Skip to main content

Arthur Blessitt Preaches to Mississippi College Students


Arthur Blessitt's worldwide ministry has led the former Mississippi College student to preach Jesus to the Rolling Stones, take his message to soldiers in battle, and reach the poor. He's walked the globe with a 12-foot cross to spread the gospel, with his latest stop the Clinton campus.

MC students may not repeat the incredible journey that's led the 68-year-old Blessitt to 315 nations. Speaking at MC chapel services Thursday, he said the door remains wide open for collegians to serve God in other ways closer to home. It could be as simple as feeding hungry souls, visiting nursing homes or distributing Bibles.

"God has a mission for you," Blessitt told hundreds of MC students at First Baptist Church Clinton as President Lee Royce, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Howard and other school leaders looked on.

His journey for Jesus has spanned more than 38,000 miles. The Guinness Book of World Records 1996-2008 lists this as "The World's Longest Walk." Blessitt began carrying the cross across America on Christmas Day 1969.

The spiritual journey started with small steps. For Blessitt, his first walk with the cross began when he traveled 20 feet across a room. It spread over decades to take him to stops across the planet, from Israel to Iraq to Ireland, from a meeting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat to a walk with evangelist Billy Graham.

His message stays the same along all seven Continents. "I'm for Jesus," Blessitt says. Making his message that much stronger is the wooden cross that sat motionless on the sanctuary's stage, as Blessitt continued to preach. "For all eternity we will look back to the cross," he said, calling it the focal point of universal history.

His MC visit was like a homecoming for the Colorado resident. He also spoke Wednesday night at a Byram church, and appeared for an interview on MC's campus radio station STAR 93.5.

MC students say they were inspired by his spreading of the good news that's taken him to rock festivals in the 1960s and to war zones of the Middle East in the early 21st Century.

Blessitt's message "helps you realize you can do whatever God calls you to do," said MC freshman Gus Brand, 18, of Amory as he exited First Baptist Church on a windy fall afternoon. "When God calls you, you need to answer His call"

Brand, who attends First Baptist Clinton, hopes to serve others by going into the medical field.

Jared Lee, 18, an MC freshman from Baytown, Texas, said Blessitt's inspirational talk made him want to see the movie documentary about Blessitt's global ministry. The Christian Studies major doubts he will get to travel to as many places as Blessitt, but thinks he can make a difference on U.S. soil. "We should go out and evangelize," he said. "I do it in Texas."

Working to make an impact for Christ doesn't have to be complicated, said sophomore Valerie Cox of Olive Branch. She took from Blessitt's message that "it is the simple things that matter - simple acts of kindness."

While Blessitt has traveled just about everywhere, including North Korea, China and India, MC junior Ariss King of Jackson says people can make an impact here or "anywhere they go."

People all over the USA, Australia, South Africa and other places will soon get the opportunity to see his movie. The film will be available on the Internet Nov. 10.

During his message to students, Blessitt recalled some of his experiences as an MC undergraduate. He remembers praying in his dorm room and telling God "I want to get off the roller coaster" and not vary from being on fire for the Lord one day, and a little lukewarm the next.

He recalls one chapel service at Baptist-affiliated MC that impacted his life and send him to his room afterward praying "Jesus, I will give you my best and I will go with You all the way. I was never the same."

His life at MC from the fall of 1957 to the spring of 1963 was a "glorious time," he says. "This was where I learned outreach ministry in the streets, jails, nursing homes and then how to start churches."

And "it was here that my heart was moved to a world view that was the foundation for me going with the cross and the good news of Jesus to every nation and major island group on Earth."

The MC students and professors helped "form me in the way of Jesus," he said. "The seeds sown in me at MC have brought forth fruit in every nation. All Glory to God."

Carrying a 12-foot-long cross with a small wheel to ease the journey around the globe, Blessitt continues to take big and bold steps for God.

Blessitt's visit to Mississippi College was sponsored by the MC Office of Christian Development.