Hollywood's Spiderman meets Bakersfield's Cross Man
Cross Walk Hollywood. Story and pictures will be posted soon!
On August 31, 2006, local history was made when Street Evangelist Tom Alexander completed a six-month journey cross-walking every major and sub-major street throughout greater Bakersfield. Because each street, boulevard, road, lane, highway, etc. was actually cross-walked twice in round-trip segments averaging eight miles per day, Monday through Friday and at least two Saturdays each month, the cross-walk took six months. Read on »
Recent News:
Tom praying for Ventura at Surfer's Knoll
On Mother’s Day weekend, 2009 and after a successful cross-walking safari in Santa Barbara, Jeanette and I drove 25 miles south to Ventura and parked at the city’s beautiful Ventura Harbor. Directly across from the Harbor is Surfer’s Knoll, a favorite surfing spot for local surfers. We had spent a long time in Santa Barbara and it was fast approaching dusk.
Hoisting up the long cross at the Surfer’s Knoll sign, we prayed for the city of Ventura, that the God of revival would pour out His Spirit upon the city’s 97,000 residents and catch them in the prayer dragnet we were building with our prayer of faith. The sight of the long cross hoisted upright at the entrance to Surfer’s Knoll drew a lot of attention from those passing by and from those who were on the beach.
One couple from Chicago and on assignment from a major insurance company to help the Jesusita Fire victims shared that they were Christians and wondered what we were doing. They had never seen a cross-walker. As Jeanette and I spoke with them, their spirits fired up and came alive. Their excitement was noticeable by all. These two believers were surprised that there were Christians living in California!
We explained the purpose of the cross-walk and had a long and joyful conversation with these two believers from the Windy City. Cars filled with people passed by and honked or waved, and I couldn’t help but notice the beauty of the ocean scene at dusk even though the horizon was filled with smoke from the Santa Barbara fire. After we finished talking with our new friends from the East, I hoisted the cross upright next to the sand dunes and facing the ocean and the setting sun and prayed.
Darkness came quick so we walked back to the Harbor and was about to load up the cross on the “go-ye-mobile” when an excited voice caught my attention. “I thought that was a cross!” a man’s voice declared. He quickly introduced himself after shaking my hand.
Bob owns a limousine and he was waiting for two young couples who were at the Harbor and celebrating their high school graduation. Parked a couple of spaces from our truck and taking up two entire spaces was Bob’s stretch limousine. We talked for twenty or more minutes about the Lord and Cross Walk California. We learned that Bob is also a trucker and is married and living in Los Angeles. What he shared next was exciting.
The Cross, Marriage and Proposition Eight
Bob brought up the subject. Both he and his wife are very pro traditional marriage and for Proposition Eight. Of course Jeanette and I are too. With California Supreme Court justices about to render a verdict on the validity of Proposition Eight, Bob wanted to pray that the constitutional admendment would stand. So we prayed.
A phone call came from the two high school couples and Bob had to pick them up and take them to another destination. We said our good-byes and I secured the long cross in the truck bed and against its cab. Jeanette and I then bought a couple of ice cream cones from one of the Harbor’s numerous stores and walked the entire waterfront, talking about the cross-walk and enjoying the presence of the Lord and each other after a very long day.
Although we did not cross-walk the downtown area and pray at the government buildings this day, we’ll be back to do so very soon. Ventura happens to be one of our favorite places to visit. We know the city like the palm of our hands. The people have always been friendly. Just like the people of Bakersfield, they need the Lord. And that is our prayer, that widespread revival takes place, not only at Surfer’s Knoll and Surfer’s Point, but throughout the entire city. We also know that, because we hoisted the cross and prayed this day, Ventura won’t be the same tomorrow!
Walking east on High Street and talking to people about God's love, Jesus' resurrection and the Endless Easter
”I Get Around”
(new life in Christ version)
Round, round, get around,
I get around.
I get around, all over town.
I’m a cross-walking fool,
but for the Lord it’s cool.
chorus
I always take my cross
’cause it’s never been beat.
And I’ve never missed yet
with the people I meet.
I get around, all over town.
I’m a cross-walking fool,
but for the Lord it’s cool.
Just for my own personal fun, I’ve taken several Beach Boys tunes and changed the words to fit my cross-walking ministry. Years ago I gave up the long board for the long cross and quit chasing the Endless Summer for the Endless Easter. Instead of praying for surf, I now pray for revival. Of course, Jesus Christ was the original water walker. It is this first Water Walker whom I now follow and love with all my heart, soul, body and spirit. Nothing compares to following the Son! And nothing comes close to the love and warmth of the Son. Cowabunga and Hallelujah!
It was my wife’s suggestion that we celebrate Mother’s Day 2009 by taking the long cross to Santa Barbara and Ventura and cross-walking the streets and beaches of these two southern California coastal cities. Cross Walk Santa Barbara is a ministry of Cross Walk California.
Arriving at downtown Santa Barbara on an early Saturday afternoon, we parked next to the gigantic and stately County Courthouse and walked a couple of blocks to the city’s main party street. High Street is a seemingly endless boulevard teeming with tourists, visitors and residents. Besides the beautiful beaches of Santa Barbara, High Street is where both the in-crowd and the out-crowd hang out.
Walking east I spoke to countless numbers of people about Jesus Christ and why I was carrying a 10-foot, 60-pond cross. It seems no one had ever seen a cross walker before, although the response was quite receptive and positive. One young woman walked by, and with a smile on her face asked, “Still celebrating Easter?”, to which I replied “The Endless Easter!” The woman and her friends grinned from ear to ear and gave the thumbs up sign as they walked by.
