LARAMIE — Nick Schindler has made his walk with Christ an arduously physical thing, and he’s bearing his cross — a literal 75-pound solid-wood cross — through Wyoming on his way across America.
His ultimate goal is to reach the White House in Washington, D.C.
Schindler isn’t sure when he’ll get there. He’s been on road for months already after starting from Oregon and spent the last week walking across southern Wyoming.
When he arrives at the White House, he said he’ll lay the cross down as a gesture of love and “a wake-up call for America.”
And then?
“Then I’ll build another cross and keep going,” Schindler told Cowboy State Daily as he walked along 9th Street near the University of Wyoming in Laramie with the cross on his shoulder.
Lets People Come To Him
When Schindler gets to a city or town, he said he “walks the length and the breadth of the town” carrying the cross. Between stops, he travels in a motorhome with his wife, Lynn, their four dogs and a friend, who wanted to be identified by his first name only.
So far, he’s been to several Wyoming communities along the Interstate 80 Corridor, including Evanston, Rock Springs and Rawlins.
He was in Laramie last Sunday, and planned on heading to Cheyenne, although he’s not on a set schedule.
“I go where God guides me for as long as I’m needed,” he said.
If any churches invite him to speak, he accepts. Otherwise, he takes his ministry to the streets.
Several Wyoming churches have welcomed him, he said.
“It’s been amazing,” Schindler said. “I’ve seen miracles at work here.”
Schindler doesn’t stop to give street corner sermons. He lets people come to him, and then lets the conversations go where they may.
“I’m not out here trying to evangelize or convert people,” he said. “People come up to me because they’re impressed by the cross or they’re curious.”
He said his message is simple: God has been removed from the public square, and the country has been overtaken by hate, division and apathy about the suffering of others.
Christian faith needs to be put into action, he said, and Americans needs to rediscover the power of love.
In one city, not in Wyoming, he said he watched people “step right over” a homeless man sprawled out on the sidewalk as if he wasn’t even there.
“Where is the love in that?” he said.
‘That’s When I Surrendered To God'
Schindler said his aims weren’t always so pious.
“I know what it means to be a friend of God, because I’ve been an enemy of God,” he said.
In his youth, he was frequently homeless and said he lived a depraved lifestyle.
“I know what it means to use drugs. I know what it means to sell drugs. I know what it means to be a male prostitute,” he said.
When asked if he could recall the exact moment when his redemption began, Schindler said he remembers it vividly.
Many years ago, he’d hit absolute bottom. He’d been diagnosed HIV-positive and found himself face down on the floor of a Pentecostal church in Florida.
“That’s when I let go and surrendered to God,” he said.
Street paster Nick Schindler is passing through Wyoming on his journey to Washington, D.C. He said he carries his cross “the length and the breadth” of every town and city he comes to, inviting people to converse with him. (Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily) 
Street paster Nick Schindler is passing through Wyoming on his journey to Washington, D.C. He said he carries his cross “the length and the breadth” of every town and city he comes to, inviting people to converse with him. (Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily) 
Street pastor Nick Schindler stops to help Audrey Mauch in Laramie last Sunday. (Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily)
Kindness In Action
Since his conversion, Schindler spent much of his time “ministering to the unhoused.” But he felt called to take his message on the road and try to reach people from all walks of life all across the nation.
He’s heartbroken by the division he sees in America, particularly as the election nears. He said he’d like to see “America elect leaders with some common sese,” but otherwise he doesn’t see politics as a solution.
Instead, he said Americans need to demonstrate love and kindness to each other.
After walking only a couple of blocks in Laramie, he had a chance to put that sentiment into action.
As Audrey Mauch and some friends were moving paint supplies into a small house on 9th Street, a sudden gust of wind blew a paint-roller pan off the top of the stack of supplies she was carrying.
Schindler quit talking mid-sentence and rushed to pick it up for her, never letting the cross slip from his shoulder.
He said part of his mission is to issue a challenge to churches across Wyoming and America to similarly put faith into action.
“When I was ministering to the unhoused, I kept hearing over and over, ‘We’d never see any people from the churches out here,’” he said.
‘Love Carried A Cross’
Schindler said he’s inspired mainly by two Bible verses that he has posted on the side of the motor home.
The first is John 3:16, which goes to the core of Christian faith, telling of God’s love in sending “His only Begotten Son” into the world on a mission of sacrifice and redemption.
The other is from the Gospel of Matthew 16:24-26, in which Jesus calls his followers to “take up your cross and follow Me.”
“What better way to say ‘I love Jesus’ than to carry a cross?” Schindler said.
“Love carried a cross through the market square,” he added, referencing the Biblical account of Jesus bearing His cross to the site of the crucifixion.
“Of course, that was a 300-pound cross,” he said. “This is just a 75-pound cross.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
