A few notes from our border and prayer ride of Nebraska with Pastors, Gene Alphin and Wilson Fessenden.
On June 1, 2023 at the Nebraska Conference, District Superintendent Myron Powell preached his vision with a powerful anointing. His vision is to plant a church in every county in Nebraska. He then commissioned the board by passing keys to each board member, who then passed keys to the ministry. The ministry in turn passed them on to saints. The power of God swept through the service. Each key represented the commission and were to be carried to each county seat in Nebraska and planted with prayer and expectation that God will open doors no man can open and close doors no man can close. The plan is to be completed by the end of June.
Thus our border ride began June, 12 with Paster Gene Alphin, Pastor Wilson Fessenden, and myself, Elder David Showalter. The purpose of this ride was to begin the fulfillment of this vision.
June 12, 2023. I left Omaha at 5:45AM to meet Bro Alphin and Bro Fessenden at Saltillo Road on HWY 77S where we began our first day’s journey with prayer. The sun rose giving us very nice weather and clear skies as we rode south toward our first stop in the Thayer county seat, in the town of Hebron. We had a straight west ride through the next seven counties on the southern border of Nebraska. These were, Thayer, Nuckolls, Webster, Franklin, Harlan, Furnas, and Red Willow Counties. We stopped for the night in McCook.
June 13, 2023. We left McCook in Red Willow County and headed west to Trenton in Hitchcock County. We planted a key there. As we continued west, we had to stop and put on rain gear due to the moderate rain. We continued on to Benkelman, the county seat in Dundy county in the furtherest southern corner of Nebraska. We left Benkleman and turned north riding through Chase and Perkins Counties up to Ogallala, in Keith County. There we turned west on the last leg of our westward ride through Deuel and Cheyenne Counties to reach Kimball County, the furthest west southern corner of our state. Turning north from Kimball county we rode into the county seat, Harrisburg, in Banner County, which was the smallest population, 66, of all the county seats we rode through. The elevation at 4,491 made up for the small population. We rode up to the top of Scottsbluff National Monument and stopped to plant a key overlooking Gering, the county seat. As we headed north to the small but beautiful town of Harrison in Sioux county I saw a sign that said “no service the next 56 miles,” meaning no gas stations and no towns. Harrison is the highest town in Nebraska with an elevation of 4,876. It is also the closest we came to the Wyoming border, just 10 miles to the west. We turned from the northwest corner of Nebraska and started the eastward part of our journey stopping in Dawes county seat, the town of Chadron where we spent the night, covering eleven counties on our second day.
June 14, 2023. Our third morning dawned with clear skies, and we headed east through Sheridan county where we stopped and planted a key in Rushville, where years back both William Brott and Jerry Tiller would visit the postal carrier who was baptized in Jesus name and filled with the Holy Ghost. The next county, Cherry county was the longest stretch of our ride from one county seat to the next, over 106 miles. Cherry county is larger than the state of Connecticut, or the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined and is the largest landmass county in Nebraska. We stopped on a little sight seeing venture at Smith Falls just outside of Valentine. A few miles later we stopped at an overlook where we had a beautiful view overlooking miles and miles of the Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge. From there we rode on to Keya Paha County then to three interior counties, Brown, Rock, and Holt county where we spent our third night in O’Neill, Nebraska.
June 15, 2023. On our fourth morning our “Iceman” Bro Fessenden drove his pickup South, taking his ice cooler full of cold drinks and snacks, home to Hastings where he took care of business. But, get this, he then got on his bike and headed north on unfinished business to meet Bro Alphin and myself later in the day in Albion. Bro Alphin and I rode back northwest from Holt county to Butte, Nebraska in Boyd County. We rode through some beautiful country in the Niobrara River valley, where Bro Alphin spotted two bald eagles perched in the top of a dead oak tree. We also rode through the thriving metropolis of Monowi, population ONE. Knox county was our last border county on our ride. The day warmed up under a hot sun as we turned South to Pierce county and onward to Antelope county. From there it was straight south to Albion in Boone County where we once again met Bro Fessenden. We continued south covering Boone, Nance, Merrick, and Hamilton, the final four counties when we arrived att the town of Aurora.
Our four day ride covered 33 counties, I logged 1,506 miles on my trike, with a variety of weather conditions, clear skies, then leather jackets to rain gear, and last but not least, hot and humid. Road conditions were varied as well with state highways, a few stops for repairs, some rough county roads, one with an eight mile stretch of gravel, (my hat goes off to google maps for that one), some brick streets, and a few miles on I-80. The fellowship was priceless. The prayers are victorious. The keys planted will open doors. And, (my English teacher would be so proud of me starting a sentence with and) our Bishop, Bro Powell is shouting, “gloraaaaaaay.”
