Home

Operation Cold Winds

Operation cold winds is an 'illustrated sermon' intended to bring awareness and practical assistance to Christian brothers and sisters living under the scourge of persecution for their faith. In February of 2001, 5 Chrsitan brothers brought a ten-foot tall wooden cross from Barrow, through a major blizzard down to Nuiqsut village near the Alpine oil field. From there 6 other Christian brothers carried the cross on a 917 mile walk in the middle of Alaska's brutal winter from edge of the Arctic ocean on the North Slope all the way to Anchorage.

The idea was to use the backdrop of the Alaskan winter cold and wind to communicate that the churches here know of the plight our brethren and are willing to 'Walk with them symbollically and through practical aid and prayer through the Cold winds of adversity.'

Individuals and churches were encouraged to give so much per mile with the funds raised to be given to ministries working directly with persecuted Christians for much needed relief supplies.

While the project in some ways was tremendously successful, in other ways it was a dismal failure. The success was found in the spirit of Christian solidarity among the project's participants and many churches. The failure was in the fact that February of 2001 was 7 months before September 11, 2001 when the world and to a large extent, the church, became aquainted with the brutality that our persecuted brethren were already all too familiar with.

The following is the story of Operation cold winds beginning with the trip to Southern Sudan which served as the seed from which the project later grew out of. It was written by one of the brothers who went to Sudan and also was part of the Operation Cold Winds walk. (Several photo pages are in the works and will be added to this site in coming days.)

The trip to Sudan

The roots of ‘Operation Cold Winds” began with a trip to Southern Sudan in June of 2000. At that time 2 brothers from Wasilla flew in on a mission to bring supplies and encouragement to a few villages in the Baher El Gazal region, which had experienced severe persecution by radical Muslim forces bent on wiping out the Christian population.

The brothers brought in supplies of food, medicine, Bible teaching materials as well as hundreds of cards and letters from Christians representing dozens of participating congregations throughout Alaska. The cards and donations were collected through the Valley Pastor’s Prayer Network (VPPN) and were distributed, in Jesus name, by the two brothers, Bob and Chris.

The idea was inspired from a verse in scripture, “Like water to a thirsty soul is good news from a far country.” (Proverbs 25:25) Good news, encouragement and needed supplies would certainly have been welcomes from anywhere, but when people learned that they had come from ALASKA the effect was dramatically amplified.

The main village of that area was right in the heart of the persecution and had been burned down three times in the past. The wells had been poisoned and the cattle killed. Many of the men had been murdered, the women raped, and a large number of kids had been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the north.

The people always came back and re-built their villages. When they build their mud and grass huts, they bring the grass at the top up to a point and tie another piece across it horizontally to form a cross. It is like an act of defiance saying, “If this village is attacked again, burn mine first! I stand for Jesus and will not be intimidated”

The Alaskan brothers witnessed the deep faith of their Sudanese brothers and sisters in many ways. The drums would sound and the people would walk from miles around to come to the meetings. They had no building but met outside under a large group of trees using tree branches set across forked sticks as benches. When the bombers flew overhead 3 to 5 times each day, the people just ignored them and went right along with their church meetings or food gathering (about the only two activities they ever did.) The Muslim forces were located within a day or two’s walk to the north, east and west. They were in an enclave, nearly surrounded by forces bent on their destruction.

On one occasion the Alaskans visited a group of Nuer Tribes people who had fled persecution in their area into the land of the Dinka tribe. They designated a big tree as their school and church and carved a big cross on the truck of the tree. When the Alaskans visited their ‘church’ they sang the song, “I have decided to follow Jesus” in their own language and greeted their guests with cheers and celebration. Many of the kids had been literally purchased back from slavery in the Muslim north.

In each place the Alaskans visited, they distributed the cards and letters brought in from the churches back home. When they saw the picture post cards of the ice and snow and giant mountains, they were absolutely amazed. They couldn’t believe that people so far away in a place so unimaginable even knew they existed let alone knew of their trouble and cared. There were many tears of joy as the people soaked in the knowledge that they were not forgotten. The Alaskans reminded them that it was the Lord Himself who loves them and it was He who put it in their hearts to go there in the first place. The Alaskans also brought paper and crayons with them so that the kids could make pictures to send back to Alaska when they returned. It was very sad to see that the main theme of the pictures were planes dropping bombs and soldiers attacking with guns.

As another way to encourage the Sudanese Christians, the Alaskans brought with them an 8’ tall wooden cross with the names of churches from all over Alaska burned in with a wood-burning tool. Every church that supplied financial aid and or cards and letters was burned into the wood along with the words, ‘The churches of Alaska stand with you’.

The people were very excited to have the food and other supplies but they went absolutely wild with joy when they saw that big cross and the names of all those churches burned into it. The cross was carried all over that area from village to village and left at the main church to encourage them for years to come.

This area is a land of ‘basic survival’ and located hundreds of miles from the closest towns that even used money! There are no stores, no electricty and no roads. The days consist of fetching water, gathering food, repairing your hut, meeting for church a couple of times each week and nothing else (except run for your lives if attacked.) The kids had no toys and never made time for games. There was not one single ball or doll in sight, not even makeshift ones. The Alaskans rolled up a pair of socks and wrapped them in ‘duct tape’ (of course!) to create a ball. They then taught the kids and several adults as well, how to play ‘stick ball’. (Later on, they sent in several soccer balls and other sports equipment so the kids could enjoy a little recreation.) Some soldiers put their machine guns up against a tree and joined in for a little fun along with the others.

