Well, Pastor James Leach didn’t QUITE walk on the moon but he DID decide to walk from Parkes Lutheran Church to ‘The Dish’, which was used to track the first man on the moon in Apollo 11!

On the day of the Walk, James made the 23km mark - 26,700 steps! - before a crop in a nearby field gave him a severe asthma attack so he tag-teamed in wife Adele who was in the car, saying: ‘We’re married, therefore we are one flesh, therefore I made it to the end’!

The next day, the surrounding congregations of Dubbo, Orange, Forbes, Temora and West Wyalong joined Parkes for their Sunday service, followed by an amazing community lunch. Jonathan from ALWS spoke about how our Lutheran family changes lives with their gifts through Walk My Way and ALWS, and thanked everyone for their love and care for people in need.

Donations are still coming in for Pastor James' Walk. At last count, over $1800 had been donated to help refugee children go to school - that’s 69 children!

What an amazing effort, especially when you consider this is from a town that is in severe drought, where farmers told Jonathan they have nothing to harvest, and where there is chance they will simply run out of water.

Training for the Walk was a big deal for Pastor James. He lost 30kg, and says: ‘If God wanted us to exercise, he wouldn’t make it hurt so bad’.

Yet he was determined to walk for those in need, because ‘the reality is there are those hurting far more than me, that need our help and if taking a few thousand steps can help them out then hey, how can I refuse.’

Pastor James shared that after seeing what they do through ALWS, people were inspired, and their hope restored, because they could see their Lutheran Church doing hands-on work for people.

Thank you, Pastor James and Adele, for your inspirational leadership, and practical action to help refugee children go to school.