Alabama missionary to Albania rides bike to share at state Baptist churches

When most Baptists think of a missionary’s “furlough” or “stateside assignment,” they don’t think of him or her spending it on miles and miles of Alabama’s back roads with nothing but a reflective vest and handlebars for company.
   
But Lee Bradley, an International Mission Board missionary to Albania, has spent his stateside assignment doing just that — and simultaneously promoting missions in a rather unusual way.  
   
He recently returned from a 17-day trip, pedaling more than 900 miles on his bicycle across his home state sharing with churches about his ministry overseas. “I’m not Mr. Athletic by any means but I enjoy it,” Bradley said.
   
His trip began March 23 in his hometown of Bynum and took him through Scottsboro, Huntsville, Russellville, Winfield, Aliceville, Linden, Jackson, Fairhope, Gulf Shores, Atmore, Greenville, Montgomery, Ashland and concluded with a ride over Mount Cheaha near Talladega.
   
He had taken a few short biking trips over the last three years, but shortly after arriving in the United States, he purchased a bicycle and began an exercise program at a local gym to prepare him for this longer journey.
   
And during his trip — traveling an average of 70 miles a day — Bradley had the opportunity to speak in six different churches. “I took two saddlebags with an extra outfit, a jacket and toiletries. When I knew I’d be speaking at a church, I sent a box on ahead of time that had my Albanian trinkets, my Bible and a dress outfit,” he said.
   
Bradley said in his speaking engagements, his intent was to challenge those churches to rethink their approach toward evangelism in other countries.
   
“It was like a presentation that I had never heard before from a missionary,” said Arnold Hendrix, pastor of First Baptist Church, Atmore, in Escambia Baptist Association. “The only topic that he covered was methodology — how do you reach these people with the gospel? He didn’t talk about their culture, their city or the way they dress in his country. He went straight to the heart of the matter and taught us how to reach these people.” 
   
The Albanian people have been under communist rule and have no concept of God, Bradley said. “We have to go all the way back to the beginning, take our time and present chronological story telling from the Old Testament.”
   
He has served as a church planter in Albania since 1996 and will take on a new position as director of Albanian Bible Institute when he returns from stateside assignment in September.
   
During his bike ride, in addition to being able to share his own testimony along the way, Bradley enjoyed a great deal of personal processing time. “Each day, I had a different destination in mind with the ultimate destination — heaven — in sight,” he reflected. “Life is full of ordinary things that take us to our personal destinations each day to get to the ultimate destination.”
   
Although Bradley managed to avoid physical injury, he did encounter his share of trials on the trip, including five flat tires, often in rural Alabama.
   
“God was certainly faithful to me throughout the trip and always brought a good Samaritan along at just the right time,” Bradley said. “He’s in control of flat tires, of hot days and of windy days. Sometimes life has a lot of winds that go against us, but we have to trust Him and press on anyway.”