The word of the Lord was true for these people; “Good News from a far country had served to bring a drink of cool refreshment to their thirsty souls.” They had brought in food for their bodies, food for their minds, and food for their bodies. But even as the Alaskans went in to bless them, they came out equally blessed themselves. They saw people; in constant danger from war all around them, snakes and other animals (one guy was attacked by a hippo while they were there), and the grueling lifestyle of living off the land, but the people still sang songs of joy and smiled and talked of the love of Jesus-without bitterness.

The meaning of ‘Operation Cold Winds’

The trip to Sudan made three things abundantly clear; our persecuted brethren needed a lot of support, the church in America largely doesn’t have a clue as to how severe and widespread Christian persecution is and Alaska serves as a great encouragement amplifier.

The idea of ‘Operation Cold Winds’ was to do something to help raise awareness to the suffering of the brethren due to anti-Christian persecution in places like Sudan and Indonesia and also raise money to help provide some of the practical relief supplies needed in areas where the persecution is most severe. The project would also be done in a way that would use the mystique and awe of Alaska as a backdrop to help amplify the impact of the ‘encouragement factor’ to the people receiving the supplies. Again, “Like water to a thirsty Soul is Good News from a FAR country.” (Proverbs 25:25) If aid comes in from a place like California or New York or Washington D.C., it is of course welcomed and received with joy, but if the same aid comes in from a place as unimaginable to people in a place like Sudan and Indonesia as Alaska, it absolutely blows their minds! Alaska is about as far of a country as they can imagine!

It communicates that little extra punctuation that says, “Your brothers and Sisters EVEN THERE know about your situation and are in your corner.” You may not be able to even grasp how far away Alaska is and how different it is from your own world but God has not forgotten you and He has put it in the hearts of your brothers and sisters in that strange far away place to come here and encourage you.

The ‘Alaska factor’ may have been an interesting 'theory or idea' before the brothers from Wasilla went to Sudan, but after seeing it in action- they knew it was much more than just an idea. They had seen the effect in action and knew it meant a great deal to the people. Bringing aid in from Alaska was very very special in the eyes of the people who received the supplies even if they did not have a word in their local language for ice! (This is true by the way- they only had a word for hail stones- nothing for ice or glaciers or snow! The Alaskans might have just as well come there from Pluto!)

The plan

The plan was to walk from the North Slope all the way down to Anchorage in the middle of winter carrying a ten foot tall wooden cross (with the names of participating churches burned into the wood). People would be invited to pledge so much per mile with the money being collected through the Valley Pastor’s Prayer Network in Wasilla. The funds would be divided up with half going to Voice of The Martyr’s ministry for Sudan and half going to Open Doors Ministry for Indonesia.

The project would be called ‘Operation Cold Winds’ to communicate the message, “Through the Cold Winds of Adversity, the churches of Alaska walk with you.” The initial idea was to start the walk at Barrow (the northern most community in North America) and end up in Anchorage at Cook Inlet, from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific.

The logistics of starting the walk in Barrow was unworkable in the timeframe available so the plan was slightly modified. The big cross would be shipped up to Barrow and a team would bring it down to the Inupiaq Eskimo village of Nuiqsut (150 miles) by snow machine. The walkers would then carry it on their shoulders taking turns until they reached Anchorage. The walk from Nuiqsut to Anchorage was calculated at about 917 miles in the dead of winter.

NOTE: 100% of all the operating expenses for the project was paid for by the team members themselves and through the donated use of equipment and supplies offered by individuals wishing to help. 0.00000 dollars were used from collected funds to cover overhead.

Making it work

The biggest safety consideration aside from the arctic weather was to not get one of the walkers squished by a truck on the haul road. It was therefore imperative that the ‘Operation Cold Winds’ team coordinate their plans with the various entities working in on the North Slope. This included the oil companies, trucking companies, and the pipeline management service company.

The team consisted of six guys in two pick-up trucks. The trucks were equipped with CB radios and big sets of flashing yellow lights. One truck would go up ahead a couple of miles and park. The first truck would notify any trucks coming up the road that the ‘walker’ with the cross was up ahead. The walker would take the cross and start walking toward the truck at a pace of about 3 miles per hour. The second truck would stay at that point and warn traffic coming up behind that the walker was in front of them. When the walker reached the truck up ahead, another team member would take over and the rear truck would leap frog ahead another couple of miles and park to start the process over again.

The six guys would rotate 24 hours per day taking turns walking, driving, and sleeping. 4 guys would be awake taking turns driving and walking with the other 2 sleeping. Each 6 hours, the two sleepers would rotate in and another two would get some shut-eye.

One of the support trucks had a Big-foot camper, which is specially designed to be used in cold weather and the other truck had a big extra fuel tank on the back and served as the mobile filling station. Each truck also pulled a trailer full of supplies and gear. Meals consisted of military style M.R.E.s (Meals-Ready to Eat). Special equipment included arctic gear, a rented satellite phone, and a .454 Casull in case they happened to run across any polar bear in a bad mood. (This thought occurs often in the back of one’s mind when they are walking alone in the dark of winter out in the middle of nowhere on the North Slope.)

