Don Vermilyea completes 10,000th mile of his Walk Across America.

"We're calling it 10,000," said Don Vermilyea as he completed 9,999 3/4 miles of his Walk Across America. A Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) worker on a mission to connect Brethren gathering places by walking to each Church of the Brethren congregation in the United States, Vermilyea has been walking since Feb. 2, 2002. On June 15 his 10,000th mile took him through the door of a country church just like many of those he has visited in the wide-open west—the Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren, located on a gravel road three miles from York, N.D.

Vermilyea's walk is sponsored by BVS and the General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office. When he visits a congregation, Vermilyea offers to preach, teach, or simply join in worship. Host congregations provide housing and simple meals and congregation members are invited to walk along for a few yards or a few miles. Vermilyea takes donations to a walk fund that benefits the Global Food Crisis Fund and the Emergency Disaster Fund.

The walk challenges Vermilyea with times of discouragement, loneliness, and weakness, as well as times when God gives him new strength. "When I look at it one day at a time, one step at a time, it's easier to deal with," he said in a telephone interview. "Sometimes I say to myself, why am I doing this?"

That kind of honesty is why the walk works, he said. Vermilyea doesn't tailor his message—about the need for peace and justice in this world—to the different kinds of congregations he visits or the different types of people he meets on the way. His basic message is clear. "God is truly great," he said. "We just need to pay attention."

Vermilyea started walking in Tucson, Ariz.; headed west to California; north to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho where he spent the winter of 2002; crossed the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 2003; and visited congregations of the plains states, where he continues to walk this summer. "I predicted the walk would take five years and 5-10,000 miles," he said. "It's going to be a few more," he added, as he looked forward to the next steps on a journey that eventually will take him all the way to the east coast. From Pleasant Valley he plans to visit Prairie Peace Fellowship in Surrey, N.D., then will take two weeks to walk to the Big Sky American Baptist/Brethren Church in Froid, Mont., and then will walk 700 miles to Worthington (Minn.) Church of the Brethren. Then he will head south again, hoping to be in south Texas in Jan. 2005.

Vermilyea is ready to retire his sixth pair of shoes, which will be auctioned off at the Northern Plains District Conference on the same day that his fifth pair—retired in McPherson, Kan.—will be auctioned at the Western Plains District Conference. "The more they get worn out, the more money they'll bring," he said.

"I ask for your prayers," he said to all who will read this article. "This walk works by my relationship with the Lord and the prayers of others."

For more information call 800-323-8039 ext. 239 to hear Vermilyea's telephone updates or log on to www.brethren.org and click on the keyword box to find "Walk Across America."

Source: 6/18/2004 Newsline
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