but you wouldn't listen. I won't see it but one day you will see everything and know the truth." My life went from bad to worse. I became a junkie. I was riding with gangs and committed robberies. I tortured dogs while training them to attack and kill. Looking in the mirror of my life, I saw the worthless wretch I had become. All that was left for me to do was to end it with a .357 Magnum (gun) to my head. Twice I tried to commit suicide with a pistol and God delivered me, through the intervention of a friend. At 34, I wandered around with no will to live. My next attempt would be to hang myself. My girlfriend knew of my despondency. Unknown to me, she had recently come to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She solemnly gave me a touching plea. For five years she wanted to get married, but I kept putting it off. She put up with me and now for the first time demanded from me one simple request - that I go to church with her. My suicide would just have to wait one more day.
My appearance could scare anyone away. I carried a knife and a chain with spiked bands on my wrist. I rode in on an old Harley. That night I met Jesus!
He wasn't some character in a story. He was alive! He took me just as I was at my absolute worse. He delivered me from every sin I ever knew. My life started changing before my very eyes. Each day I am amazed how He transformed this dungheap I made of my life to a vessel of gold, fit for His service.
