Background
Blessitt was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and grew up in northeast Louisiana, where his father managed a large cotton farm.
Blessitt was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and grew up in northeast Louisiana, where his father managed a large cotton farm.
Early life and career
At the age of 7 he accepted Christ at a revival meeting. In the late 1960s Blessitt began evangelizing to the youth of Hollywood, California. There he became known as the "Minister of Sunset Strip." Blessitt preached to hippies, Hells Angels, runaways, drug addicts, teen prostitutes, flower children, would-be actors, and rock stars.
In March 1968, he opened a coffee house called His Place in a rented building next door to a topless go-go club
lieutenant was there that he first made a big cross to hang on the wall of the building on the inside. He started carrying the cross on Sunset Strip from time to time.
Together they had six children: Gina, Joel, Joy, Joshua, Joseph and Jerusalem. They have adopted one child, Sophia.
As of the late 2000s, he lives in Denver, Colorado.
Cross walk
Arthur made the cross in 1968 to hang on the wall of "His Place" on Sunset Strip, Hollywood. He made short cross-walks there. Then on Christmas morning in 1969, Blessitt began his journey with the cross, walking from Los Angeles to Washington, District of Columbia In August 1971, Blessitt made his first overseas cross-walk beginning in Northern Ireland.
He has carried the cross to all parts of the world including war-torn countries such as Lebanon and parts of Africa to pray for peace.
During the Cold War, Blessitt carried his cross into the Soviet Union, through Russia, the Baltic States, Ukraine and other countries. He has carried the cross through such places as Iraq, North of Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, China, South Africa, Lebanon, India, Antarctica, Palestine, Israel, Cuba, Libya, Northern and Southern Yemen, Vietnam and Mongolia.
During his walk around the world, Blessitt has held audience with numerous world and religious leaders including, George West. Bush, Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II, Yasser Arafat and Muammar al-Gaddafi and was arrested 24 times. As of 2016 he is still carrying the cross in the United States. and other nations.
In total, Blessitt has walked over 41,552 miles through 323 countries (including Island Groups and Territories), of which 54 were in open war.
He has crossed every ocean and walked on all seven continents (including Antarctica). His latest film documentary in 2014 is "The Cross Museum of Arthur and Denise Blessitt" "Arthur a Pilgrim" 1988 was his first documentary feature. Blessitt is the subject of a 2009 documentary feature, The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story, directed by Matthew Crouch.