June 1 - The Tour de Shetlands

A small team of pastors spent one week cycling through the Shetland Islands to tell people about Jesus and hand out Christian literature. Let's watch how their adventure went.

We've come to the Shetland Islands.

The reason being,
there's 23,000 people here,

and not a single Adventist.

We want to reach them with the gospel,

and we'd love to see them
ready for Jesus to return.

The Shetland Islands are part of Scotland

and the northernmost part
of the United Kingdom.

Anthony Kent,

the associate ministerial secretary
at the General Conference,

put together a small team of pastors
from Scotland and the UK

to spend one week cycling
through the islands

to tell people about Jesus
and hand out Christian literature.

After an overnight ferry ride
to reach the islands,

the team prepared to set off
to reach the unreached.

As far as we know,

there are no Adventist members
on the Shetlands.

And how do you approach
trying to make contact?

What would Paul and his associates do

if they were doing a missionary journey

and they landed in Lerwick,

and they were to start
in the Shetland Islands?

Maybe Paul also would have used a bicycle

to share Jesus with people today.

The team set out to ride
through every inhabited street,

stopping with anyone they met.

Much like the apostle Paul,

Anthony and his team
had to endure hardships

in the form of wind, rain, and hills.

It's cold.

It's cold.

But this is still really good fun
and people's hearts are open.

The weather's cold,
but the people are warm.

Praise God for that.

This isn’t the first I Will Go bike ride.

Anthony has led a cycling ministry trip

from Washington DC to St. Louis,
as well as some in Australia.

What we found is, it's a wonderful way

to generate significant
but brief conversations

and an opportunity to share the gospel.

So it's worked in the past,

and we thought
we'd give it a go in Shetland.

There’s a special reason

the Shetland Islands
were chosen for this ride.

A man named Philip Reekie

emigrated from Scotland
to Australia in the late 1800’s.

He rode his bike thousands
of miles around Australia

sharing the gospel
with anyone he rode past.

One of those people happened to be

Anthony Kent’s great-great-grandfather.

Philip Reekie rode up to him on a bicycle

and shared with him
the Great Controversy,

and it completely transformed his life.

Now, in our family,

there are seven generations of Adventists,

as a result of Philip Reekie
doing that wonderful ministry.

Our dream was to take
the spirit of Philip Reekie

and his desire to lead people
to Christ back to his homeland.

Following Philip Reekie’s legacy,

the team took Jesus’ call
to go to the ends of the earth

and applied it to their work
in the Shetlands.

We’ve literally gone

from the very south
of the Shetland Islands,

to Sumburgh,

and we’ve gone all the way north
as far as we can ride a bike.

From sea to sea in a sense.

We haven't just stayed on the main roads.

We've deliberately ridden past homes.

We've seen people out and about,

whether they're cutting their grass,
putting their washing out,

walking their dog, farming,
working in the outdoors.

We've gone to where people are available,

and we've had wonderful
conversations with them.

Although this is not
the way they normally witness,

they've seen the value of trying
unique methods of ministry.

We have here a group of pastors.

They're not cyclists.

They're willing to go
to the ends of the earth,

even if it means riding a bike,
in wet, cold, windy conditions,

if it may lead one person to Jesus.

My dream is that people
will look at unentered places.

Places where we don't have any followers,

and do what you can do to reach them.

Please pray for ministries

such as the I Will Go Bike Ride,
and others around the world

who are using unique methods of ministry

to reach the unreached.

Thank you for your support of Mission.

Well, first of all, when I ride this,

it's so much fun,

and I literally feel like a kid again.

Like a young person
with wind blowing in my face,

and through my hair, what hair is left.

And I really sense the pleasure of God,

that this is something
that we're doing together.

When a witnessing opportunity comes,
we do that together,

and it's just incredibly good, fun.