posted 4/3/2025
This story is a part of a series of missionary contributions where you’ll hear more about their “why” for defending and celebrating life with Biking for Babies. Shane was a first-year rider missionary from Colorado. This will be his second year as a rider missionary on the MN Team.
Give me a quick biography: who is Shane Hendrickson?
SH: Hi, my name is Shane Hendrickson. I’m currently a single guy just striving to persevere in living out my faith a little more with each passing day. I grew up in North Dakota in a family where faith was a priority and going to Mass on Sunday was not a question (unless the snow was blowing in a horizontal direction).
I went off to college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where I got involved with the Catholic fraternity on campus, Phi Kappa Theta, and ultimately studied and received a degree in Elementary Education. I played four years on the club baseball team and had the best job on campus (in my own opinion) as a Fitness Supervisor on the Strength & Conditioning Staff.
At that time in my life, fitness played a huge role in my day to day, while my faith was, in hindsight, not as central in my life as it could have been. I lived a little bit of a double-life. I went to Mass on Sundays still and participated in fraternity and Newman Center events, but I slowly caught on to the overtly crude ways of college life and conversation. It was unbeknownst to me that I was going in the wrong direction and that it would lead to future hurt and heartache mentally, emotionally, and foremost spiritually.
During my student teaching, I signed up for a local parish Bible study, and it changed my whole perspective on life. It set me on a path of focus on service to God and others, which included serving impoverished families with the Christian Appalachian Project, teaching in a North Dakotan elementary school, discerning diocesan priesthood, working construction jobs, and finally moving to Denver. Things fell into place nicely, and here I am today, a missionary disciple with Biking for Babies.
In your application, you said you joined Biking for Babies because “it marries two of your favorite things: faith and fitness.” Can you explain a little more: what initially drew you to Biking for Babies, and what were reasons you stuck it out anytime things got tough this year?
SH: I met Stephen, a fellow endurance athlete, at a Bible Study in the fall of 2023. He pitched Biking for Babies, and that planted the seed. We agreed to get together on a Saturday morning to join a workout with a run club he frequented. On the drive, he spoke more about Biking for Babies and how the mission had impacted him and more importantly how it serves women going through unplanned pregnancies. At some point, I remember telling a little about how I never really saw myself as being called to be more intimately involved in the pro-life movement. I felt that it was for someone else. To be completely honest, I remembered being in college and going to pray in front of an abortion clinic for the first time. I felt so uncomfortable and actually feared being seen by others praying there. I never liked conflict of any kind, and to be frank, didn’t want to be associated or seen with this crowd outside the clinic. I never went with them again and chalked it up to the fact that it wasn’t my place to serve.
I tabled the idea of joining Biking for Babies for a couple months. As the deadline approached, I drug my feet and put it off until the deadline passed. It was then I had some thoughts run through my heart and mind: “why not me?”
I’ve always loved fitness, and now I was being presented with an opportunity to use my physical gifts to serve God by being a voice and advocate for women going through unplanned pregnancies. It felt like God was tugging at my heart, saying, “This is what I have in store for you to bring you further healing from the cross that you’ve carried and hidden away for so many years since college. It’s time. Don’t worry, I’ll help you through this.”
Shortly after, I became a missionary, pulled my bike out, and dusted off the cobwebs from about 10+ years of not riding. I rediscovered what I once loved to do in college…ride. I had regained some sense of purpose during a time when my life and spirit were experiencing a time of dryness. This truly was a gift.
The mission started and training began. I had always had a knack for endurance training and so that didn’t worry me much. I knew that the harder part of the mission was going to be the fundraising because I had never had to fundraise quite like this before. Little did I know what lie ahead as training rides added up and preparation for beginning my fundraising efforts took shape. The enemy was surely going to try and compromise this newfound mission I had joined, and it came on like a massive storm.
I was about six weeks into training when I finally came to the day I was going to complete my first century ride. It was absolutely beautiful outside. Everything was going great and I was feeling strong when at about 10 miles into my ride I was going around a corner and right as I was about to turn left, my tire found itself in a parallel seam in the sidewalk. As I proceeded to turn, my tire didn’t have traction enough to come out of that seam causing my bike to slip, skip, and throw me off balance into a flowerbed brick wall to my left. I ended up with a good-sized gash on my upper left arm, small cuts on my leg, and a “bruise” and “scrape” to my left rib cage. The driven and determined person that I am was more frustrated than anything that this accident occurred.
