Imagine cycling along the 3,547-mile long Lewis and Clark Trail or hiking the 352-mile Oregon Coast Trail and discovering an affordable pilgrim hostel at day’s end. Imagine being able to put your gear on one of the bunks, strip off your sweaty clothing and head to a warm, refreshing shower. Imagine having a full kitchen at your disposal where you can chop vegetables, steam some rice, and roast a chicken. Imagine sitting at a large table with ten other traveling pilgrims from around the world sharing food and stories and building a one-night community.

This is entirely possible in America right now.

TWO SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL MOVEMENTS are occurring at the same time providing this historic synergistic opportunity. Literally, tens of thousands of churches across the United States already have ample unused space as traditional memberships have dwindled. Because of this, waves of church closures are expected all across America in the next two decades. At the same time adventure travel, pilgrimages, and back-to-nature wilderness quests are growing at a steady rate across the Western world.

The vision of Brian Heron, the Pedal Pilgrim, is to repurpose 2,000 churches as pilgrim hostels along the designated routes and trails across America. Between the Adventure Cycling Association, the National Park System, Rails to Trails, and hundreds of other independently run routes there are over 175,000 miles of designated routes, and the numbers grow every year.

The good news is that we don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel on this side of the Atlantic. The Camino de Santiago in Spain has a very well developed alburgue (hostel) system already in place, many of those alburgues repurposed churches. Britain is developing their own system as part of the British Pilgrimage Trust. Through the Sanctuary Project they are providing support and guidance to churches looking to provide overnight accommodations along the nearly 100 pilgrimage routes across Britain.

It appears that an entire new culture is emerging around a “spirituality of the road.” More than just recreation, people are discovering that there is a transformational quality to committing to the lifestyle of the road even if only for a few days or weeks. Recent movies point to this growing phenomenon.

The movie, Nomadland, captured a culture of people either forced to live on the road or disillusioned with the promise of the American Dream. The book and movie, Wild, popularized the Pacific Crest Trail such that it has seen a 300% increase in thru hikers over the last decade. The movie, The Way, starring Martin Sheen, captured the transformative power of pilgrimage as he set out to honor the life of his son by walking and completing the Camino de Santiago.

This is the moment. A whole new culture of pilgrims and travelers is growing. At the same time, tens of thousands of America’s historic churches are either nearing closure or have ample unused space that can be rededicated to the practice of religiously based hospitality.

Brian has lived in both cultures and is now prepared to act as the bridge and visionary lead to shift this from the imaginary to reality.