Summer Recap Part 2: Greece (Olympics)

Four of us (Jonathan Owens, Kari Kipp, Heather Crane, & myself) from our College & Career group at VBCC set out in August to go to Greece. We joined others to comprise the Greater Europe Missions Greece Euroteam group. There were 17 of us in all. There are many fun stories that could be told from meeting an actor in the airport from one of the classic movies, "The Princess Bride", to almost missing our flight, to having our luggage lost, to hanging out with the athletes, etc... But to refrain from writing a novel, I can be wordy as it is, I'll leave out many of the details. The first account I had with a Greek was actually on the plane from London to Athens. I was sitting next to a guy who was studying and working as a Psychiatrist in England and was on his way home for holiday (european term for vacation). We were both reading books. He was reading some psych book while I was reading a book on "christianity". We started talking about all kinds of things ranging from politics, culture, & food, to religion. We had some really good discussions. He was really open to Christ in spite of the formality and impersonal religion he grew up in and all that came with that. As we arrived in Athens he gave me a few more suggestions on what to eat, where to shop, etc. and I gave him my book that I had been reading. He was very appreciative. Keep him in your prayers...
Well, we were there in Athens to serve along side the Greek Evangelical Church as they were heading up the ministry during the Olympics. So one of our main focuses was to assist them where they needed us and to be an encouragement to them. This was the first time that the Greek Evangelical Churches had done something like this, especially on such a grand scale. Opposition faces them on many fronts as they are considered a cult by most since they are not Greek Orthodox.
Our team had some specific tasks that we were involved in. The biggest and considered to be one of the more important tasks was the packing and distributing of "literature" packets. These packets contained Olympic themed materials including a tract for kids, a couple of other tracts for adults, the gospel of Luke in modern Greek, and a response card to the church if they were interested in a New Testament in modern Greek or contacting the church for salvation, attendance, etc. While 95% of the Greek claim to be Greek Orthodox less than 5% are practicing. Those that do find themselves in a very legalistic and non-personal religion. So most Greeks have never even read the Bible let alone in a modern Greek text so they can more easily understand it. The response to these packets was great. Many asked for the New Testament, numbers responded with salvation, and numbers risked opposition by seeking to be a part of the Evangelical church. An additional praise report that I learned about after returning from Greece, was that the Greek Orthodox church, probably in direct response to the numbers that were asking the Evangelical church for modern Greek New Testaments, authorized the reading of modern Greek Bible on Sept. 19, 2004. Praise God that his word is being made more accessible to the people so that they can more easily understand his message for them.

While the distribution packets was our major task, our team was also involved with other things as well. We also distributed free bottled water, helped out with street corner ministry at one of the churches, and participated in a service with song and testimonies. There were various other odds and ends things done while we were there as occassion arose. All in all, it was a great time working with them for the building up of the kingdom. They were greatly encouraged. The very same elders that were reluctant to take on this Olympic ministry idea were excited about the idea of possibly doing a Christmas outreach and planning other outreach events.
We also had quite a bit of time to go out on our own and hang out in the city, shopping, eating, meeting people and seeing sites. As we did this we were able to meet many people. Some of those we were able to develop a relationship with. Two families come to mind. One family owned a gift shop where they sold pottery type items, many of which they had made. Before we had left, I had the opportunity to talk with them briefly about christianity and left them with a cdrom with an interactive presentation of the gospel. Another family we met owned a restaraunt that we passed daily. We had some interesting times (the dad was quite a character) and some fun times there. The daughter, Paulina, was in her 20's and enjoyed our visits (as they all did). We had a real breakthrough one night as we were saying goodbye to a friend that we had made on another team that was serving there in Greece too. Our teams went to the restaraunt to eat and one of us offered her a New Testament in modern Greek. I clearly remember her face and expressions as she received it with such cheer and value. It was truly a gift. Throughout the rest of our time there, she would make comments on how she had been reading it every day. Please keep her and her family along with the others that received the message of hope in various forms in your prayers. May God draw them to himself so that he will be glorified and they will be blessed.
It was a good time working with others from all around the world for one cause, serving one King, & sharing one love. We worked more closely with people from Canada, Brazil, South Africa, England, Australia, Nicaragua, and of course Greece and others. It was just a sampling of the beautiful picture of the global kingdom loving one another and serving our global God.