Put three Lutheran pastors on one bamboo bicycle, send them on a 100-day cross-country trip and what do you get?
You get one interesting adventure and, hopefully, $5 million to fight world hunger.
The goal of the ride is to encourage contributions to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's world hunger activities, said Soltow, the 60-year-old pastor of Shepherdstown Lutheran Parish.
"It's been a transforming experience," Schlak, 58, said. "We're seeing ourselves work together in holy new ways and gifts that each of us have are coming to the surface. My own compassion for the hungry has been changed as I have seen so many churches and the ministries that they have across our land who carry out wonderful programs that help the hungry."
The ministers hope to help the Lutheran churches meet a $25 million annual goal set in 1999, Soltow said. Along the way, they will also encourage people to set personal health and wellness goals.
Schlak, the pastor at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, said they came up the idea a few years ago while hanging out in a Shepherdstown restaurant.
"The place is called the Blue Moon, if that tells you anything about it, and crazy things happen there and we came up with this crazy idea for three fellas to ride one bicycle across the country on behalf of world hunger," he said Monday morning as the trio prepared to pedal to their next stop in Baltimore.
The tour, which began May 13 in Chicago and will end Aug. 20 in Minneapolis, will cover 13,000 miles and take them to 65 cities. The approximately 10-foot-long bamboo bicycle they are riding weighs 52 pounds and was custom made by Craig Calfee, a California bicycle designer.
The Rev. Sandra Cox Shaw, pastor of Crusader Lutheran, invited them to visit after meeting the trio at a conference in November.
More than 60 people welcomed the pastors to the church Saturday.
To help
To learn more about Tour de Revs 2009 or to make a donation, visit www.tourderevs.org.
