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Date: August 22, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com)

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
August 22, 2005

New shoes, a stop at the Church of the Brethren offices for the `Walk  Across
Americaâ€

August 22, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- On Aug. 11 a New Balance shoe store in
Geneva, Ill., witnessed a unique event in Don Vermilyea's âWalk Across Americaâ:
the chance to buy a new pair of shoes in person, and to try them on with the
help of a sales clerk.

Vermilyea is a Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) worker on a Walk Across
America, a quest to visit on foot every Church of the Brethren
congregation in
the US that extends an invitation. Along the way, Vermilyea shares his message
"that it is time to get serious about our relationship with Jesus Christ." He
has walked for more than three and a half years, and more than 15,700 miles,
beginning in Tucson, Ariz.

BVS staff usually buy his shoes from congregational and individual gifts,
and mail them to his next destination, said Vermilyea--who walks
everywhere he
goes and does not accept rides except in unusual circumstances. The shoes he
exchanged for a new pair carried him from southern Louisiana to Arkansas, then
 from Missouri to Faith Church of the Brethren in Batavia, Ill. They had
"only"	1,312 miles on them, Vermilyea said, regretting that this pair had become
unwalkable because of uneven wear on the heels. Walking up to 34 miles a day,
 Vermilyea cannot take the chance of injury to his ankles.

After the shoe store, Vermilyea's next stop was the Church of the Brethren
General Offices in Elgin, Ill., where he presented a slide show and held a
question and answer session on Aug. 13. Vermilyea called on his audience
to 
"wake up" to changes needed in American society, showing pictures he has taken
along his walk of environmental destruction, pollution, development, and even
road kill--and signs people have displayed expressing hatred and support for
the  war in Iraq. "I'm walking across America because we...Christians need to do
 things differently," he told the group of denominational staff who gathered
to  hear him.

On Sunday Aug. 14, he preached and held a "talk on" at Highland Avenue
Church of the Brethren in Elgin. Previous stops in the Illinois and Wisconsin
District of the Church of the Brethren included many of the congregations in
Illinois, the congregation in Wisconsin, and two weeks with the junior and
 senior
high youth camps at Camp Emmaus in Mount Morris, Ill. Vermilyea was  invited
to join the junior highs for their annual seven-mile hike to White Pines
State Park by camp counselor Jim Miner. While the rest of the group accepted a
hayride back to camp, five youth opted to walk back with Vermilyea. Miner said
that at the close of the senior high camp, more than 90 people walked a
stretch  of road with Vermilyea, the largest group to walk with him since the start
of  his trek in February 2002.

>From Elgin, Vermilyea headed east through Chicago-land, making stops at
Church of the Brethren congregations and a large downtown Presbyterian church.  On
Aug. 16 he visited York Center Church of the Brethren in Lombard, and on Aug.
 17 he was at Douglas Park Church of the Brethren in Chicago. On Aug. 21
he 
planned to speak at Fourth Presbyterian Church, and on Aug. 24 at First Church
 of the Brethren in Chicago.

>From there, Vermilyea plans to walk through southern Illinois and
eventually
to Florida, where he hopes to spend the winter. Plans for 2006 and  following
years include walking north through the east-coast states, and then  heading
west again to visit the mid-western Brethren. Vermilyea estimates that	he
will complete the walk in 2011 or 2012.

For more information about the Walk Across America, and a photo gallery,  see
_www.brethren.org/genbd/witness/Walk.html_
(http://www.brethren.org/genbd/witness/Walk.html) .

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith  in
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its  300th
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil,
the 
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.

# # #

For more information contact:

Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org)

*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,
 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board.
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