January 20, 1999
Ted Stone finishes
3,550-mile walk against drugs
___By Don Hinkle
___Baptist Press
___DURHAM, N.C. (BP)--Ted Stone might be called the John Chapman of Southern Baptists.
___Chapman, better remembered as "Johnny Appleseed," became known for his travels throughout the 19th-century Midwest, carrying apple seeds in one hand and a Bible in the other.
___So it has been with Stone, who recently completed his second coast-to-coast walk, sowing the seeds of the gospel and calling on citizens to focus on America's drug abuse problem. Stone is a longtime Southern Baptist ministerwho became addicted to amphetamines nearly 30 years ago, after having been a pastor for seven years. During his addiction, he committed seven armed robberies and even shot a man before serving four years in prison in the early 1970s.
TED STONE walked across America to fight drug abuse. He finished the trek at Virginia Beach, Va.
___Stone used his 3,550-mile walk--beginning in California in the San Francisco mayor's office and crossing nine states before ending in Virginia, in the Atlantic Ocean--to tell people how Jesus saved and healed him from such a destructive lifestyle.
___His message was heard by addicts, families of addicts, church groups, civic organizations and schoolchildren.
___"I did this to try to rally Americans to a more active involvement in the war against drug abuse," he said of his walk that began April 20 and ended Oct. 19.
___"I thanked God for the grace and mercy he showed me during the walk," Stone recounted of his prayer at the trip's end. "Then I asked God for a special miracle in the lives of all the hurting people I met along the way. Then I recommitted my life to the Lord. I said, 'Lord, I'll do anything you tell me to do.'"
___Stone, a member of Grace Baptist Church in Durham, N.C., has a pretty good record with such promises. This was his second coast-to-coast walk devoted to sowing the gospel and drawing attention to the nation's drug abuse problem. The first, in 1996, spanned 3,600 miles from Washington, D.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., then on to Los Angeles.
___During his most recent trek, Stone walked six days a week and Sunday afternoons if necessary, wearing a red, white and blue "Ted Stone Walking and Talking" T-shirt or sweatshirt, carrying an American flag each step of the way and averaging about 30 miles a day.
___Two assistants, Philip Barber of Dallas and Mike Yarborough of Durham, followed Stone, setting up speaking engagements, doing his laundry, toting his luggage, giving him water and snacks and securing shelter when thunderstorms approached. Funds for the trip were provided by love offerings at the churches he visited.
___He stayed mostly at Holiday Inns, many of which offered him a reduced rate. He does not know yet how much his trip cost, but his first walk across the country cost $36,000.
___The 64-year-old battled 100-degree temperatures, endured four climbs to more than 7,000 feet in elevation and lost 44 pounds.
___He suffered through snow in June at Soldier Summit in Utah, rode a hot air balloon, talked with American Indians in New Mexico and stopped by a blues festival in Mississippi, sharing his testimony at each juncture.
___While approaching Fort Smith, Ark., on the Oklahoma border, he nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion--until he saw some Christian friends who were waiting to pray for him just a few hundred yards away.
___Stone went through two pairs of New Balance sneakers during the walk, met with Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee and two other governors, spoke at more than 200 engagements and collected 100,000 "Commitment to a Lifestyle Free From Drug Abuse" cards from people.
___"It was worth all the pain if I've helped just one person," Stone said.
___ "If the Christian church doesn't assume a leadership role in the war against drug abuse, then who will? For years the church had abdicated this to the secular world. It's time for that to end."
___His efforts have captured the admiration of people ranging from former President George Bush to recovering drug addicts inspired by his supernatural transformation through the power of Jesus Christ to messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June in Salt Lake City, who heard his testimony.
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