The trip up to Nuiqsut

The cross-had already been shipped up to Barrow on a cargo plane. A second cross of the same size was brought along with the team in case others wanted to come along side and participate or if something happened to the main one. The team was now ready to start out on the drive up to Nuiqsut from Palmer.

Thursday February 8^th, the team had a powerful prayer rally and send off at the Matanuska Christian School in Palmer. The kids really understood what the project was about and jumped in to lend their support. The drive up to Fairbanks is about six hours. By the time the team hit Fairbanks it was starting to sink in just how incredibly far the ‘walk back’ was going to be and they were still less than half way to Nuiqsut! The drive from Fairbanks up to Dead Horse is another twelve hours. The drive from Dead Horse the 50 miles over to Nuiqsut over the temporary winter ice-road should take about an hour to an hour and a half. In this case, it was NOT over the ice road but out over the frozen Arctic Ocean seven or eight miles going around the Alpine oil field and back down to the village with no road, no map, no land marks and lots and lots of pure white snow and ice. The team got stuck several times and had to dig themselves out and eventually made it into the village several very tedious hours later.

The people who had given permission to cross the ice-road and cut across to the village forgot to pass the information over to the security people running the road. The security people were very nice and even gave the team a great breakfast at one of the North Slope’s famous cafeterias but they could not find any documentation that permission had been granted. (This was later found and an apology was issued.)

When the team finally made it to Nuiqsut, they were more than just a little relieved, not to mention, exhausted. The snow machine team from Barrow had arrived a short time before with the big cross. They had encountered a major blizzard and thought they may have to turn back or hunker down until the storm passed. They pressed on and eventually made it. Some of the guys showed the big blisters on their hands from holding onto the handle grips and fighting through the storm.

The Assembly of God church met the team and provided a very nice dinner at a local buffet. After that they went over to the Pastor’s house and ate some muk-tuk (whale blubber dipped in seal oil- yum yum!) Everyone pulled out their bedrolls and camped out on the floor of the church. The walk would begin the next day- they had better get a good night’s sleep.

The 917 mile walk begins, February 10, 2001

The next morning the Christians of Nuiqsut gathered together to have a special prayer meeting and send out for the team. It was the very best send out imaginable. The snow machine team led by Pastor Dwain from Barrow led a big arctic parade around the village. The snow machines led the way and were followed by people of the village in their trucks and snow machines and finally by a few dozen people walking behind carrying the ‘Operation Cold winds’ banner and big cross. The parade was not pre-planned, it just happened in a spontaneous moment.

The Eskimo women in their colorful parkas led out in songs as one of the walker’s, bro. Dick pounded away on a drum. It was cold and windy but in a strange way, warm at the same time. This was the spirit of the mission at its very best. The people just heard about a need to help bring relief and encouragement to their brothers and sisters in far away places and jumped right in to do their part.

When bro. Chris called Pastor Dwain in Barrow to ask if some people might want to help bring the cross down to Nuiqsut by snow machine, he instantly without a moment of hesitation said, “sign me up”. He was about sixty years old at that time and didn’t think twice about jumping on his snow machine and blasting through a blizzard in the dead of winter to help. He rounded up four others to help but he wasn’t going to ask anyone to do something that he would not do himself! He didn’t know bro. Chris from the man in the moon; all he knew was that there was a call for help and a mission to support persecuted Christians and he and his crew were on board.

Thanks to the help of one of the Eskimo elders of the Village, who is also one of the elders in the church, there was no further trouble getting permission to use the ice road to go back across the Alpine oil field over to Dead Horse. The walk was officially underway. It was around ten below zero with ten to fifteen mile per hour winds directly in the walker’s faces, but it was ‘Operation Cold Winds’ and that is how it was supposed to be.

Across to Dead Horse

The planning time was over, this was not a drill. It was the real thing. They were walking on the ice road across the North Slope oil field in the dead of winter carrying a big cross. It was the first day of the walk and the six guys just looked at each other thinking, “What in the world have we gotten ourselves into. It is well below zero, the wind is howling in our faces, we can’t hardly see out the window and we still have over 900 miles to go!”

But they just kept plodding along, doing their leapfrog thing and before long they started to get into a bit of a rhythm. When the wind and temperature were not too strong, the ‘walker would go out and put in about 3 miles in one turn. When things got nasty, the walker would just do one mile. The first day was a bit chilly but actually not as harsh as they had prepared for so things zipped along at a pretty fast clip. By the end of that first day though, the first of many blisters began to appear on the walker’s feet.

They made it across to Dead Horse in Just one day and actually had to back track a bit to return to the British Petroleum compound for a special dinner. BP had given the walkers permission to eat at their café and use their movie theater facility to hold a special church service to explain the mission of ‘Operation Cold Winds’. After a couple of hours off and a really good meal –both naturally and spiritually, the team was off again to the point where they had left off. They had officially left ‘civilization’ and were headed down the Dalton Highway or ‘Haul Road’, 490 miles to Fairbanks.

The Dalton Highway (Haul Road) in summer

Continuing south over Atigun Pass to Cold Foot

The route out of Dead Horse goes up and over the Brooks Mountain range. The route crosses over the famous Atigun Pass. It is the northern most mountain pass in the world that is kept open year round and the highest year round pass in Alaska at approximately 4,800 feet.

