North Carolina pastor follows calling to bike across the country

By WVUA 23 News Student Reporter Nick Balenger

Pastor Jay Stewart of the Refuge Church in North Carolina is cycling across the country, biking 100 miles a day. He started May 4 and on June 5 he made it to the Walk of Champions at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Beginning in Corona Del Mar, California, Stewart is now 2,300 miles into his 3,400-mile journey.

Stewart said this is something he’s wanted to for a long time but just needed a reason to do it.

“When I was 20 years old I had a dream. I felt like God put in my heart to ride a bicycle across the nation,” Stewart said. “Back then it was just a cool thing for a college kid to do. But over time over the past 40 years it really developed into something that I felt like I could attach to a really worthy cause. ”

Stewart rolled onto the Walk of Champions Monday afternoon with his brother by his side.

The North Carolina pastor is riding to raise money for Love Life, an organization focused on protesting abortion clinics and ending abortions.

The lifelong University of Alabama fan said he’s helped raise $600,000 toward a $1 million goal.

Stewart’s journey is being chronicled on a website so people can keep track of where he’s going next.