Pastor ‘walking his talk’ all across the nation

link The Rev. Walter “Chick” McGill walks along

old Route 66 just west of San Jon Friday as

he makes his way on foot from Kill Devil

Hills, North Carolina, to Santa Monica,

California.

QCS Staff

A 68-year old Vietnam veteran from North Carolina is trying to be the first to carry the American Flag from 'sea to shining sea,' while attempting to start a grass roots movement of community involvement by the people.

“My goal is to inspire people to get out and be actively involved with their neighbors, schools and city and county governments,” said Walter “Chick” McGill.

McGill began his cross-country walk on April 23, the date of his ninth wedding anniversary. His wife Barbara, he said, has been instrumental in his journey.

“Barbara will drive ahead of me park the car, walk back to me and then walk alongside me back to the car,” McGill said. “I have been walking 2,100 miles and she has probably walked 900 with me.”

McGill said he began walking from his home in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, and intends to finish his journey at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. He said he chose carry an American flag on the journey to inspire those he would encounter, and, after a “divine inspiration,” he said, he started saluting every motorist that passes by him along the way.

“By saluting those who pass, I am esteeming them greater than me,” McGill said. “By esteeming one greater than yourself, there is less chance of conflicts and fights.”

McGill said he used to operate a free family counseling centers in Corinth, Missouri, and at his current home of Guys, Tennessee, where he helped individuals and families with marital, substance and alcohol abuse. Now, however, he said, he wants to inspire people on a larger scale.

“I want people to be involved,” he said. “It is easy to talk the talk but not many will walk their talk,” McGill said. “This walk is a radical illustration for all those who want change in our country.”

McGill said he hopes his example will inspire one person at a time to become active in their community. That example, he hopes, can inspire two more and they will inspire others, he said. He said it's his hope to start a grass roots movement that will filter down from the city, to county, to state and federal levels.

“In anything that needs to be fixed you have to start at step one,” McGill said. “The picture of our country is highly distorted, some can’t even recognize it anymore. The only way to fix it is pixel by pixel and each pixel is an American family or individual.”

McGill said people can no longer blame politicians alone.

“We must take a look in the mirror and accept the blame as well,” he said, “and rise up both as individuals and together as part of 'We the people.'”