Atigun Pass

The road is long and winds along slowly going higher and higher into the Brooks Range giving the walkers the perfect opportunity to think and pray as they went. The walkers agreed amongst themselves that they would carry no music players or other entertainment but would spend their time in prayer as much as possible. Information regarding the situations facing persecuted Christians in various places around the world was brought along and read in their ‘spare time’. The theme of the mission, after all, was to walk through the arctic winds as a statement of solidarity with our persecuted brethren.

The third and fourth days into the walk were the perfect opportunity to really understand the meaning of walking through the cold winds of adversity.

The temperature dropped to around 25-30 below zero and the winds picked up to gale force intensity-directly into the walker’s face. At times the going was so bad that he had to hold onto the handle on the back of the truck trailer as the truck crept down the road at a snail’s pace. The driver could barely distinguish where the road was and the walker could see nothing at all. When he went into the camper to switch with the next guy, his entire front would be covered in a thick layer of ice and the facemask and goggles would be completely iced over.

Both trucks went off the road on several occasions and the whole team would have to stop and work to pull a vehicle out. The road grader that served as the snowplow would sometimes run the blade out past the edge of the road over the ditch where the snow was deep enough to be graded off at the same level as the road. If a tire went onto that edge, it would give way and instantly sink that side of the truck into the ditch.

On one occasion, the truck with the camper was in so deep that they couldn’t get it out. They had to go down the road to a pipeline pump station (Which miraculously was only a couple of miles away) and get help. On another occasion a grader ‘happened’ to be going by just a few minutes later and stopped to help them get out.

In addition to the trouble of just staying on the road, the specially designed camper- made for use in the winter- had a malfunction in the heater and would not turn on. There was a thick layer of ice on the camper floor, which increased every time the walkers got in and out. They would use the stove to warm up a little but turn it off again when the vehicle was in motion. They had to put chemical hand-warmers in the compartment with the propane bottle to keep it from gelling and becoming useless. The team’s chief mechanic, brother Arnie was in a constant struggle to fix this thing and solve that problem. Arctic weather does funny things to vehicles.

On one occasion when brother Darwin was taking a turn with the cross, a ferocious blast of arctic wind was bearing down in a constant pounding that lasted several hours. He was the smallest in stature of the whole team and when the wind hit against the cross sideways, it caused him to spin around and he was barely able to keep his balance. He turned around in two or three complete circles until he was able to balance the load and keep going. Darwin was walking through the Cold Winds of Adversity!

At one point brother Lonnie had to cross a narrow bridge on a portion of road that had been basically drifted shut. The only way to do it was to send the support truck up ahead 2 miles and let him walk alone on the road with the second truck back before the bridge. This was normal when it was not blizzard conditions, but with the conditions so bad, they wanted a truck right with the walker. In this case they couldn’t clog the lane in case a big truck needed to get through. It would have been nearly impossible to back a rig and trailer out if it became impassible. It was a really tough go but he emerged on the other side in a couple of hours and radioed instructions for the other truck to get through. (It was learned later that the road had been shut down later that day and closed to all traffic for several hours until it could be cleared.

Entering Coldfoot

The team had now left the Brooks Range in their rearview mirror and had entered into the area where trees start to grow again. It is interesting when a person travels the other direction going north that it is similar to the timber line on the mountains. The further one travels north, the smaller and scragglier the trees get (most black spruce) until at a very distinct point you pass, the last tree. Now they were going south and all of a sudden they encountered, at a very definite point-the first trees. By the time they were approaching Coldfoot, the trees were plentiful and healthy looking (by arctic standards).

They were now in an area about 60 miles above the Arctic Circle still about 250 miles north of Fairbanks. The blasting winds were pretty much gone and all that remained was a little 25 below zero- nip in the air and a fresh layer of snow.

That is lonely country in February. The only ones traveling the Dalton Highway are truckers hauling supplies up to Prudhoe Bay for the oil field services and the occasional Alyeska Pipeline management vehicle, checking the line.

No one had been down the road for a few hours except the team when suddenly an Alyeska worker pulled up behind the walker in a pick-up truck. The guy said he had heard about the project and had been hearing reports about the progress (averaging 60 miles per day!) He then cut the chitchat and told them this story;

“I started following your trail several miles back when I left the other pump station. I could see the tire tracks of the trucks and distinct tracks of the cross carrier going down the road in the fresh snow. But I also saw this long long unbroken line scratched into the snow going behind the walker. The line was not straight but zigged and zagged and I could tell that the person carrying the load was struggling with it and I could even tell where the person stopped to switch shoulders from time to time. It was then that I could picture Jesus, carrying His cross and could imagine the pain of it as I saw the struggle depicted in this line in the snow. I knew about your mission to help the persecuted Christians and I admit that thought it was kind of crazy. But after seeing this, I get it. I see what you are trying to say, It is about Jesus and His cross, the persecuted Christians and their cross and the call for us to carry OUR cross.”

He began to tear-up and further state that he himself had once been a dedicated Christian but had drifted from his faith and was not serving the Lord at that time. He asked if the guys would pray with him and said that he wanted to re-dedicate himself to Christ and would from that time on, faithfully follow Jesus.

