AG Pastor Back Preaching After Near-Fatal Motorcycle Crash

Gerry Stoltzfoos, lead pastor of Freedom Valley Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, believes in miracles. But he never dreamed he would be the recipient of one.

On Aug. 25, 2014, Stoltzfoos set out with a group of fellow pastors and bikers for a 7,000-mile church planting road trip from Pennsylvania to Seattle and back. Over the course of two weeks, the group, who jokingly dubbed themselves the Furious Five, planned to attend church-planting summits in 10 states.

Stoltzfoos has no memory of the trip beyond the second day of the journey, as participants passed through Chicago.

“I remember that I was really loving every minute of that morning and loving that God had allowed me to be out there,” he says.

Moments later, a tractor-trailer pulled out in front of Stoltzfoos. He had no time to react beyond hitting the truck.

Jeremiah Herbert, fellow church planter and lead pastor of Intersection Church in Gettysburg, an affiliate church of Freedom Valley, was among the first on the scene.

The group had split up that morning after Stoltzfoos volunteered to go to the local motorcycle dealership to pick up a part to complete repairs on one of the bikes having trouble. 

Herbert says he had an uneasy feeling at breakfast that morning when Stoltzfoos didn’t show up at the meeting point or respond to calls and texts.

When Herbert came upon an intersection filled with police cars and his friend’s bike lodged under a tractor-trailer, Herbert says he feared the worst. His heart racing, he took a deep breath. Then, Herbert says, an indescribable peace and calm settled over him.

“From then on, it was like the Holy Spirit just jumped in and kind of took over through that process to give us strength and faith,” Herbert says.

Herbert called another staff member at Intersection Church, which started a global chain reaction of prayer that drew people from Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean to intercede on his friend’s behalf.

Stoltzfoos lay unconscious in the hospital for two days. Eventually, Herbert learned that his friend had actually died in the ambulance en route to the hospital.

“I truly believe that God worked a miracle in those first few moments when we started praying,” he said. “It’s the power of prayer.”

During a subsequent series of ups and downs, physicians expressed deep concern that Stoltzfoos would be brain damaged. Yet three weeks after the wreck, Stoltzfoos was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health.

Five weeks after that, he returned to the pulpit.

Though he says he was a little shaky at first and had to adhere to his notes a little more than usual, Stoltzfoos says he sensed an urgent need to preach and a deep-seated passion for the people of God.

The church was packed that Sunday. More have been drawn as people show interest in connecting with a God who raises people from death.

Although memories after the crash are sketchy, Stoltzfoos does vividly recall a message imparted as he lay dying.

“Suddenly I had this memory flooding back of the Holy Spirit telling me that He wasn’t done with me, and that He had more for me to do,” Stoltzfoos says.

Stoltzfoos says the entire experience has left him with an incredible sense of the preciousness and value of human life.

The smashup didn’t change his love for motorcycles. Despite some initial trepidation, Stoltzfoos purchased a 2015 Harley Davidson Street Glide motorcycle, which he already has ridden to Florida and back.

Herbert says he can’t thank God enough for his friend’s miraculous healing.

“In the midst of our everyday struggles, not just a miracle of that caliber, we should be praying like that,” Herbert says. “We prayed with amazing fervor over Gerry, but that same power in prayer is available for everything.”

Shannon M. Nass

Shannon Nass and her husband, Greg, are credentialed ministers with the Assemblies of God and live in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, with their twin daughters, Naomi and Charlotte. Shannon is a freelance writer and special education teacher who also serves as coordinator for Beyond Survival Ministries, a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading the gospel.