Figuring I had just “bruised” and “scraped” my rib cage, I decided to continue riding. I completed my first century, but when the adrenaline wore off, I knew something wasn’t quite right. I had it checked out and found out I had a broken rib. I would have to take a break from training on the actual bike and settle for some stationary biking for a few weeks. A few days later, I additionally was hit with a massive case of fraud, then my phone also got completely erased. Amazing! Right as I am about to dive into my fundraising efforts, I now had lost all my contacts. Great…now what?! This sure brought on some challenges I was not expecting. I would persevere, but not without some serious trials that would test me.
Truthfully, these trials did cause my faith and trust to be shaken. However, little did I know how God would use my situation for good in those weeks training on the stationary bike. A guy saw me riding long and hard on the bike and asked me what I was training for. Of course I told him and I came to find that he was a good Christian man who believed the same as I did when it came to pro-life values. We decided to meet up, I told him more about the mission, and he ultimately became a mission partner by donating to the cause. God can do great things even in the midst of tough circumstances, and even though this hinderance to my training was challenging for me, this sort of occurrence was a consolation to my spirit. However, I was still dealing with the distractions of uncertainty in receiving my hard-earned savings back, and navigating fundraising without my phone’s contacts. The weight was a bit overwhelming, but I maintained strength enough to keep pushing forward because I am not one to give up, especially on this mission.
Different seasons of life and circumstances have influenced the levels of stress that I feel in a given time. The disappointment of not being able to train like I wanted was something that I could endure, but the financial stress that I was experiencing was on another level. Why God would allow for such a thing to happen? My anxiety spiked, and I had lost a little trust in God throughout this whole ordeal. On top of that, without all my contacts, fundraising proved much harder than it should’ve been.
Even though the road was rough during this time, I kept trying to keep my eyes looking ahead to better days to come. I knew I would get through this storm. I just had to buckle down and unite this suffering to Christ’s suffering on the cross. Memorial Day weekend was approaching and the Denver group training rides were coming. My rib was feeling ok and I made the decision to participate in the weekend rides despite the small risk of re-impacting that same region if something went awry. It was about exactly a month since my accident and we were about to climb nearly a mile in elevation in a span of 20 miles. Thankfully, my trust had rebounded and prayers strengthened. I was excited to join the guys to say the least, and to endure a near mile climb was a fitting way to resume my training after the mountain I had to overcome in that past month.
What qualities or personal missions/charisms within yourself have been enhanced or grown because of your formation with Biking for Babies?
SH: I have always been a fairly open and vulnerable person who is willing to share my story. My emotions are oftentimes worn on my sleeve and I have frequently equated that to being a weakness. I sometimes fail to embrace the message that is given to us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 which states “…for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” I have been continuously learning to embrace these things and trust that God can use them to touch and transform other people’s lives. My story could be someone else’s story, and for me to share mine, could help move a mountain for someone else. With this being said, I shared a formerly private testimony at a small Biking for Babies event just prior to our Memorial Day weekend group training rides that only a handful of people had ever heard before.
I shared earlier that , early in college, I found myself going in the wrong direction, including socially with women. One night’s selfish action led to another as I panicked and offered to pay half the price for an abortion pill for a woman I was seeing. I obviously have received forgiveness for this and in time learned to forgive myself, but this was a part of my reflection as I mustered up the courage to say “yes” to becoming a missionary with Biking for Babies. It was as if I was being given an opportunity to right the wrongs of my past and to give God access to making good out of past evil. I was giving Him permission to bring further healing to my life by way of giving mothers of unplanned pregnancies a greater hope in saying yes to life so they can avoid the heartaches that I experienced out of fear. I am certain there are others out there who have in one way or another, regretfully made similar decisions I have. If that is you, don’t be afraid and know that God either has or will forgive you. His mercy is freely given. You only just have to receive it because He wants you to know His enduring love.
So in short, Biking for Babies has taught me to not be afraid of using my testimony to touch others lives, even if there is the risk that some people might object or criticize me for it. A mission of mine is to help others find healing in their own lives by being vulnerable in telling my story. If I hide it under a bushel basket, I may run the risk of missing out on allowing God to help change the trajectory of other’s lives.
Your team experienced a lot this year! What was your favorite memory or experience from the formation program this year? What was your favorite part of being a rider missionary?