Operation Cold Winds was blessing and encouraging people ‘over here’ and well as ‘over there’! The man from Alyeska was certainly not the only one. There were several truckers who stopped to offer their encouragement and most threw in a few bucks to help with the relief fund for the persecuted Christians. One trucker brought in a big stainless steel tray of French fries up to the lead truck for the team to munch on. He said, “Drop this back off at the Coldfoot truck stop when you go through. They will want it back.” Another trucker had made a round trip between Fairbanks and the Slope since the walk began and when he was heading back up for another. He asked if there was anything we needed from Fairbanks that he could bring on his way back up. (In fact there were a few little odds and ends that he was able to help with.)

By the time the team hit Coldfoot, they were feeling the pain in a big way. Everyone was nursing huge blisters because the big arctic boots were not good for walking as many miles as they were putting in. The temperatures were not so nasty as before and in fact had become pretty mild by Alaska standards. Some of the guys traded their boots for tennis shoes wrapped in duct tape to seal off the vents. Hey, they call the place Cold Foot! Although it was pretty mild when the team came through, the coldest temperature ever recorded in America was at Prospect Creek near Cold Foot at - 80 Fahrenheit in 1971.

The shoes were not the only things the team needed to improvise on. They needed to make some interesting modifications to the cross itself. First, they used duct tape (of course- This is Alaska!) to attach a sock stuffed with a T-shirt to the point where the cross sits on the shoulder. Some of the guys complained that it was cheating. Others said they would attach the padding or they could walk the rest of the way themselves! As it turned out, I think everyone was more than happy to have the pad by the time they hit Coldfoot. The cross-weighed about 40 pounds and the walker’s shoulders would be aching pretty badly by the end of their turns.

The other big modification was on the other end of the cross. The constant dragging along the road was causing the bottom of the cross to grind down. As the cross was carried and flipped over from time to time, the bottom had been filed down like a wedge. The guys attached a piece of a truck mud flap to the bottom. That worked until it was ground through and broke. They attached some strips of banding steel. That also worked for a while until it was ground through and broke. Later on, when they reached Fairbanks, they went to a thrift store and bought 3 ‘Cross’ country skis. They cut the tips off in one-foot lengths. They would use one until it was ground through and then replace it with the next one. By the time they reached Anchorage, the last one was half way through even though the roads had mostly been covered in snow!

A little outside of Coldfoot the team was greeted by three new members who had wanted to come on the trip but couldn’t get away to join the trip at the beginning. They drove up from the Spring Creek church near Hick’s Creek and the Victory Bible camp near Sutton. They were a welcomed sight to the team because the workload could be spread out a little and sleep shifts could go a little longer. The guys were incredibly tired and some would even say they were edgy, grumpy and down right irritable at times. The past few days had been pretty stressful and they were not sleeping well. The furnace in the camper was still not working and it was difficult to get warm. This added up to ‘Christians working on a mission from God’, who needed to work on attitude issues. It didn’t take long after the reserves arrived before everyone started apologizing and asking forgiveness from the Lord and each other.

The arrival at Coldfoot was a big psychological boost because it meant that the team was through the rough stuff and now was just on a long walk to the finish line. They had wondered many times up to that point IF they were going to make it all the way to Anchorage. At times it really seemed that it was not going to be possible. Now they knew they were going to make it. After all, it was a mere 248 miles more to Fairbanks and then Anchorage is only 350 miles beyond that- no problem! It should also be pointed out that Coldfoot was the ONLY gas station between Dead Horse and Fairbanks. That’s a long way with no bathrooms!

The team had a good hot meal at the Coldfoot truck stop (which is pretty much all that is there) and visited with a couple of truckers from Fairbanks who knew about the project and wanted to have their pictures taken with the cross next to their trucks. It was then time to get back on the road and keep moving south.

Next Stop Fairbanks

The temperatures were getting milder every day where the team was but the reports back from the slope where they had been just a few day before were of blizzard conditions and closed roads.

Within a couple of days they would be crossing the Arctic Circle and the famous Yukon River. The pace of the walk picked up as well as the conditions got easier. The team was able to again focus their attention on Prayer for the nations and the persecuted church in particular. The beauty of Alaska all around them provided an atmosphere where the glory of God was so evident that prayer was easy to enter into.

During the day, there were the ‘strange’ trees to look at. It is hard to explain the strange and weird shapes that the trees take on in that area of the arctic. The combination of frigid temperatures and harsh winds work to create the most bizarre ice and snow formations imaginable, especially when one gets down around Fairbanks. The daylight hours at that time of year are from around 10:30AM until around 2:30PM. That leaves plenty of nighttim to enjoy as well.

Ice and snow- tree sculptures

The nighttime highlight was the frequent displays of the Northern Lights. If you have never witnessed the northern lights in the arctic, you cannot imagine just how amazing they are. Photographs do not do justice to their splendor, especially when you see them hundreds of miles from city lights, out in the middle of nowhere. The lights were so bright at times that the support truck drivers would turn off their headlights and yellow strobes (unless they saw headlights in the distance indicating the approach of a truck –this happened once or twice per hour.) There was no trouble at all seeing to drive just with the light of the aurora. Most of the time, the lights are yellow, white or green. At times though, they become bright red with every color of the rainbow mixed in, as they swish across the sky back and forth with a whipping action.

