Irish evangelist carrying cross and walking America

SANTA MONICA, Calif. —Beginning the ninth day of his walk across America, Irish-born John Edwards said he is living the evangelist’s dream.

His “Crosswalk USA 2005” started at the Santa Monica, Calif. pier April 5 and is scheduled to end May 13 in New York.

“There is a team of eight of us and we will be walking and cycling for 120 miles a day between us all the way across America—via Phoenix, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia and up to New York,” Edwards, 50, said prior to the walk. “We hope to finish in New York on May 13, and we will be carrying an 11-foot wooden cross with a wheel on the end. We will preach the gospel as we go across the nation. The aim of the walk is to bring hope to the addicted and their families, and also to preach the gospel to the lost and whoever we happen to come across along the way.”

In a telephone interview from Datil, New Mexico, Edwards described the previous week as “really exciting.” He said the team has seen individuals commit their lives to Jesus daily since the walk got started.

Edwards said that one incident really stood out.

“My wife was reading (from the Bible in Acts 5: 15-16: about Peter’s shadow falling on people....” the cross-walker said.

Later on, while walking with the cross near Phoenix, Ariz., Edwards said he talked to two people working in a field.

“The shadow from the cross was on them, and as they began to talk, the presence of God fell on the two of them and they began to weep,” Edwards said. “One of them was a former drug addict, and he had no support (system) around him. Both of them committed their lives to Jesus.”

Edwards put the two in contact with Pastor Tommy Barnett’s Phoenix-based First Assembly of God Church. That Sunday, Edwards and his wife also attended Barnett’s fellowship.

“He (Barnett) called us up to the platform and he presented us with one of his books. We also got a chance to chance to speak to the church (and got a) fantastic reaction,” Edwards said.

The salvations continued, he said. While walking through a town on Tuesday, a man saw Edwards carrying the cross and ran out from inside a store to speak to him.

“He started crying when he saw the cross,” Edwards said. “He asked me to pray for him because he was a drug addict, and he needed God to help him. He invited Christ into his life.”

Edwards said he put the man in touch with a nearby Foursquare church.

Earlier in the journey, while still in California, Edwards recalled ministering to street people.

“I used to be homeless and he knew where I was coming from,” Edwards said, describing an encounter he had with a homeless man. “This guy had been on the streets for 20 years. I put the cross down and spoke to him for 10 or 15 minutes. I prayed for Him and he accepted Jesus.”

Edwards also spoke to business owners.

“(They) were wondering what I was doing and ... why. I was able to share my testimony and pray with some of them.”

Edwards said he has also found a new “captive” audience.

“People (who have to) stand outside bars smoking,” he said. “I give them my tracts. It’s what the walk is about.”

Edwards said he also had the opportunity to share the gospel with two police officers.

According to Edwards, a lot of people to whom he speaks tell him they are going to ask Jesus into their heart when they are by themselves.

“We are having a significant impact,” he said. “There has been no negativity at all because what I am doing is different, and (perhaps) because I am Irish. I think everyone had a bit of Irish blood in them— at least they claim to have.”

Edwards said prayer is an essential factor in the work being undertaken by him and his team. He asked that people pray for him, his wife and team members. Special needs, he said, included their vehicles as well as the need for “divine appointments.”

“We also need prayer for our feet, because we are getting a lot of blisters due to difficult roads and our toenails are falling off,” he said. “We are also continuing to ask for prayer that we would be able to speak to people of influence, and that we will have a lot of people come to our Web site.”

Edwards also had words of encouragement.

“I pray that whoever is reading this will realize that no matter what they are going through, Christ is there for them and no matter how bad things are they should never give in. There is always a blessing around the corner.”

Assist News Service
Published by Keener Communications Group, May 2005

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