Arthur Blessitt (1940-2025): The man who walked 40,000 miles for Jesus

The evangelist Arthur Blessitt became world-famous through carrying a 12 foot cross around the globe in the hope of having conversations with strangers about the gospel. Like many church leaders, RT Kendall was keen to invite Blessitt to speak. Little did he know the upheaval it would cause 

Arthur Blessitt, best known as the man who carried a twelve foot cross around the world, has died.

He was a one of a kind evangelist. During the Jesus Movement of the 1960s he began a coffee house ministry in Hollywood’s Sunset Strip called His Place. He initially nailed the cross to the wall in his coffee house. He said that while praying one morning at 5am God told him to take the cross down and carry it around the world.

“If I knew I was going to carry it, I would not have made it so big”, he later said.

His ministry was essentially witnessing for Jesus Christ through personal conversation. He began walking from Hollywood to Washington D.C. The journey carried on and eventually he carried his cross 43,346 miles across 324 countries. He is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the man who has had the longest ongoing pilgrimage.