|
The Kingfisher Times & Free Press |
[ Contents | Search | KTFP Home ]
Date: Monday, April 04, 2005
By Jeremy A. Ingle Staff Writer Locals and passers-through alike may have spied a man in blue riding a funny-looking yellow bicycle through Kingfisher County Thursday. Who was that man and what was his story? He is none other than Rev. Johannes “Hans” Erich Myors, and his story is simple: He bicycles his way across the country to spread the word of Christianity, though Jesus is not the name he uses. Myors is a Messianic Jew, meaning that he is of the Jewish faith, but believes that Y’Shua (or Jesus) was the true Messiah. His beliefs run counter to the standard Jewish religion and are the main reason for the life he now leads. Myors was born into a standard Jewish family in a small village outside of Munich, Bavaria, West Germany in 1956. He became a believer in Y’Shua during Chanukah of 1975. A year later, at the age of 20 and the eldest of four children, he was disowned by his standard Jewish family due to his beliefs. His parents convinced his former community that he had committed suicide. A funeral was held at his former synagogue and he was even given a headstone bearing his name. In 1979 he immigrated to the United States and became a citizen in 1984. He has lived in California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virgina and Washington. In the fall of 1998, he was ordained as a minister through an Evangelical Christian ministry in Augusta, Ga. Of all the states in which he has lived, Myors considers Georgia his home. Since 1993, he has criss-crossed the U.S. speaking at churches, talking to people along the roadways, performing disaster relief, working with local agencies and helping churches to set up compassion ministries. Even with all his travels and good deeds, he still finds the time to maintain an internationally read website as well as design websites for other ministries. He calls his own ministry “Pedal Prayers.” He says “Pedal” stands for Pray Every Day And Listen. The pedal preacher began his ride on Feb. 19, 1993, from Portland, Ore. Since that time, he has made 13 ocean to ocean crossings of the United States and has been to every state but Alaska and Hawaii. He has been as low as 100 feet below sea level in the Imperial Valley in California and as high as 11,000 feet above sea level in the Colorado Rockies. His rides average between 40 and 60 miles per day, when conditions are favorable so he doesn’t stay in one place for very long. In June 1999, a strong tailwind from the east helped him cycle from Berthold, N.D., to Culbertson, Mont., a distance of almost 150 miles in a single day. Since beginning, he has cycled over 140,400 miles, equivalent to almost six times around the equator. His bicycle of choice, this time around, is a custom-made 24-speed short-wheelbase recumbent made by Lightning Cycle Dynamics in California. He set a new company record for the cycle on March 9 when he passed the 46,458 mile mark on the vehicle. With all his travelling, people often wonder if he has a family awaiting his return somewhere. “No,” he answers. “If I did, do you think they would allow me to do this? “I tell everyone that if Adonai (God) wanted me to have a wife, He would provide me one on two wheels,” he said. He says that he has never been able to find the right person willing to go the distance with him. “People have only traveled a day or two with me,” he said. “There would be advantages to having a human partner.” So what is the Reverend’s message? “Basically,” he says, “Christians should live out their faith. In other words, they should ‘walk the walk’ instead of just ‘talking the talk.’” He also has a message for churches. “They should get back to the basics and be a church that has a compassionate heart,” he said. “Too many churches have just become ‘social clubs’ where there is too much emphasis on the presentation and too little emphasis on the message,” Myors said. “Money and effort is spent on taking mission trips to out-of-state places or foreign countries instead of going into their own communities and neighborhoods,” he said. Myors listed examples, saying “Churches need and should provide such things as clothes or food banks, health ministries, learning programs such as budgeting and finance, English as a second language, homework help, minor home repair for the elderly, respite for parents with children, hospice care and temporary housing, to mention a few.” After a few stops around Kingfisher, Myors strapped on his helmet and pedaled northward bound for Cushing, then Tulsa, then on to points unknown but to him. If you should see the reverend on his yellow bicycle during your travels, give him a wave as he pedals along his highway toward Heaven. Rev. Hans Myors responds to e-mails along his travels. He can be contacted at pprayers@yahoo.com, or visit his Pedal Prayers website at www.geocities.com/pprayers.