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CRC News: CRC Executive Director Joins Ride against Poverty


From "Henry Hess" <hessh@crcna.ca>
Date Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:55:12 -0500

Jan. 30, 2008, Grand Rapids, Mich. - As executive director of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, Rev. Jerry Dykstra has a hectic schedule involving countless hours of travel across the United States and Canada.

Given the long days and weekends that he works, Dykstra usually looks for ways to relax and recuperate when it's time for a vacation. But not this year.

With his wife, Linda, he has decided to participate in the 2008 Sea to Sea Bike Tour. Instead of spending their days at the beach or a cottage, the Dykstras will be pedaling their tandem bike from Grand Rapids across part of Canada, ending in late August at the Atlantic Ocean.

The Sea to Sea tour is a CRC-sponsored event that will raise money for programs to fight global poverty. The tour will start in Seattle, Wash. on June 30 and end nine weeks and 3,750 miles (6,035 kilometres) later on Aug. 30 in Jersey City, N.J. The Dykstras plan to ride the final leg of the journey.

"Linda and I have enjoyed biking very much for a number of years, but haven't been able to do it recently," Dykstra says. "We decided that being part of Sea to Sea would be a wonderful opportunity to get back to it in a special way. Also, this is a way to publically show our commitment to what we are doing as a denomination."

On their tandem or on separate bikes, the Dykstras have ridden through parts of Canada, upstate New York, and Virginia, as well as along the Mississippi River and California coast.

This summer's Sea to Sea Tour follows on the heels of the CRC's 150th anniversary. It is also the second time that the denomination has mounted a tour such as this. More than 100 riders took part in the Sea to Sea 2005 Bike Tour that crossed Canada. As many as 200 riders are expected to participate this summer - some going the entire distance while others will pedal a portion.

Joining the CRC will be riders from the Reformed Church in America. "Our denominations are doing many things together and partnering however we can," Dykstra says. "On this tour, we will be doing ministry together in a way that is visible to the world."

David Dethmers, coordinator for Reformed Church World Service, said the RCA is drawn to the project because of its goal to alleviate poverty. The RCA will promote the tour to its congregations and encourage cyclists to register. Half of the money raised by RCA cyclists will be added to the tour's overall fundraising and the rest will be used by the RCA in its own poverty-alleviation programs.

Partners International, a CRC-affiliated business development ministry, is also sponsoring the event and will receive some of the funds.

Billing it as perhaps the largest bike tour to ever cross the United States, Sea to Sea organizers say they hope to raise more than $1 million to fund, among other things, an HIV/AIDS program in Nigeria, Christian libraries in Russia, and loans for people in low-income communities to invest in small businesses.

"The fact that the CRC and other churches are trying to find ways to end poverty is powerful - and to do it is this way is huge. This is no small task. It indicates the level of commitment that people have," Dykstra says.

Christian author and social activist Shane Claiborne will be the keynote speaker at the Sea to Sea's celebration rally in August in Grand Rapids. Claiborne, author of "The Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical," lives in Philadelphia, where he is one of the founding members of the community called The Simple Way.

Celebration rallies are planned for every Sunday along the route. Some of the rally sites are already booked, while others are still being determined.

Riders hail from all over North America. There is Cynthia Auekma, for instance, a woman from Chatham, Ontario, who says she watched, prayed for and followed the journey that crossed Canada in 2005.

"As a spectator it was thrilling to click on the blogs and follow the tour," she writes on the Sea to Sea web site. "I promised myself that if the opportunity ever came up again, I would love to experience firsthand the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of such a tour." She plans to ride the entire distance.

Mark Deckinga, a rider from Kokomo, Ind., says he had hip-replacement surgery five years ago. "Ever since then, I have enjoyed bike riding," he says on the web site. "I ride because 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.' To ride is to give God the glory, to increase awareness of hunger and to end the cycle of poverty." He plans to ride from Denver, Colo., to Grand Rapids.

Registration for the tour closes Jan. 31.For more information about the tour and how you can support this project, call 1-888-272-2453 or visit www.SeatoSea.org.

-Chris Meehan, CRC Communications

...................

Henry Hess

Director of Communication

Christian Reformed Church

To learn more about the Christian Reformed Church visit us at www.crcna.org <http://www.crcna.org

"It is a serious waste to let a day go by without allowing God to change us."-Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love


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