Following a "blessing of the bikes" by Iowa Bishop Alan Scarfe at St. John's Episcopal Church in Keokuk, the riders began a 10-day, one-thousand-mile journey that is seeking to raise $150,000 for clean water projects in Swaziland and Sudan. The participants will also seek to raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Waters of Hope was conceived by the Rev. Mitchell Smith, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Waterloo, Iowa. He has been assisted in organizing the ride, for more than a year and a half, by the Rev. Joe Chambers, chaplain for Episcopal Campus Ministry in Columbia, Missouri, where he ministers to students of the University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College. They decided they could use their mutual passion for biking to make a big difference in the lives of people halfway around the globe.

Those people are residents of Swaziland and Sudan, some of the millions of people who live daily without clean water, says Smith. The home dioceses of Smith and Chambers have been working to address that problem for several years.

The Diocese of Iowa has shared a companion relation with the Diocese of Swaziland, part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, since 1988. Iowa Episcopalians have made several mission trips to Swaziland and in 2006 began supplying small hand-held chlorinating devices, invented in Iowa, that can turn a tablespoon of salt into enough chlorine to disinfect a day's worth of drinking water for 100 people.

The Diocese of Missouri has shared a companion relationship with the Diocese of Lui, part of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, since 2004. Both dioceses signed a covenant agreement in 2006. In addition to providing scholarships for theological education to Sudanese students, Missouri Episcopalians have also worked to bring clean water to Sudan by drilling deep wells for clean drinking water. To date three wells have been drilled at an approximate cost of $16,000 each.

Funds raised by the Waters of Hope ride will go to continue the clean water projects in both Swaziland and the Sudan. Funds are being raised by riders' entry fees, donations through the ride's website, through a unique coin collection box, corporate sponsorships, and the 2008 Bishop's Appeal in the Diocese of Iowa.

At the end of each of the 10 days of the ride, the participants will be hosted by a local Episcopal congregation. The congregations will provide hospitality, a "high-carb" meal and lodging in members' homes. The ride participants and the congregations will join together to provide an evening community-wide worship service, which will also provide some education about the MDGs, currently a top mission priority of the Episcopal Church.

"Every biker will become an ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals," said Smith.

Information in the Waters of Hope brochure points out that more than one billion people live without clean water daily. The United Nations has stated that 4,400 children die each day from drinking water that is contaminated with waterborne diseases and that the lack of clean drinking water is the primary cause of disease in the world."

Smith says that efforts to provide clean water work toward achieving three of the MDGs: lowering child mortality rates, improving maternal health, and helping to stop the spread of disease.

As the ride team gathered for the first time on the evening of April 30 at St. John's Church, Keokuk, they rehearsed the MDG presentation they will make at each stop. The group will also demonstrate the chlorinating units at lunch stops along the route.

People in the local communities have been invited to participate in the evening presentations and worship services through a significant media relations campaign. The campaign was planned by Smith, who did media relations training while in seminary at WHO in Chicago.

Releases were prepared for distribution to local media outlets in each of the 10 communities where the riders will stop. The campaign is achieving results, as news of the ride has appeared in local newspapers and on local radio stations.

In Sioux City, thanks to the efforts of the Rev. Dr. Curt Moermond, priest-in-charge of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the Waters of Hope ride was featured in an evening news segment on local television station KTIV.

Smith says he was busy promoting the ride right up to the departure. Two days before the ride was to depart, he reported receiving "an email every four minutes."

There will also be coverage of the ride throughout its 10-day run. Local television and newspaper coverage is expected in many of the stopover cities. Smith has been informed that CNN will cover the ride on Sunday, May 4 as bikers make their way from Council Bluffs to Sioux City.

Members of the ride team will be blogging daily on the Waters of Hope website. Occasional videos will also be posted there and on the Diocese of Missouri website.

Smith has also agreed to provide some personal communication during the ride. He accepted an email invitation to be a "pen pal" with a fourth grader, a young Episcopalian, during the 10 days of Waters of Hope.

Between Ascension Day and the Saturday before Pentecost, bikers in the Waters of Hope ride will pedal approximately 1,000 miles, averaging 100 miles per day. The longest segment, 103 miles, will be on May 5 between Sioux City and Spirit Lake. The shortest segment will be the last, on May 10, between Davenport and Iowa City.

But even some short segments will be grueling, says Smith. Writing on the Waters of Hope website, Smith said the ride between Dubuque and Davenport on May 9 (80 miles) will be "an extremely hard ride." The segment will include several "climbs," including one of 1.5 miles in length up a 15% grade.

"Even on a day with no wind, Dubuque to Davenport will be in the top 10 athletic achievements of my life," said Smith.

While the core group of riders for Waters of Hope numbers only 12, there will be some moral support along the way. Each day, extra riders are expected to join in from the local communities. Some will make the entire day's ride. Others, members of the local host congregations, will meet and escort the core team into town, just as the Rev. Wendy Abrahamson and members of St. John's Episcopal Church, Mason City, are planning to do on May 6.

On Sunday, May 4, the day of the CNN coverage, Smith and Chambers estimate there will be more than 40 riders on the segment from Council Bluffs to Sioux City.

The two young Episcopal priests who have organized and are participating in Waters of Hope were first introduced to each other by Smith's father, the Rev. Canon Dan Smith, a former Iowa priest now serving as Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Missouri.

Canon Smith says that one of the things he "admires about Mitch and Joe is that they are willing to dream big dreams and act on them."

"They do not take no for an answer," he said. "Rather they both charge ahead and work to change the world. The willingness to take the risk needs to be shared with the rest of church. Waters of Hope has brought many people together. It is this type of mission that will keep our church together."

Chambers said that people should look at their gifts and passions and ask how they can be used for good to make a difference in the world.

Smith said that combining passion with mission is a wining combination -- one that can change the world.

Smith and Chambers are planning a second Waters of Hope ride in two years in the Diocese of Missouri. In the meantime, funds raised through this year's ride are going to "save a lot of lives," they say.

The stopover cities, host Episcopal congregations and daily mileage for the Waters of Hope ride are:

April 30, Keokuk, St. John's Church (starting point)
May 1, Albia, Grace Church (117 miles)
May 2, Creston, St. Paul's Church (100 miles)
May 3, Council Bluffs, St. Paul's Church (99 miles)
May 4, Sioux City, St. Thomas Church (101 miles)
May 5, Spirit Lake, St. Alban's Church (130 miles)
May 6, Mason City, St. John's Church (113 miles)
May 7, Waterloo, Trinity Church (92 miles)
May 8, Dubuque, St. John's Church (98 miles)
May 9, Davenport, St. Alban's Church (79 miles)
May 10, Iowa City, Trinity Church (63 miles)

-- Joe Bjordal is Episcopal Life Media correspondent in the dioceses of Provinces V and VI. He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.