Day 98: April 14, 2006 8:59 a.m. Church Office

Total miles walked so far: 990

I could not wait to get to my computer and give you another update. Last night was better than the first night. We had 817 people come through on Thursday night. That was a great improvement over the 637 from the night before. The greatest change occurred last night about 7:00 p.m. Before that point, the number of guests to church members was about 3 to 1 members to visitors. After 7:00 p.m. that number shifted to 3 to 1 visitors to members. I was at the front of the line and got a chance to personally greet every group. In the last few groups I asked every visitor how they heard about Path to the Cross. The responses were gratifying.

Some people came because of postcards. Other people came because of newspaper articles. Several people received e-vites from church members. Most people came because of face to face personal invitations. Many actually came with members. Even with all the technology available to us and all of the media outlets at our disposal, nothing beats a personal invitation. Thank you for all that you did to invite your friends and neighbors.

Let me give you a real quick update on the 1,000 mile walk. I am only ten miles away. I am going to walk for a little over an hour at mid day which will get me up to 995. Tomorrow morning I am going to walk with my regular Saturday morning crew. Mark told me today that he would kill me if I walked my 1,000th mile without him. If you want to walk with me on my 1,000 mile I WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN ME!! I will meet you at the Path at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. We will stop at every scene and give thanks to God for every actor/actress and every volunteer. We will stop at the tomb and pray for the Sunrise Service. The 1,000 mile walk will end at the foot of the cross on 290. We will pray for our Easter Sunday services and our follow up visits for all of the people who came to The Path.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I could have never made it without you.

p.s. If any one has time available, let’s say 9:00 p.m. tonight. I understand there will be a huge clean up party at the church. You wouldn’t want to miss that would you?