The northern lights (aurora Borealis)

The walker would be out there putting in their 2 or 3 miles with the lights dancing overhead and occasionally a pack of wolves would start howling off in the distance. It was peaceful with a certain air of tranquility but at the same time being out there with the truck out of sight in each direction felt very eerie and left the walker feeling a bit vulnerable.

The constant sound of cross sliding over the road in perfect cadence with his steps, allowed the walker to enter into that state that one gets into when doing some mindless activity like vacuuming the carpet or mowing the lawn. It was the perfect time to reflect on scripture and pray. It was also simply a good time to relax and funny as it may sound, enjoy the walk. The pain from the blisters hurt most when the walker stopped and then tried to get going again later. After the walker had been going a few minutes, the pain just kind of faded into the background.

The team gathered together for a group photo at the Yukon River crossing and had a short time of prayer as they reflected on the importance of the River in Alaska’s history. In many ways the story of the river was one of greed and selfishness. In other ways it represented a pioneering spirit and a heart of adventure, and shaped the Alaskan mystique as a land of rugged individuals out to tame the harsh environment and give up its hidden treasures.

The team crossed the Yukon with the prayer that Alaska’s mystique, largely born right there in that river would be a blessing to far away nations and tribes to the glory of God. They prayed that the greed and selfishness that motivated men in the past would now be replaced with a desire to see God’s oil and gold be utilized to advance the Kingdom of God and reach the nations with the power of the Gospel.

Arrival in Fairbanks

Operation Cold Winds had been promoted in Alaska on line and on Christian Radio and TV programs on stations such as KATB and KJNP as well as outside of Alaska on the 700 Club. Articles had been written in the Anchorage, Matanuska Valley and Fairbanks Newspapers as well as the North Slope newspaper- The Tundra Drum. People were aware that the project was happening and when the team got close to Fairbanks a number of individuals drove out to walk with the team for a while and even try carrying the cross a little. A second cross-had been brought along so that more people could participate.

The support truck had two large banners, which read, “Operation Cold Winds- In Support of Persecuted Christians in Sudan and around the world.” People were encouraged to come up and sign the banners as individuals and for their church. The intent was for the banners as well as the crosses to later be sent to Sudan and Indonesia along with the money raised by the project for practical relief aid.

The Door of Hope church provided a special reception and there were several newspaper and TV stations at the church to interview the team members and learn more about the project.

The team spent the night in Fairbanks at the home of the Hoffs; he is a truck driver who is a member of the church whom the team had talked to several times on the road. He and his wife hosted a fantastic time of fellowship with a big church potluck. Of course, nobody wanted to even think about eating until the entire team had hit the shower!

Only 350 miles to Anchorage- We’re almost there!

The nature of the walk changed dramatically from Fairbanks on. Up to that point the trek was more about ‘prophetic symbolism’. It was a way of proclaiming a message in the heavenly realms that we were involved in a spiritual battle and standing in solidarity with our brethren. One had a sense that the project was an offensive attack of spiritual warfare and that the battle was raging and the effect was being accomplished where eyes of flesh could not see but very real nonetheless. The team knew full well that the enemy was being pounded with every step and that brethren were feeling themselves bolstered and supported by their prayer and supplication.

After Fairbanks the emphasis shifted to a more Pastoral function. It was as if someone had thrown a switch and the trek was transformed into a tool to bring life and encouragement to the people locally more than the people on other continents. Every day was filled with encounters like the one with the man from Alyeska up by Coldfoot.

Several people came up and walked and talked for a long time telling of their struggles in their faith and lack of obedience to Christ. Some asked for prayer, others asked for advice. Some people cried as they asked the Lord to forgive them and cleanse their hearts from backsliding. One little girl near (about age 10) carried the cross for a whole mile. The team members kept telling her that it was too heavy and that she should probably stop. Her Dad also suggested she stop but her mother told her to give up when she wanted to. (The mother was driving behind in their car measuring the distance.) The girl said, “The Christians in Sudan probably wish they had the option to quit when it was hard and they were tired but they can’t. I won’t quit until I have walked a mile”-and she didn’t.

The next few days were filled with ministry opportunities as the team passed through the communities of Nenana, Healy, Cantwell and Talkeetna. In each place the churches would have people come out to greet the team and walk a while and in some cases there would be van loads as whole youth groups came out to take part.

The weather was really nice the rest of the way in with temperatures in the mid-twenties during the daytime. Even the weather seemed to indicate that the warfare part of the trek was over and that this was a time to bless and encourage the people along the way. It is in a way paradoxical that the message of the cross is a message of encouragement, a message of life from a symbol of suffering.

The message of the cross is always a message of death. It is after all in instrument of torture and execution. It is not on the surface a beautiful thing. The cross reminds us of the fact that Christ died for us but it also reminds us that we are to die to ourselves and live for him. We give him our ‘old life’ in exchange for His new life. He died for us, so we therefore have died ‘in Him’. He rose again, and we therefore live ‘in Him’. This is a power truth and a wonderful gift for those who have been wise enough to accept it. (I hope the reader is in that category!!!)

