This is Ondracka’s route for his 1,200-mile trip.Circuit-riding preachers were bold frontiersmen, traveling by horse – with a Bible in the saddlebag – through the 19th-century wilds of Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina and Arkansas. They paused in isolated towns along the circuit to offer a sermon and sometimes help with a barn-raising or harvest.
Bill Ondracka, pastor at Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Knoxville, will do his own 1,200-mile version of a circuit ride across those very states, but on a bike instead of a horse. His doctor estimates he will burn about 6,000 calories per day.
“I’ve been practicing with some longer and longer distances,” Ondracka says. “On my bike, I’ll bring along water, Gatorade and some Paleo protein bars with raisins and cranberries in them.”
His ride, known as the Cycle & Serve Tour, is designed to honor the 123 Lutheran congregations that are part of the regional Mid-South District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It’s also a celebration of the district’s 50th anniversary.
Starting last Sunday, Ondracka will pedal the countryside until May 1, stopping in 10 cities along the way, including Chattanooga. In each city along his tour, he will help with local churches’ community service projects.