JourneyOnline
THREE FRIENDS will walk from Cairns to Stanthorpe from August to November this year to spread the word that there are 2000 languages – representing 350 million people – that still don’t have the Bible.
Dave Carnell, Andrew Carnell and Andrew Sav will walk 2000km over 80 days.
Mr Sav said he thought it wasn’t fair that there are so many English versions of the Bible and yet “there are millions of people in the world who don’t have a single verse of God’s Word in a language they can understand”.
Beginning in Cairns on 25 August, the walk will take the trio south through Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Toowoomba as well as many smaller towns in between.
If all goes according to plan they will walk into Stanthorpe on 11 November – Remembrance Day.
Mr Sav (48) said God laid the idea for The 2000 Walk on the father of four’s heart a couple of years ago. He is joined by cousins Dave (23) and Andrew (30).
PE teacher Dave grew up attending Severnlea Uniting Church (10km south of Stanthorpe) with his family. He recently returned from trekking through Nepal with Operation Mobilisation and has stepped out of his career as a teacher for 2010 to participate in The 2000 Walk. Apart from walking, Dave is also responsible for logistics along the way – such as coordinating accommodation and meetings in the different towns en route.
On average the trio will hold an evening meeting at local churches and town halls every second day.
Andrew is Queensland’s State Director of Operation Mobilisation (OM). He’s a country boy at heart and is looking forward to linking up with country churches.
Just as the walk will be a long, hard process, so is translating the Bible into different languages.
It’s too big to tackle alone, which is why the trio are working together with Operation Mobilisation and Wycliffe Bible Translators to make this massive need as widely known as possible. “Our aim is that this need will no longer be hidden,” said Andrew. “We want the Australian church to become aware.”
To follow the group’s progress visit www.the2000walk.com
Karyn Markwell is from Markwell Publishing
Photo : Dave Carnell (front), Andrew Sav and Andrew Carnell (back) train for their 2000km walk to raise money for Bible translations. Photo by Trent Rouillon