The cross that the team was carrying conveyed all of these things plus one more message that was preached loud and clear but never uttered by the team members, “Individuals are being brutally tortured, imprisoned and murdered for the same faith many of us take for granted. They smile and are grateful to God for their faith and eternal hope and would rather face persecution than exchange the precious for the worthless.” As people saw the cross, they began to realize how weak they were themselves and how their zeal was totally lacking. They thought of the little things that make them whine and complain and how they find it difficult to haul themselves out of the rack on a Sunday morning, while others are willing to give up their very lives for the sake of the gospel.

Again, none of these things were ever stated by the team members. The people just felt that they needed to come up and confess their laziness and spiritual lethargy without any compulsion or suggestion that they do so. The battle to inflict damage on the enemy and encourage the brethren in far away lands was also leaving a trail of ‘collateral blessings’ in its wake. (This was a good thing!)

As the team passed under the shadow of Denali (Mt. McKinley) and basked in the light of the alpine glow, there was a deep sense that the Lord was pleased. The Lord wasn’t pleased because the men’s feet were hurting and their backs were aching. He was pleased because the men loved Him and loved what He loved and wanted what He wanted. He was pleased because it was not about them in their own minds but about His Kingdom and His people. The Lord was pleased because they were really having church out there just hanging out with Him and His people.

Entering Wasilla

As the team passed Big Lake and pushed toward Wasilla, it started to sink in that they were almost home. This was the victory lap! The pace was a little faster and work was a whole lot easier. The initial team barely had to work at all because there were so many volunteers coming out to help bring the cross in the last fifty miles. Some of the guys were starting to feel a little put out because they were missing ‘their turn’!

There was a reception at the North Winds School of ministry and another at the Mid-Valley Christian Center. The Big Lake Baptist youth group had come out to help as well as many others representing dozens of local churches. The atmosphere was electric as people walked and sang and just had a good time in the Lord. Bro. Chris’ two daughters came out and took turns carrying the cross, as did a bunch of other kids as the team made it’s way down the Parks Highway. It was Saturday February 25, 2001. It had been exactly 14 days before that they had started the walk from Nuiqsut. They had been moving 24 hours a day at an average rate of 60+ miles per day. They had started at the edge of the Arctic Ocean and by walking one last night would end at the Pacific Ocean by mid-afternoon the next day- Sunday, in time for the evening Church service!

Anchorage at last!

The walk in from Wasilla (about 40 miles north of Anchorage) was mostly through the night. Bro. Lyn and Bro. Peach came out from Anchorage to help shoulder the load. The night was quiet and most of the guys just slept letting Lyn and Peach do most of the work. There was a good deal of reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ back up on the slope when they got stuck out on the Arctic Ocean and couldn’t find Nuiqsut and the fun times up on Atigun pass. There was a lot of coffee and more than a few doughnuts consumed that night but everyone knew that when they came down Eagle River Hill and came up the other side, they would be entering the home stretch and it was –Party time!

They hit Eagle River about the time a lot of people were getting up and heading off to church. Every time someone going to church would pass by they would honk their horn. It was almost non-stop car honking for hours! Every honk, of course, precipitated a wave from the team (which had grown considerably). It was like a big parade as they passed the weigh station and Fort Richardson and moved on toward the city limits.

By the time the team reached the Muldoon exit, most of the team’s family members were walking along side by side. Some were carrying the crosses and some were carrying the banners. They popped into the Muldoon Community Assembly Church for a few minutes for a short disruption of their services. (Many of the team members belong to this church). They then proceeded across town to The Chapel by the Sea, which overlooks Cook Inlet at the water’s edge.

There was a Big Celebration at the chapel, which the team did not know was planned. It was a great time. There were cheers and hugs and congratulations and tons and tons of pictures. The evening concluded with a season of prayer and a reminder that this was done to bless and encourage our persecuted brethren.

The Chapel by the Sea has a big cross that stands out on the bluff overlooking the inlet. The six-team members went out on the bluff next to it and spent a few minutes reflecting on what they had gone through together over the past two weeks. They had one last prayer together and then quietly everyone went away to their own homes and families. It was a fitting place and way to end the walk across Alaska.

--------------------------------

The walk was more than a test of endurance or some kind of publicity stunt; it was in fact an illustrated sermon. It was not even just a walk to create a platform from which to proclaim a message, it WAS the message. We are called to walk with the Lord and to walk with our brothers and sisters. The road is a long one. It has peaks like Atigun Pass and Valleys like the Matanuska. Some times we face the full force of life’s winter season and at other times we marvel at the beauty of life’s more pleasant seasons when we can stand in awe of the northern lights or the soft alpine glow on the snow covered mountains.

Through the whole journey we carry our cross. The cross tells us to deny ourselves and live for the Lord. It tells us to not give into the wind or the blisters or the arctic chill. The cross tells us to shoulder the load to support those who need encouragement and strength in their own journey. The cross tells us to not ask others to do what we will not do ourselves. The cross tells us to put our own resources on the line for the sake of the mission. The cross calls us to be soldiers not consumers looking for ‘Christian products’ to meet our ‘needs’. The cross tells us to toughen up and keep moving and to not stop until we reach our goal. The cross supports us and helps us stand when the winds are blowing so hard we can barely stand.

The cross of Operation Cold Winds was a message to people in distant lands. It was a message to the people along the way. It was a message to the forces of darkness in high places. It was a message to a lost and dying world. It was just as much as any of these, a message to the men who carried it 917 miles through the dead of winter. They were to continue carrying it throughout the rest of their lives because the mission didn’t end in Anchorage.

