Only, I didn't actually see a single Olympic event. I did see the Olympic Cauldron though! It wasn't as impressive as I would have expected it to be.
Instead of being a spectator I spent the week doing street evangelism! Something that I have never done before and never thought I would do. The ministry, Answers In Genesis, has been taking groups of volunteers to the last 5 Olympics to share the Word of God with the world. I have always been really interested in learning about all the evidences for a young earth and how believing in evolution undermines the authority of the Word of God, so when I heard that Answers in Genesis was going to be doing creation evangelism at the Olympics which were being held only hours from where I live then I knew that this was something I needed to look into. I felt the Lord was leading me there for sure when my sister called and asked me if I was going and that she would watch my children while I was gone! I sure wasn't going to pass that offer up!
I had never thought that street evangelism really worked. My preferred way to share the gospel with people is through building long term relationships and also through acts of service, like building houses in Mexico or sending gifts to children in third world countries where they are then given the gospel. Passing out tracts and talking to perfect strangers on the street? Not so much.
(one of the girls on the team) After the first day, I was still feeling completely out of my comfort zone. Some people were great at passing out tracts. Me, not so much. I envisioned myself on the receiving end and always being skeptical about what someone is giving me. Instead, I went with what I'm good at and that is approaching perfect strangers and starting up a conversation. It was still a stretch for me to just walk up to someone and start a theological conversation from the get go, but I did. I had some really great conversations with people throughout the week and I was amazed at how many people were interested in talking about Jesus, the Bible and Creation versus evolution.
Throughout the rest of the week I tagged along with a father/son team who had spent 8 months handing out tracts and Bibles in Russia!
They encouraged me to not worry about wondering what people would think when I handed them a tract, and to not just start a conversation debating the evidence for a young earth versus old earth but to complete the conversation by sharing the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. (Don't worry, I wasn't hammering anything down anyone's throats, most everyone was interested in the conversation, and the VERY FEW who weren't just said so at the beginning and we went our separate ways.)
There were so many positive things that came out of this trip:
1) 7 people accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour!!! That alone made the time, money, effort and sacrifice of going well worth it.
2) 92,000 Bible tracts were passed out with hundreds of meaningful conversations interspersed amidst the passing. In fact, a week after leaving we heard from a French speaking man, (we had French tracts as well) and a 14 year old Canadian boy who had read the tracts and committed their lives to Christ! How Awesome!
3) I learned that there are not only many different ways to share our faith but within each of those ways, such as passing out Bible tracts, there are many different ways to do it as well. That one was a really cool lesson I learned.
4) I met so many wonderful people and developed some instant friendships which I hope to retain for years to come.
5) Most of the people I talked to that were part of our group had either homeschooled their kids, were homeschooling their kids or were being/ had been homeschooled which gave me an opportunity to pick their brains on the ins and outs of homeschooling which is what I would like to do for my children. I was constantly floored by the knowledge of the Bible these people and kids had and for the excitement they had for sharing the Gospel. Inspiring, to say the least.
6) Free publicity! While passing out tracts, two girls from our group were approached by a reporter for the cities main paper, The Vancouver Sun. He wrote a full page article along with their pictures which showed our team sweatshirts emblazoned with the words "answersingenesis.org" on the front. The article was ALL POSITIVE and clearly talked about our purpose for being there in order to share the good news of salvation found only in Jesus Christ. You can read the whole article here, check it out! And while walking the streets passing out tracts one team member reported having someone turn a tract down only to walk back and ask for one saying they heard about them on television! We found out later that a different team member had a brief conversation with a camera crew who then filmed the booklet we were distributing up close. Crazy!
The last day we were kind of worn out so a bunch of us decided to go to the aquarium at Stanley Park.
I didn't expect to be handing out tracts or talking to anyone but while standing at the first aquarium we came to and being amazed at a particular fish that was scooping up mouthfuls of sand and filtering it out through its gills, one of the volunteers came over to talk about it. Mike, the father of the father/son team, said, "Isn't it amazing how God has designed this fish to do that?" The young lady agreed, then went on to talk about evolution. So that opened it up to more conversation and ended with Mike sharing the gospel and me sharing with her about the AIG website found in the booklets. It was fun talking to her!
I'm coming away from this trip excited with what I have learned and praying that it will be a catalyst for even greater opportunities to share my faith.
And a HUGE thank you to all who supported me financially and to my sister, Kellie, for watching two rambunctious little boys during the week. You all had a part in bringing people to know the Lord!
Throughout the rest of the week I tagged along with a father/son team who had spent 8 months handing out tracts and Bibles in Russia!
They encouraged me to not worry about wondering what people would think when I handed them a tract, and to not just start a conversation debating the evidence for a young earth versus old earth but to complete the conversation by sharing the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. (Don't worry, I wasn't hammering anything down anyone's throats, most everyone was interested in the conversation, and the VERY FEW who weren't just said so at the beginning and we went our separate ways.)There were so many positive things that came out of this trip:
1) 7 people accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour!!! That alone made the time, money, effort and sacrifice of going well worth it.
2) 92,000 Bible tracts were passed out with hundreds of meaningful conversations interspersed amidst the passing. In fact, a week after leaving we heard from a French speaking man, (we had French tracts as well) and a 14 year old Canadian boy who had read the tracts and committed their lives to Christ! How Awesome!
3) I learned that there are not only many different ways to share our faith but within each of those ways, such as passing out Bible tracts, there are many different ways to do it as well. That one was a really cool lesson I learned.
4) I met so many wonderful people and developed some instant friendships which I hope to retain for years to come.
5) Most of the people I talked to that were part of our group had either homeschooled their kids, were homeschooling their kids or were being/ had been homeschooled which gave me an opportunity to pick their brains on the ins and outs of homeschooling which is what I would like to do for my children. I was constantly floored by the knowledge of the Bible these people and kids had and for the excitement they had for sharing the Gospel. Inspiring, to say the least.
6) Free publicity! While passing out tracts, two girls from our group were approached by a reporter for the cities main paper, The Vancouver Sun. He wrote a full page article along with their pictures which showed our team sweatshirts emblazoned with the words "answersingenesis.org" on the front. The article was ALL POSITIVE and clearly talked about our purpose for being there in order to share the good news of salvation found only in Jesus Christ. You can read the whole article here, check it out! And while walking the streets passing out tracts one team member reported having someone turn a tract down only to walk back and ask for one saying they heard about them on television! We found out later that a different team member had a brief conversation with a camera crew who then filmed the booklet we were distributing up close. Crazy!
The last day we were kind of worn out so a bunch of us decided to go to the aquarium at Stanley Park.
I didn't expect to be handing out tracts or talking to anyone but while standing at the first aquarium we came to and being amazed at a particular fish that was scooping up mouthfuls of sand and filtering it out through its gills, one of the volunteers came over to talk about it. Mike, the father of the father/son team, said, "Isn't it amazing how God has designed this fish to do that?" The young lady agreed, then went on to talk about evolution. So that opened it up to more conversation and ended with Mike sharing the gospel and me sharing with her about the AIG website found in the booklets. It was fun talking to her! I'm coming away from this trip excited with what I have learned and praying that it will be a catalyst for even greater opportunities to share my faith.
And a HUGE thank you to all who supported me financially and to my sister, Kellie, for watching two rambunctious little boys during the week. You all had a part in bringing people to know the Lord!
2 comments:
Awesome! I loved everything about this. And I'm feeling inspired. :)
Thanks Jodi!
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