A North Carolina pastor has completed a 3,400-mile bike ride across America to support the pro-life movement.
Pastor Jay Stewart, 60, of The Refuge Church concluded the trip after arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, after beginning the journey on May 4 on the National Day of Prayer.
During an interview with CBN's Faithwire, Steward explained that he first thought up this idea in his 20s, but it wasn’t until last year that he was able to carry it out.
"The whole thing really came into shape last year on May 17th, and now here I am just near the finish line … about to wrap this thing up," Stewart said last week.
Virtual teams nationwide joined the pastor in logging miles and raising support.
"It's been amazing to see the body of Christ around this as I journeyed across the nation," he said. "We've held rallies in places like Phoenix and Albuquerque, in Riverside, California, in Fort Worth, Texas, and Birmingham and … Atlanta, Georgia … and it's been a great opportunity."
Stewart also partnered with Love Life Ministries, an organization that seeks to "engage the church across America of all denominations to build a culture of love and life [and] to see an end to abortion and to the orphan crisis."
Love Life also operates through "house of refuge" churches — houses of worship that help women dealing with unplanned pregnancies. Steward told Faithwire that he hopes the organization will expand beyond the 20 cities where it currently has locations.
Although last weekend was the first anniversary of Roe V. Wade's reversal, Steward said that the work to protect the unborn is far from done.
"What we saw last year when Roe v. Wade was overturned was absolutely historic," he said. "It was humongous, but … the battle did not end there. In fact, it ramped up. It went to another level now."
"We're not going to remain silent on this," the pastor continued. "I believe that this is not a political issue. This is a moral and a spiritual issue, and I think it's the greatest moral dilemma of our day."
According to LifeRide's Instagram page, the organization raised $742,000 of its $1 million goal. It will continue to raise funds to protect the unborn until the end of June.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Milos Bjelica
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
