“I Will Go Ride” Program Distributes The Great Controversy from Bicycles

by Debbie Hooper  |  18 August 2024  |  

In late May 2024, seven Adventists embarked on a grueling 1,145-kilometer (711-mile) evangelistic bike ride across Australia called “I Will Go Ride,” traveling from Brisbane, Queensland, to Eugowra, New South Wales. 

The self-funded riders included Pastor Glenn Townend (South Pacific Division president) and Pastor Brett Townend (South Queensland Conference president), and the event was the latest in a series that aimed to inspire Adventists to spread the Adventist message through daily face-to-face interactions. 

This event was inspired by pioneer literature evangelist Phillip Reekie, who traveled the backroads of New South Wales in the 1890s and early 1900s, selling The Great Controversy from the panniers of his bicycle. In 1895, Reekie met Thomas Kent, a Eugowra farmer who purchased a copy and became a baptized Seventh-day Adventist three years later before co-founding the Eugowra Church. That one copy of The Great Controversy has reportedly impacted the lives of an estimated 20,000 people, with more than 100 denominational workers, including 17 pastors, among the descendants of the Eugowra Church. Several riders were descendants of the Kent family.

The Brisbane-to-Eugowra riders took 1,500 copies of the 1911 version of The Great Controversy, copies of Arthur Maxwell’s Your Bible and You, and brochures telling the story of the Eugowra trip. They rode an average of 160 kilometers per day (over 99 miles), striking up brief conversations with people along the way. When asked why the group of cyclists were traveling remote country roads, they shared the story of Phillip Reekie and Thomas Kent and offered free literature from one of the support vehicles accompanying them.

A passenger in one of the support vehicles observed: 

“You and your team demonstrated in a beautiful way the joy and comfort and willingness to share with others. I think every SDA (Seventh-day Adventist) should have seen what happened today. It can be done. Very impressed.”

Is the message relevant?

While “I Will Go Ride” inspires Adventists and highlights the value of a face-to-face approach, it also raises questions about modern evangelism.

“I Will Go Ride” starkly contrasts with several other initiatives inspired by the global The Great Controversy Project 2.0 of recent years, where cheap copies of the book are bulk-mailed to hundreds of thousands of addresses. 

However, this question remains: is The Great Controversy the right choice for unchurched people today?

In 2023, independent publisher Remnant Publications’ mass mailout of The Great Controversy to residents of Portland, Oregon, left Portlanders feeling personally attacked. A message to donors on the publisher’s website appealed: “Help somebody to have a better way of life.”

“Better in what way, though?” asked a journalist from Willamette Week. 

“What succor can Portlanders troubled by random dog attacks and squatters’ den fires hope to take from The Great Controversy written by Ellen G. White? The book purports to be a consideration of the growing influence of the Catholic Church on American life (a spicy topic in 1858) before pivoting to White’s contention that the most violent divide among Christians will soon be whether the Sabbath falls on Saturday or Sunday.”

Just as significant is evidence—readily available online—of Ellen White’s plagiarism and inconsistent messaging, which raises doubts about the value of the information and messages contained in The Great Controversy. Is it the right choice for modern audiences? Do the messages in The Great Controversy have the same relevance for people today as they did for the families of Eugowra in the 1890s, when the social context was more closely aligned? Will The Great Controversy still work for people today when offered under the right circumstances, or are other publications a better choice? 

Certainly, the Brisbane-to-Eugowra ride showed that literature is significantly better received when accompanied by personal interaction.

How about follow-up?

Members of “I Will Go Ride” estimate that they personally distributed between 700 and 800 copies of the 1,500 pieces of Adventist literature they carried. These were given to farmers, store owners, townsfolk, people out walking their dogs—anyone willing to stop what they were doing to have a conversation. The remaining copies were given to churches along the way, to people attending a reunion at their destination, and to a literature evangelist who asked to have the last boxes. 

Will anyone follow up on this seed-sowing? It’s lovely to hand people literature, but then what? Will these books end up the same place most of the mailed books do: in the rubbish bin, or tucked away unread in a bookcase? While face-to-face sharing is potentially more rewarding than anonymous mailings, the same question remains: will it bring anyone to an Adventist church—or even to Jesus?

Given the significant costs associated with publishing and distributing one billion copies of The Great Controversy (once said by Elder Wilson to be a global Adventist objective), it is well worth considering the benefits of monitoring literature distribution and gathering data. GPS tracking techniques, like those used by modern sales forces, would not only avoid cases where boxes of books lie forgotten in back rooms of churches and trunks of cars but also mean that follow-up can occur in the local government areas where distribution occurs. 

Currently, the official website and proposal download do not mention methods of this kind. Yet the valuable information gathered would furnish the global Church with information about the effectiveness of mission in different parts of the world, including which publication is best suited to a modern audience. This would remove the guesswork from the equation and foster accountability and transparency.

Despite these challenges, the “I Will Go Ride” initiative demonstrates the enduring impact of face-to-face evangelism, accompanied by a story that contains deeper meaning and humanity, as opposed to the anonymity of the bulk mailings currently being used.

Debbie Hooper writes from the Gold Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

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