On Monday June 19, 2023 I once again saddled up and left Omaha at 5:45AM to meet Bro Alphin in Lincoln and and then ride on to meet Bro Fessenden in Grand Island. On this leg of our journey we were joined by our District Secretary, Steven Showalter, and wife Angela, Julie Fessenden, and my wonderful wife, Jeanie. They provided a chase car in case we had any problems on the motorcycles. Our plan was to plant keys in four counties but ended up adding an additional county at the end.
We started north from Grand Island, toward Sherman County Seat, Loup City. We continued north to the town of Old in Valley County. This was an interesting stop because my wife struck up a conversation with one of the men working outside the courthouse. After she told him what we were doing, he invited us in for a tour of the courthouse. I marveled at the beautiful marble floors and walls in the entrance. We visited the different offices but stopped at the office where they kept the records of all the land owners dating back into the 1800’s. The lady there actually took one of the old books out that had a couple of records back in the mid 1800’s. It was fascinating. We even visited the courtroom where his honor the judge, Eugene Alphin held court. There are pictures proving this.
We once again mounted up an headed north east toward Wheeler County. We stopped on our way in the small town of Ericson at the Wagon Wheel Saloon and Steakhouse where we had some delicious hamburgers followed by some scrumptious strawberry rhubarb pie a’ la mode. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of the pie due to the speed it was consumed, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I can recommend stopping there if you are ever in the neighborhood. Our journey continued onward to Wheeler County seat, the town of Bartlett. This was an interesting stop because they had a bronze museum of sorts where many bronze pieces were displayed outside the Courthouse. One was a sower who looked very similar to the one on the capitol building in Lincoln. We placed a key in his hand and took a few group pictures. Many of the bronze pieces displayed life in the west, that is, native Americans, cowboys, pioneers, and a few of more modern times. One that caught my eye was of a little girl running into the arms of a soldier who obviously was her father because the plaque below said, “answered prayers.”
From Wheeler County we headed south to Greeley County, the second to last county. It was a hot day by this time and we were feeling the wear of our ride as we mounted up and headed to our last stop, Howard County, Saint Paul. It is rather interesting that Paul who was the noted missionary who travelled throughout his known world preaching the gospel to everyone who would hear, and we end our long journey in Saint Paul where Bro Alphin planted our last key and knelt in prayer that God would bless Nebraska with the long promised move of the Holy Ghost. From there I turned toward home, another two and a half hours, 135 miles and home sweet home and AIR CONDITIONING!!
On the ride over the past week, we planted keys and prayed in thirty-eight counties, and logged 1,962 miles on my trike. We are believing the Word of God.
I Corinthians 3:6-9 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
06/12-06/15 2023 Counties in order: * – Spent the night.
Thayer – Gene Alphin 6/12/23
Nuckolls – David Showalter 6/12/23
Webster – Wilson Fessenden 06/12/23
Franklin – Wilson Fessenden 6/12/23
Harlan – David Showalter 6/12/23
Furnas – Gene Alphin 6/12/23
*Red Willow – Gene Alphin 6/12/23
Hitchcock – David Showalter 6/13/23
Dundy – Wilson Fessenden 6/13/23
Chase – Gene Alphin 6/13/23
Perkins – David Showalter 6/13/23
Kieth – Prayed Over County
Deuel – David Showalter 6/13/23
Cheyenne (Second key) – Gene Alphin 6/13/23
Kimball – David Showalter 6/13/23
Banner – Gene Alphin 6/13/23
Scottsbluff Monument – David Showalter 6/13/23
Sioux – Gene Alphin 6/13/23
*Dawes – David Showalter 6/14/23
Sheridan – Wilson Fessenden 6/14/22
Cherry – David Showalter 6/14/23
Keya Paha – David Showalter 6/14/23
Brown – David Showalter 6/14/23
Rock – David Showalter 6/14/23
*Holt – Gene Alphin 6/15/23
Boyd – David Showalter 6/15/23
Knox – Gene Alphin 6/15/23
Pierce (Second key) – Gene Alphin 6/15/23
Antelope – David Showalter 6/15/23
Boone – Wilson Fessenden 6/15/23
Nance – Gene Alphin 6/15/23
Merrick – David Showalter 6/15/23
Hamilton – Gene Alphin 6/15/23
06/19/2023. Counties in order:
Sherman Wilson Fessenden 6/19/23
Valley County – David Showalter 6/19/23
Wheeler – Steve Showalter 6/19/23
Greeley – Julie Fessenden 6/19/23
Howard – Gene Alphin 6/19/23
The first county we planted a key in and prayed over, wasThayer County.
David Showalter Nebraska
