By John Hall

On this page, a lot has been said about the riders and why they are involved in Bike Out Hunger. The truth is, it takes a lot more people than a group of riders to pull something like this off.

Many thanks to Bobby Broyles and First Baptist Church in Ballinger; Kalie Lowrie and Katy Blackshear at Howard Payne University; Keith and Sharon Felton and First Baptist Church in Hamilton; Steve Dominy and his wonderful family at First Baptist Church in Gatesville; Mallory Homeyer of the Texas Hunger Initiative and the good folks at the World Hunger Farm; Carol Woodward and Shawn Shannon at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; and The Fellowship of San Antonio. Your hospitality, spirit and generosity were overwhelming during these six days.

Carolyn Strickland and Joyce Gilbreath, you worked tirelessly behind the scenes coordinating places where we could rest for a bit and share about the hunger needs of Texas and around the globe. It has been a pleasure allowing you to use us to continue communicating ways people can help the hungry.

Kaitlin Chapman, Joshua Minatrea, Dennis Parrish, Brian Hurst and Rex Campbell, because of you, we were able to stay on the road and share our hearts through media efforts about needing to help the hungry. Thanks to you, Christ’s call to minister to the least of these has been magnified. Additionally, you were there for each rider with an encouraging word, a helping hand and a cool drink. You were essential.

Lastly, to each of you who prayed for us and supported us before, during and after the trip, thank you. Your support will provide food for hungry people in Texas and around the world. Your prayers were felt and made a drastic difference in our ability to ride. I have no doubt that because of your prayers, we stayed healthy and strong, riding beyond our abilities.

As I type this last post, I want to ask you to pray as our Lord taught us to pray. This time as you pray, think about the words as if they were being said by a person who does not know where their next meal will come from.

Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)
“This, then is how you should pray:
’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.’”

By John Hall

As I think about Bike Out Hunger, it seems this is more than a ride from Ballinger to San Antonio.

It’s an opportunity.

For many people, hunger around the globe and even in our state is something too large for them to wrap their minds around. Everyone thinks the entire planet should have enough food to eat. Hearts grieve for children near and far who go without basic sustenance. But people seem to be at a loss of what to do.

Bike Out Hunger has given people an outlet to do something. We’ve seen it time and time again. As riders have asked people to give to the offering in honor of the ride, individuals have jumped at the chance without hesitation. During the ride, a lady in a convenience store gave one rider a few dollars to feed hungry people. A cyclist riding down the street stopped by me and gave me $20 to help the hungry.

People care about hungry people and want to help. Bike Out Hunger has helped some of those people express that compassion in a practical way.

Praise God for their actions and prayers.

By Rand Jenkins

I’ve been asked a lot this week, “Why are you doing this?” and one of the first reasons that comes to mind is this story.

In a suburb of a large town in Texas, one where you wouldn’t expect to find hunger issues, a third grade boy, “Tyler,” was a well behaved model student. One Monday morning, a typical morning, the teacher comes in, puts her items on her desk in front of the class, turns on her computer, places her paper sack lunchbox on the desk and begins class.

About that time, the teacher turned her back to write on the white board. Behind her she heard fast footsteps, the crinkle of a paper sack being grabbed and then the slam of the schoolroom door. She turned around, and saw Tyler was missing and so was the sack lunch.

The teacher excused herself from the classroom, went out into the hall and found Tyler there eating her lunch. She asked, “Why did you take my lunch?” Tyler, with a mouth full of sandwich and chips, looked down, embarrassed and said, “Well, I was home all weekend. I ate lunch Friday, but that was it. I was just so hungry. I saw your lunch and thought about the punishment, but I was just so hungry.”

During the school year, the government provides low-cost or free meals to those in need. However, on the weekends and summer, many of these children have no meals and no food at home. The same money and food are available for your church or civic organization to step up and be the distribution point for the food. It will cost you nothing but time. Contact us on how you can get this going in your organization.

By John Hall

The last few days have only reinforced in my mind how beautiful this state is. The rolling hills. The wide expanses of green fields. And of course, the wildflowers. They dot our state in deep blues, oranges and yellows to create a mosaic as unique and wonderful as the state itself.

Yet as beautiful as this state is, it has one significant stain. Texas leads the nation in childhood insecurity. Roughly one in every five Texas children do not know where their next meal will come from. For many other children, the free lunch they receive at school is the only healthy meal they eat on a regular basis and are on their own to scavenge for food on weekends and during summers.

The problem is so large, I can’t even truly wrap my mind around the statistics.

But I can mourn over stories.

San Antonio children digging through church dumpsters in an effort to find food.

An East Texas child who stole another student’s lunch and ran down the hall. When teachers found him, he had all the lunch in his mouth. It was the first meal he’d had in several days.

Children in the Rio Grande Valley who come to a church early every Saturday because they know they can find a meal there. Without it, they won’t have one that day.

Empathy is good. Action is better. How can you help feed a hungry child? How can your church reach out to children? Giving to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger will help you feed hungry children around the world. If you call 888-244-9400, Texas Baptists staff people can you and your congregation start or expand a feeding ministry.

Together, we can make this state more beautiful.