Riders in a bicycling group at the Normandie Avenue Church are serious about letting the community know that Seventh-day Adventists believe in living a healthy lifestyle.

Months before the 2005 Los Angeles Marathon, Virgil Thompson e-mailed the SCC Communication Department. “Our ‘Wheels of Glory’ bicycling group uses cycling for vigorous exercise and as a way to witness for Christ in the community.” Local elders Thompson and Keith Bradford not only invited other SCC cyclists to join with the Normandie Church group in its 6:30 a.m. Sunday training rides of up to 50 miles, but suggested that other cyclists in the conference consider representing the church in the L. A. Marathon, by wearing matching T-shirts or cycling jerseys and riding together, among the 15,000 other Marathon cyclists.”

Thompson, his wife, Wanda Long Thompson, and six or seven other members practice Sunday mornings wearing the group’s royal-blue-and-white cycling jerseys with a prominent Adventist logo on the back. The logo drew some comments in the marathon.

“An Adventist man saw our shirts and sped up to ride beside me,” said Thompson. “He said he wished his church would ride in the Marathon, too. At the end, another man noticed our shirts and told me, ‘My girlfriend is an Adventist.’ Then he called her and told her he was with the Adventist riders she had told him would be riding in the Marathon. A man from another Christian church said, ‘My church should get a group together for the next marathon, too!’”

Thompson and Bradford are planning some one- to two-mile Sunday a.m. rides for additional Normandie Avenue Church members to try. “Our goal,” said Thompson, “is to help every member become fit and healthier.”

Looking ahead to the 2006 Marathon, “Wheels of Glory” leaders had other suggestions: “A booth sharing Adventist health information at pre-registration or at the race ending point; churches along the Marathon route might consider sponsoring a table to hand out water to runners and cyclists. For more information, e-mail wheelsofglory@hotmail.com or visit www.normandieavechurch.org.