Daredevil pastor, Pastor John "Mercury" Morgan, offers $1,000 reward for missing stunt bike. (Aug. 22, 2016) Video by Olivia Lopez, photos by Tina MacIntyre-Yee. Olivia Lopez and Tina MacIntyre-Yee


The flame-jumping pastor of Faith on Fire Fellowship thought his custom-made bicycle was gone forever, so he prayed on it.

And it came back to him.

Pastor John "Mercury" Morgan rides his bicycle through burning walls and over helicopters to draw attention to his faith and his church and leaves crowds breathless.

But it was following an Aug. 20 performance in which he jumped over a helicopter and into 2,000-degree flames that Morgan was the one left speechless.

Morgan, 51, explained Monday that he had put the bike — which he estimated as being comprised of parts worth between $7,000 and $8,000 but being "far more valuable" to him — on a bike rack before he headed home. Typically, he said, he secures the bike with a bungee cord, but the cord was under other materials and he was "exhausted" so he took his chances.

"The rack is at a steep angle and the bike weighs 80 pounds and it's only a seven-mile ride so I figured there was no way it would come off the rack," he said.

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Somewhere along the way, the bike came loose and jumped the rack, unbeknownst to Morgan. When he realized what happened, he retraced his steps but to no avail: The bike was gone.

"I personally walked from the other side of the guard rail from Culver to Browncroft on 104 and 590, like a bushwhacker going through this high stuff," he said. "Nothing."

He called the police and posted his phone number and a $1,000 reward for the bike but weeks passed and he began to give up hope.

"I'd given up hope and I figured I'd never see it again," he said.

Until Tuesday, he said, when he needed to prepare a Sunday sermon and decided to go deep in prayer and leave the situation up to God.

When he checked his phone that afternoon, a photo popped up in his texts: The person who found the bike was trying to get it back to him. That person had visited bike shops trying to return it and eventually found Morgan's number.

Morgan went to the person's home and retrieved the bike and later delivered the reward to him.

And his resolve about why he does what he does returned.

"This happened for a reason," he said.

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