As Jeanette took pictures, I talked with individual after individual about the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of the people shared that they, too, were believers. I carry an assortment of special two-sided tracts that I hand out. For this special cross-walk, I decided to hand out “How Much Is Your Life Worth?” The front side asks that question in large letters and also has a picture of a dollar bill. The dollar bill is badly frayed, chewed up, and has pieces missing. The other side explains that if a person takes a torn up and badly frayed bill to any bank, it can be exchanged for a brand new, crispy one. It goes on to explain that, just like that badly frayed and sorely-damaged dollar bill, all an individual has to do is take his or her tattered, torn, chewed up and shattered life to the bank of Heaven and ask God to exchange that old and dilapidated life for a brand new one.
Because We Were Here Today, Santa Barbara Will Not Be The Same Tomorrow
Individuals throughout California cities respond positively to this particular two-sided tract. The tourists, visitors and residents of Santa Barbara were not exceptions to this rule. As we walked down High Street, which is the very heartbeat of Santa Barbara, I was pleasantly surprised at the overall response of the people to the cross-walk.
Hoisting the cross upright at City Hall, we prayed for Santa Barbara’s civic and government leaders and that citywide revival would break out among the city’s 97,000 residents. The Jesusita Fire was raging out of control in the mountains above Santa Barbara. Walking to the large County Administrative Building, I hoisted the cross upright and prayed for the County Supervisors and all the California firefighters fighting to put out this large and dangerous fire.
Jeanette and I then walked to the huge Santa Barbara County Courthouse. I hoisted the cross upright and we prayed for the entire county, that all of Santa Barbara County residents get “caught” in the county-wide prayer dragnet we erected over the entire land through our prayer and praise to the God of revival. We asked the great Fisherman from Galilee to catch men, women and children in this prayer dragnet.
As we walked back to out truck and this particular cross-walk came to a successful and invigorating end, my first thought was: “Because we were here today, Santa Barbara will not be the same tomorrow.” We really didn’t want to end the cross-walk, but our next destination on this cross-walking safari was just as important.
Ventura, here comes the cross-walker from Bakersfield, California!
“Unexplainable: Who Would Gun down a 62-year-old Woman?”
So read the front-page headline of The Bakersfield Californian’s April 29th, 2009 newspaper, highlighting the Monday night shooting death of 62-year-old Iva Craig. Her 54- and 44-year-old-friends were also wounded by a hail of twenty some odd bullets.
As I read Wednesday morning’s article concerning this tragedy, I knew I’d be at Iva Craig’s home that very morning, hoisting the large 10-foot cross upright and right next to where she and her two friends were shot, praying long and hard for her family.
Tom and God's Plus Sign at Ventura's Surfer's Knoll
From The Long Board To The Long Cross
Surfing hit the Texas Gulf Coast in 1961, when I was fourteen. My sister’s boyfriend knew some California surfers, who visited Galveston Island that summer and brought the long board to the Lone Star state. From what I can recall, I was the fifth or sixth Texan to take up the long board and ride the two to three foot swells of Galveston Bay.
When I caught my first wave, I was hooked.
That summer I gave up the girls for the surf board. Riding waves was both exhilarating and unbelievable. Every morning my friend Louie and I would hitchhike the nine miles from my home in Texas City to the island city. Sometimes we’d actually spend the night on the beach just to wake up to and ride the “glass,” the pristine and gently-breaking waves.
Nothing smelled better than the sun tan oil, the wax, and the surf.
The story is told about a group of college “mathletes” who were returning to their residence hall after an evening of intoxicated pleasure. Suddenly, their drunken leader noticed on the steeple of a church a large cross illuminated by the moon. “Ye mathematicians, look at God’s plus sign!” he yelled for all to hear. The group burst into spontaneous laughter.
One of the students from that prestigious group couldn’t sleep that night. Toward morning he stepped into the leader’s room and shared that the luminous vision of the cross as God’s plus sign (the symbol of His love for mankind) had made him decide to uphold that cross. Seven others from that group followed him and gave their lives to the One who had died on the cross, God’s plus sign.
Tetrahydrocannabinol. THC for short. The truth is, if marijuana didn’t contain THC, nobody would be smoking it, much less trying to legalize or medicalize it. After all, the real purpose in smoking pot is not to treat the symptoms of a serious illness, but to get high.
The overwhelming majority of young people don’t have terminally-advanced AIDS or cancer. There is not one medically sound reason for a normal and healthy individual to smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. Again, the real reason for smoking pot is to get high because the individual simply doesn’t want to cope with or experience the mental and psychological discomfort of what are really normal and everyday problems and situations.
Just like adults, young people “pack,” or carry, guns or other weapons for four primary reasons: PROTECTION, REVENGE, NOTORIETY, or CRIMINALITY. It can be very scary when a bully threatens to harm you. Getting even may seem to be the only way to save face. Carrying a gun to make others respect you might seem sensible to a youth who isn’t popular. Using a gun to commit a crime and obtain what you do not have might seem to be the only solution. But, are these really good reasons to carry a gun or other weapon? Is this what your parents really want you to do? Here are ten alternative things to carry instead of a gun or other weapon.
Coming soon: daily “Good News” sermonettes on Jesus Christ.
Check out the Dodge Dakota Sport truck recently donated to Cross Walk Bakersfield and Cross Walk California ministries. Because of this donation, Street Evangelist Tom Alexander will be able to take the large 10-foot, 60-pound cross to many California cities in 2009.
Praise the Lord for a new go-ye-mobile and the opportunity to present the cross of Jesus Christ as God’s Plus Sign to men, women and children living in California cities and towns.