Photo courtesy of Mason Gravley and Paul Austin/Facebook.

USA (MNN) — Two bikers recently tackled a daunting challenge for a cause.

Mason Gravley and Paul Austin, native Floridians, entered a cross-continent race from Canada to New Mexico called The Great Divide Mountain Bike Race.

With this race, Gravley and Austin raised funds for a translation project in the Himalayas of Southeast Asia with Wycliffe Bible Translators. This translation project has been ongoing for 15 years, but was slowed because of social unrest. The people group is marginalized by society and they need the Bible in their heart language to grasp the hope of Christ.

Austin and Gravley started the race on June 14 and covered 2,745 miles. The pair carried a recorder for journaling, a phone for safety and a Bible for studying. Other than that, it was just the basics of food, water and equipment.

Photo courtesy of Mason Gravley and Paul Austin/Facebook.

They wanted to finish the race in less than 20 days. The pair crossed the finish line two weeks ago after riding for 25 days, 12 hours and 20 minutes.

The goal on the project was to raise $22,353. So far, they raised 7% of that goal.

But Gravley isn’t done. He went on to bike a 7,000 mile loop through 30 national parks in the American west and is currently on the road continuing to fundraise. Gravley hopes to finish this leg of the journey in five months.

Over 500 people groups in Central and Southeast Asia still don’t have God’s Word in their heart language, according to Wycliffe. That’s why Wycliffe is working to begin Bible translation projects for every language by 2025.

Austin and Gravley write on their Facebook group page, “Like always, God receives the glory for everything we will do, which is one reason we’ve chosen to support a Bible translation project with this ride. Like Wycliffe, we believe that every man, woman, and child should have the opportunity to read the Word of God in a language that speaks to them best. We want to use the talents and passions God has given us to raise awareness and financial resources for Wycliffe’s work in Asia, giving all of the glory to God Almighty.”

You can join Gravley and Austin by supporting Wycliffe here.

Mason Gravley and Paul Austin, native Floridians, entered a cross-continent race from Canada to New Mexico called The Great Divide Mountain Bike Race.

With this race, the two raised funds for a translation project in the Himalayas of Southeast Asia with Wycliffe Bible Translators. This translation project has been ongoing for 15 years, but was slowed because of social unrest. The people group is marginalized by society, and they need the Bible in their heart language to grasp the hope of Christ.

Austin and Gravley started the race on June 14 and covered 2,745 miles. The pair carried a recorder for journaling, a phone for safety, and a Bible for studying. Other than that, it was just the basics of food, water, and equipment.

They wanted to finish the race in less than 20 days. The pair crossed the finish line two weeks ago after riding for 25 days, 12 hours, and 20 minutes.

The goal on the project was to raise $22,353. So far, they raised 7% of that goal.

But Gravley isn’t done. He went on to bike a 7,000 mile loop through 30 national parks in the American west and is currently on the road continuing to raise funds. Gravley hopes to finish this leg of the journey in five months.

Over 500 people groups in Central and Southeast Asia still don’t have God’s Word in their heart language, according to Wycliffe. That’s why Wycliffe is working to begin Bible translation projects for every language by 2025.

Austin and Gravley write on their Facebook group page, “Like always, God receives the glory for everything we will do, which is one reason we’ve chosen to support a Bible translation project with this ride. Like Wycliffe, we believe that every man, woman, and child should have the opportunity to read the Word of God in a language that speaks to them best. We want to use the talents and passions God has given us to raise awareness and financial resources for Wycliffe’s work in Asia, giving all of the glory to God Almighty.”

You can join Gravley and Austin by supporting Wycliffe here.

After going through knee replacement surgery, Love said God gave him an idea: "Hey Troy, this is what you can do. You can bicycle across America with the knee you've got now, and you can raise donations to purchase Proclaimers," which Troy had heard about from his minister.

Love says the Proclaimers were produced by the audio Bible ministry Faith Comes By Hearing. "It's a solar and crank-powered audio Bible that is recorded in over 400 languages throughout the world. And each one of the Proclaimers will reach 90 to 300 people," he said.

According to FCBH statistics, Love says, "90 people will come to know Christ as a result of a Proclaimer throughout the world."

Love's trip across America has just started impacting Faith Comes By Hearing's work. "We've raised over $40,000 to acquire the Proclaimers and get them into the hands of people. That equates to over 27,000 people who will come to Christ as a result of it," said Love.

While the trip is done, the fund raising isn't over. Love says he's being invited by churches and other organizations to speak about the need for Proclaimers around the world. He hopes they'll be able to reach their goal of 1,000 Proclaimers by the time his speaking schedule is over.

The purpose of the trip was to raise money for Faith Comes By Hearing, but Love had no idea he'd be able to witness to a biker on the trip. "I was planning on riding solo, and 20 miles outside of San Francisco I met up with a 23-year-old from Anaheim, California who was riding to Texas. Ronnie rode all the way to Kansas before he turned to go to Texas."

Love says he was able to witness to his fellow rider and even went to church with him.

Traveling across the United States opened his eyes. "It has truly showed me that there is a need, not only all over the world, but here in the United States: there are lost people."

Love hopes his trip not only inspires people to give to Faith Comes by Hearing, but that they'll get excited about sharing their faith in their neighborhood.

If you'd like to help click here.

Four teams of bicycling evangelists will pass through 89 towns, holding 117 planned evangelistic events in town squares, concert grounds, community centers and churches. The teams are made up of musicians, evangelists, counselors, journalists, and Sunday school workers.

Slavic Gospel Association's Joel Griffith says the team reached the Ural mountains a couple weeks ago. He shared one experience that bore a typical response the team encounters: "It was just warming to our hearts to see the reaction they got there as the expedition came and bicycled in and put on their program. The curriculum director of the orphanage said, 'Thank you very much; the doors of this orphanage will be open for you at any time. You not only talked about love, you also demonstrated it. Thank you for the Bible, which I dreamed to have.'"

SGA is providing resources like Bibles, books, and Russian-language evangelistic literature to be handed out over the course of the entire outreach. SGA will also be helping with rental of venues for evangelistic events.

They're also urging prayer. "We're just intrigued and praying for them all along that they will continue to have these open doors for the Gospel, that they'll continue to attract this kind of attention, and that they'll be able to lift up the name of Christ. When people get curious and come see what all the commotion is all about, we pray they'll get to hear the Gospel and that the Lord will draw many to Himself."

The tour wraps up in September. Please pray daily for the cyclists, asking the Lord to go before them and prepare the hearts of those who will hear their powerful testimonies.