SH: Gosh, from the generosity of all our hosts, the selfless work of our support crew, my visit to the pregnancy resource center, to the amazing grace-filled stories such as a flat tire that turned into a donation, the list could go on and on. However, the overarching thing that sticks out to me is the overall teamwork and support that everyone offered each other in every facet of the mission.
I remember doing that same mile climb solo weeks after we had done it as a group. Although this climb was going much better than the first, the temptation was to stop and turn around. It’s easier to do hard things as a team, but harder when done by yourself. That’s why God sends us out “two by two”. We need encouragement along the way, and when I was thinking about turning around, I remembered our group ride when Stephen was up around one of the corners to encourage me further as we approached the top. I remember offering it up over and over again as I climbed, but God knows that we need to hear encouragement along the way to help us persevere in this life’s journey.
The second instance I recall was during Day 5 or 6 of the National Ride. As we approached St. Louis, we had a lot of ups and downs (aka- rollers) en route to the Celebration of Life. It definitely brought perspective to the ups and downs I experienced since the start of going on mission with Biking for Babies. With every hill we climbed we celebrated each victory together and encouraged each other further as we prepared for the next big challenge. I remember reaching the peak of a hill alongside Gavin and then beginning the descent together. Most times when we’re all descending, we are staggered and at various speeds. This time was different. We were side by side, descending in unison for the entire descent. This moment highlighted what it meant to me to be a part of this mission. We are all in this in unity. We ride together, suffer together, sacrifice for mothers and their babies by fundraising for this great mission together, and pray for and celebrate each other’s successes as well as comfort each other in our afflictions. This mission exemplifies and mirrors well, the four pillars of the church: it is One (unified in purpose), Holy (striving to unite all that it does to Christ’s suffering and call), Catholic (in this case meaning universal in our calling as Christians to defend life), and Apostolic (as it forms men and women into missionary disciples).
So whether it be a bike ride or walking (simply being present) with someone as they go through a rough patch, we need patience and compassion in companionship with one another. One may never know what is really going on under the surface, so this can make all the difference. Nonetheless, remember to give yourself grace if you are not perfect in all your efforts.
As a young, unmarried, working man, you likely have lots on your plate and fill your time well. What advice would you share with someone in your state of life about joining Biking for Babies, especially if they are on the fence due to the time commitment and integration of formation into your current state in life?
SH: With God, all things are possible. I say this because when I decided to join Biking for Babies, I was working nearly a job and a half. Three days a week I’d be up by three in the morning to work a five-hour shift at a fitness club before going to my full-time job. I had a full schedule just like so many other people out there, but the commitment to the mission in the time I had was both challenging and rewarding. It took discipline and perseverance on both sides (training and fundraising). To get those long rides in, I had to sacrifice my days off from work to spend a good seven to eight hours on the bike. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Was it easy? No. Were there times when I wanted to do something else other than ride? Absolutely. However, knowing that I was doing it for something that was much greater than myself made it all worth it and kept my focus on what was most important. As others have said, to grind the miles out on the bike is nothing compared to what these mothers are faced with in choosing life for their child, considering they often times experience pressure to get an abortion from family and friends.
Regarding the grind when it comes to fundraising, I found myself having to remotivate frequently. It’s never been easy for me to ask people for money. I don’t want to come off as pushy or annoying, and so I often times struggle to follow up with people. It can be discouraging when the donations aren’t coming in, but it teaches another lesson on resiliency and patience. I consistently had to dig deep, reach out to people, pray, and let God do the rest.
As I look back upon the ups and down of this whole journey, I am most definitely NOT the first to say that there is much to be gained from this experience. Step out in faith and just say “yes” like Mary did. God will inevitably make it fit into your day to day. You just have to give Him your hands and the space to work, and the puzzle will take shape in God’s way and timing. It isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.
Why did you come back to Biking for Babies for this, your second year?
SH: Because it’s bigger than me. I want to be a better missionary this year than I was last. Being a missionary disciple means going outside of myself to help others in their hopes of giving life to their little ones, which might otherwise feel impossible or improbable considering their life circumstances. This year, I really hope to gain a greater dedication to advocating for mothers and their babies without the hesitation and reservations that can sometimes take hold when worrying what other people might think of what you’re doing. That sacrifice is of great importance to them and to you.
Shane’s desire to use his physical gifts to serve God and to persevere when things got tough is an amazing example for all missionaries.
That’s why we are proud he’s a Biking for Babies missionary, for life!
You can find similar impact stories throughout our blog.
