Southern Baptists bring timeless message to Winter Olympics
“Teams are taking part in outreach strategies like passing out Bibles and booklets of The Gospel of John, hosting hospitality points around the city, and participating in the beloved Olympic pastime of pin trading with a special twist – on the back of each pin is a QR code that generates a gospel presentation in multiple languages.” - Baptist Press
My wife and I went to the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018 for our 30th anniversary, and all around the outside of the secure area in Gangneung (the city for the indoor sport venues), there were tables of people handing out New Testaments and speaking with the visitors. Most of the spectators and people speaking to them were Korean, but my wife and I stopped at one, picked up one of their dual-language NTs (Korean/English), and turned to John 3:16. We managed to get across to them (at least I’m pretty sure we did) that we were also Christians and we supported what they were out doing. Also, one of the missionary couples our church supported was in Korea in the city Paju, and they were also bringing people from their church down to Olympic venues to witness.
One of the couples from our church does this in the U.S. leading up to big sporting events. They go every year to the Super Bowl city for a few days, preaching and witnessing until the game starts, at which time they come home.
I don’t know how much fruit comes from these efforts, but much seed is spread, and people do hear the gospel, when they would never darken the door of a church.
Dave Barnhart
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