There’s a lot to see at a mud bogger race. The trucks are big. They’re loud. You can’t avoid seeing them.
But somehow in the middle of it all, you notice Terry Billings’ truck — the Heaven Bound Mud Bogger. It’s bigger and louder. People want to look at it, climb up the stepladder, sit in it and get their picture taken.
And Billings uses that for the sake of the gospel. Billings’ story is featured in the Stories podcast, Season 6: The Mud Bogger Story. Listen at tabonline.org/stories or wherever you get podcasts.
“God gave me this vision to reach out to people who are getting ignored — the good ol’ boys,” he said. “I’ve always been one of them. I was an alcoholic, and God reached out and touched me. If He hadn’t, and if people hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been saved. So there’s nowhere that’s too far for me to go to reach them.”
Billings story was first shared in a 2018 article in The Alabama Baptist — about how God turned his world upside down, called him into ministry and gave him a purpose for his old drinking truck. He wanted to rebuild it, customize it and use it to get people’s attention and share the gospel.
“Over two years, God provided $100,000,” Billings recalled. “When people heard what we wanted to do, they just kept writing us checks.”
‘Washed in the blood’
So the Heaven Bound Mud Bogger was born — a massive truck with a picture of a cross on the side and verses about finding eternal life in Jesus. The tailgate says, “Covered in mud, but washed in the blood.”
It’s a story as big as his truck.
Billings isn’t shy about asking people where they are with Jesus, telling them how his life was changed and how Jesus can change theirs, too.
He spends a lot of weekends at mud races. But that isn’t the only place he gets people’s attention.
“Every time I stop anywhere, everybody in the gas station or Dollar General unloads and goes out to look at it. Then I get to tell them my story and what Jesus did for me,” Billings said.
“All it takes is a trip to Hardee’s, and we have church.”
