Daily Prayer for Tour de CROSS

May the Lord Jesus Christ be with You.
That He may Defend You.
Within you, that He may Sustain You.
Before You that He may Lead You.
Behind You that He may Protect You.
Above You that He may Bless You.
In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
(St. Augustine)

This is where we are going!


View Tour de CROSS in a larger map

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Pre-Pedal Happenings

We are famous!! Thank you again to Joyce Coronel for writing a story about us. You can see the story online here: http://www.catholicsun.org/2009/may21/local/bike.html
We would like to extend our thanks to the Oertle family for hosting us in Carlsbad, CA and for opening the doors to present our mission to the men's and women's groups they are a part of. A big thank you also goes to Kenny and Angie Lake for all of the support they have given us. We were truly inspired by all of the prayers and all of the work God is doing in and through these groups in CA. David and I have gotten pretty good with the paper cutter as we spent almost a full day putting together letters and handouts, we ran quite the operation at David's house! We are speaking at all of the masses this weekend at Mt. Carmel and have already recieved tremendous support! Thank you so much for all of the prayers and support you have all given us so far, it is inspiring us to use this opportunity to do as much as we can.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

We are in California!

That's right. Over this weekend and most of next week, we are here in San Diego, meeting with a few different groups of people about SPO and Tour de CROSS, and raising some money. We are extremely excited, because we originally came out to speak to one men's group of about 30 men, and afterward we were invited to speak to two more groups, as well as a luncheon of over 100 people. Tonight we will be sharing our trip and our faith with a group of about 100 confirmation students, and hopefully we will in some way be able to inspire some of them. The fundraising is going awesome, and we know it is only because of your support and prayers, so thank you for that. This is what we have found: when you take a step out in faith, and put your trust in God, He opens up so many more doors, and blesses abundantly. Oh yeah, and we have our bikes here, so we've been doing some riding around the Carlsbad/San Diego area. Lots of hills! The weather is beautiful, and riding along the coast is great.

We just signed up for Twitter, so we can keep some regular updates going during the trip. Check it out, sign up if you haven't, and follow us at http://twitter.com/tourdecross.

We have decided on our location and date of departure: the morning of June 7th from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church (OLMC). OLMC is located in Tempe on Rural between Broadway and Southern. If you are interested, there will be a group of people riding out with us. You can jump on a bike and ride 1, 5, 10, 20, however many miles you want with us. Just remember, you need to ride back to the church after, so don't ride too far.

In short: Things are great when you trust in the Lord, follow us on Twitter, see us off on June 7th, and God is good!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Get Excited!!!

Because we sure are! With the help of the very gracious Natalie Cordray, we just finished our promotional video and got it posted! Take a look at it, because it's pretty sweet. I also put up a map of the tour, so you can take a look at where we'll be going. We have had some very exciting developments, including some sizeable donations. In fact, one person will be matching the first $1,000 that we raise. So get donating!

In other news (pun intended), we are going to have an article in the Catholic Sun on May 21st! For those of you who don't know, the Catholic Sun is the local Catholic newspaper. One of the editors, Joyce Coronel, is a good friend of ours, and was happy to do a story on the trip. Thanks Joyce! So we are VERY excited to see what kind of response we get from that. We also purchased our bicycles last week, and have already put several hundred miles on them! We are getting more and more gear, but still are in need. It takes a lot of gear to bicycle across the country! That's what we've got for now, but we'll keep you updated as things keep happening. Remember, top right hand corner to donate. Most of all, keep praying for us, and we are praying for you. God bless.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Update!

We officially have our donation link posted. You can see it in the top right hand corner of the blog. We're working with Our Lady of Mount Carmel (OLMC), so donations go to them, designated to come straight to SPO at ASU. A small part of donations will help cover the expenses of the trip, and most of them will go to support SPO at ASU. Donations are 100% tax deductible, and a tax receipt is available upon request. Talk to us if you have any more questions! Our contact information is available.

We have one month and two days until departure, and let me tell you, we are getting super excited! We are leaving the morning of June 7th from the OLMC parking lot. Several people have expressed interest in riding the first few miles with us, just to kind of see us off. So, we've gone ahead and opened that up. If you've got a bike, and want to go ahead and ride with us for a few miles, or 10 miles, or 20 miles, or whatever you want, the let us know! We are really looking forward to it.

Finally, we will be updating the blog more often now. We'll have a video and some pictures up within a week, as well as a map of our route and all the places we will be stopping. We love you all, and thank you so much for all of your support. God's peace be with you.

David and Daniel

The Load Down:

Welcome! We are David Edwards and Daniel Tansill. In Tour de CROSS (Christians Riding Over Several States), we will be riding from Tempe, AZ to St. Paul, MN, covering nearly 3,000 miles over a span of 60 days. Our mission for the trip is threefold: to be an example of God’s love, to promote Saint Paul’s Outreach (SPO), and to raise money for the continued growth of SPO at Arizona State University. We hope to gain your support for the mission that SPO has on college campuses across the country and especially here at ASU.

Saint Paul’s Outreach is an organization founded in St. Paul, MN in 1985, with the mission of “engaging young adults in a life of Christian discipleship.” SPO has grown in size and has spread to many other parts of the country, the newest location being here in Tempe, where it is supported by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. SPO focuses on bringing people to Christ through Christian community and discipleship formation.

Within our first year we have established a men’s and women’s household near campus as well as instituted weekly outreach nights, praise and worship, formation groups, “Fan Into Flame” retreats, and other events to promote community. We can see the power of the Holy Spirit working through SPO and changing the lives of many students. As we ride across the country, we will be staying at approximately 40 different Catholic churches, where we will promote SPO and be an example of God’s love to all we encounter. Working together as a community, we can make an impact in the lives of countless college students.

There is a faith crisis in college as students’ morals are challenged and bombarded with negative influences, and the evidence is clear as thousands of students are losing their faith in God. We believe that the college years are the most important time of formation in a young adult’s life and that now is a crucial time to reach them. Our fundraising goal is to cover the expenses of the trip and raise $30,000 to establish more households, outreach events, retreats, and to support the continued growth of SPO.

To make a financial donation to support our trip and further the growth of SPO please click the DONATE button at the top right-hand corner of this blog. All donations are tax deductible and you can receive a tax receipt within 2 weeks, upon request. If you would prefer to write a check, you can see the details for that in the corner beneath the donate button. Along with the financial support, we also need your prayers as we strive to follow God's calling in our lives.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to learn more about the trip or Saint Paul’s Outreach, offer us any advice, or just let us know that you'll be praying for us. If you have a Twitter, jump on and follow us at http://twitter.com/tourdecross. Thank you so much for your love and support. God bless you!