Results of the Fund Raising

The fund raising aspect of the project to be totally honest, was a major disappointment. The walk generated around $4,000. It was nice to have generated $4,000 dollars but was still translated to only about seventy-five cents per mile generated for each of the six guys who began the walk. Most of the money that was raised came from the guys themselves and their home churches. It was certainly a blessing in many ways and definitely worth the effort for the sake of those who were blessed and encouraged and the power of the prayer itself. But it was not at all a financial success.

The money that was collected through the Valley Pastor’s Prayer Network was divided into two checks. One was sent to Voice of the Martyrs and the second to Open Doors International. These organizations have a long history and proven track record for their support and practical assistance to the persecuted church worldwide. Due to the low amount of funds generated it was decided that the cross and banners from the trek would not be sent over with the relief supplies. It would be better to make sure that as much relief be provided as possible. The cross and banners are currently still sitting in bro. Chris’ garage.

It is important to remember that this operation took place in February 2001, which was about nine months before the world (and the Christians in America for the most part) came to realize what Christians in Sudan and Indonesia had known all along, there are people in this world who are totally bent on their destruction. September 11^th 2001 changed that perception and opened many people’s eyes. For the sake of fund raising for the cause of persecuted Christians, it was a little too early. For the sake of warning American Christians that to ignore what is happening to our persecuted brethren over there, opens up the door for it to happen over here, it may have been a bit too late.

I think it is safe to say that people are a little more aware of the issue of fanatical terrorist driven persecution now than they were in the winter of 2001 as a result of the events later on that year. Well anyway, I hope so.

What Next

Plans are currently in the works for ‘Operation Cold Winds-Phase 2’. The cross and banners signed by the churches and brothers and sisters in Alaska are still sitting in a garage in Wasilla. They have not been given to the people they were meant to encourage yet. It was felt that to give these tokens of solidarity with so little practical relief would have been more of a mockery than a blessing.

It would be like saying, “Here are your tokens of our solidarity, now, be warmed and filled. We ‘SAY’ we were walking through the Cold Winds of Adversity and desired to strengthen and support you but in reality, we weren’t walking with you at all. All we could come up with in the effort was less than three PFD checks from the whole state of Alaska! A team walked over nine hundred miles in the dead of winter to bring awareness to your plight. People clapped and cheered. There were pats on the back. It was reported in the newspapers. It was on TV and radio. It was on the Internet. It was even covered nationally by the 700 Club. But even after all of that, it raised less than $4,000!” No, no, we can do a lot better than that!

The next project is intended to take aim at our tendency to toss out clichés that sound good but are often just empty rhetoric. This was born out in a church service a while back during a time of praise and worship. The song was called ‘To the ends of the earth’ by Hill Songs in Australia. The singing was powerful and robust. The music was strong and loud but as we sang, I got a knot in my stomach as the thought hit me that it simply wasn’t true. It sounds good to say, “Jesus, I love you and believe in you and I would go to the ends of the earth for you.” But what does going to the ends of the earth REALLY mean. Jesus said, “When you do these things for the least of my brethren, you do it unto me.” If we go to the ends of the earth for our persecuted brethren, it would indicate that we are willing to blast through any obstacle or challenge to ensure that we provide all the assistance that is our power to give.

The thought came that the best way to proclaim the message of going to the end of the earth would be to ACTUALLY and LITERALLY- GO to the ends of the earth. When we say, “Jesus I believe in you and I will go to the ends of the earth.” It means that we will go wherever and do whatever we can possibly do to advance the kingdom of God.

Operation Cold Winds Phase II will carry the same cross from before to the closest end of the earth from to in Alaska- the North Pole! It will be another illustrated sermon intended to use the backdrop of the literal ‘end of the earth’ to communicate what going to the ends of the earth means in connection with helping the persecuted church. But as with the first project, the mission itself IS the message and not merely a backdrop.

The project itself is a logistical mountain of problems. The environment is harsh. The dangers are real. There will be more blisters and more aches and pains. But these are merely the physical challenges that communicate the spiritual heart of the message the project is intended to convey; ‘We should not flippantly sing sings that say how willing we are to go to the ends of the earth and pat our selves on the back with our brave words if we are not willing to REALLY shoulder the load and pitch-in to help in every way we can.’

More will be announced in upcoming months as the plans take shape and unfold. In the mean time, please check out the following links. These are some very good sources of information regarding anti-Christian persecution worldwide. They provide very valuable information that you will not hear on other news media outlets. They provide alerts when special focused and intelligent prayer is being called for. They provide opportunities to give to help supply resources and practical relief aid to the persecuted church.

Don’t wait for the big project to get you motivated! You are already motivated, now do something about it soldier of the cross! The only purpose of the big project is to get more people fired up and ready for action like you are already! Don’t just sit there at your computer like a big lumbering ofe! Use that blasted computer and check out these links and then do what ever the Lord puts in your heart to do. Don’t just talk about it. Don’t wish about it. Don’t nod your head in agreement and then forget about it! Do it! Get radical! Go sell a house and give the money to Voice of the Martyrs or something! ------------------Wait a minute! You think I’m joking!!!…………

http://www.persecution.com/

http://sb.od.org/

Well!!! What are you waiting for? Start clicking!