Monday, April 4, 2005
A FORMER DRUG ADDICT, ALCOHOLIC,
GAMBLER, BEGGAR AND THIEF, BEGINS MARATHON WALK ACROSS AMERICA WITH A
MESSAGE OF HOPE
The “Walking Free” Irishman John Edwards is carrying an 11 foot cross
and the message of Jesus as he treks with friends from Santa Monica to
New York
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
SANTA MONICA, CA (ANS) -- Dublin-born
John Edwards, 50, a small wiry Irish man with fiery eyes and a deep
conviction that Jesus can save and deliver the lost and hopeless drug
addicts of this world, is beginning his marathon coast-to-coast trek
across America.
His extraordinary “Crosswalk USA 2005” starts at Santa Monica Pier at
9:30 AM (Pacific Time) in California on April 5 and hopes to end in New
York on May 13.
Edwards is the founder of Walking Free Ministries in Scotland, and is
living proof that his message is true. A self-confessed ex-drug addict,
alcoholic, gambler, beggar and thief, Edwards was transformed, he says,
“through a powerful encounter with the living God.”
In an interview just before setting off, he said, “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, DC, and Philadelphia and up to New York. 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 and 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.
“This will differ from my normal walks because we have a website now --
www.walkingfree.org
-- and people can see live updates there and also there will be help
available for people who are suffering from addiction or want to know
more about Jesus Christ and the Gospel. We will have live updates,
photographs and e-mails and there will be a forum on us and drugs
education. People can come onto the website and interact with us and
feel a part of the walk with us.”
CUPS OF TEA ALONG THE WAY
Edwards added, “We have with us a bunch of Irish and British tea-bags
with ‘real tea’ and we invite British and Irish Americans to get in
touch with us – they can see where will are due to be via our website –
and then come and meet us in the camper van for a cup of real tea. We
invite Irish and British immigrants to come and join us for a ‘cuppa’.
“My book, Walking Free was published a few weeks ago, and we have some
with us and you can also get a copy via our website which is www.walkingfree.org.”
Edwards said that he chose the United States because “the drug problem
in the US is very bad.” He added, “During my visits here I have met a
lot of people over here that have drug problems with crack cocaine,
heroin and methamphetamine, to name just a few. There are lots of
different ministries over here, but there are lots of people who don’t
know about them, particularly like places in the desert. When I was
here before in the Mojave Desert, I met a group of people out there who
had no help whatever, but they all had computers and could go on the
Internet. That’s why we have the website, to reach people like that and
there must be hundreds of thousands of people like that around the
world.”
He then talked about his problems. “I am 50 years of age now, but I
began to take drugs and drink when I was about 13 years of age. I ended
up a drug addict and alcoholic for most of my life. Fifteen years ago,
I went to a teen challenge center in South Wales and I had a tremendous
encounter with Jesus Christ where I was totally set free and stopped
smoking, drinking and taking drugs on the same day. Since that time,
I’ve been working helping people along with my lovely wife Trisha and
taking people off the streets. We now have opened up three
rehabilitation centers in Scotland over the last few years. We have a
very successful ministry.
“It will be like a relay and between us we plan to do 120 miles a day;
each of walking or cycling between 15 and 20 miles. Then we will have
meetings in churches during the evening and we will upload details to
our website so people can follow us.”
John is joined by his Scottish-born wife Trish, who helps him in the
drug rehabilitation work in Scotland. “My role is to look after the
walkers. I will be making their lunch and tea and do the washing and
cleaning.”
When asked what her prayer requests were, she said, “I ask for people
to pray that God will give us strength and that we will have divine
appointments along the way and God’s blessings will be with us.”
FORMER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
Co-leader of the walk and driver of the huge RV vehicle that will
accompany the team is Bob Baker, 58. “I am a retired head teacher
[principal] of a big secondary school in East London and I now live in
the Shetland Islands in the far north of Scotland. It is 14 hours on
the ferry from Aberdeen up towards Iceland.
“In Shetland, I live 10 miles south of Lerwick, the capital of the
Shetlands, a town of only 10,000 people and I attend Emmanuel Christian
Fellowship, which is an Assemblies of God Pentecostal Fellowship and
John, through his two centers for rehabilitation drug addicts and
alcoholics, has a link with our church and sends young men from the
Dumfries Center to Shetlands for rehabilitation after they have found
the Lord and made a commitment to Christ. So I got to know John; he has
stayed at my house about six times when he comes up to visit and he
found out about my skills as a head teacher running a school 1200, 11
to 18 year olds, and asked me to be his co-leader and administrator for
the trip.
“I am thrilled and excited to be part of this.”
IRISH ACTOR JOINS THE TREK
An Irish actor and musician, Shay Phelan, who comes from Dublin, is
part of the team. He told ANS, “I worked as an actor quite a number of
years ago in the secular theater but since those days, I have been
using it in a one-man presentation which I take around the churches. I
use some songs that I have written playing 12 string guitar and singing
and I’ve often worked with John in his walks using a song or piece of
drama that compliments his message and that’s been part of my
contribution to the walks that John has done in the past.
“I will be walking and cycling all of the way. Going through the desert
will be a new experience and I will be keeping my ears and my eyes wide
open. I am a little bit worried about going through the desert. I hate
snakes and I am terrified of them, but people have reassured me that
they hear ages before we arrive and disappear before you get there.”
To get information on the walk, go to www.walkingfree.org. You
can also get interviews with John and the team by calling John’s mobile
phone at (714) 331 1691 or Bob Baker’s at (714) 331 1690.
Dan Wooding is an award
winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his
wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid
to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service
(ANS). Wooding is the co-host of the weekly radio show, "Window on the
World" and was, for ten years a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network
in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest
of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is
published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com.
danjuma1@aol.com.
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ASSIST News Service (ANS) www.assistnews.net
-- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
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