Sat. Feb. 27, 2010

VANCOUVER, Canada - Jay Anderson of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association sums
is all up nicely:  "I am super encouraged of what God is doing down there.
The resources have been great and the people that I have been around from
More than Gold have been the hands and feet of Christ."  The "down there"
Anderson is referring to is the area in and around the winter Olympic games.
The "More Than Gold" people are thousands of volunteers from churches,
missions organizations, and others in the Christian faith network - from all
over the world -- cooperating to reach Olympic athletes, officials and
guests with the love of God.  They are doing it with hot drinks, directions,
smiles, love, prayer, listening ears, and words aptly spoken.

And the results have been truly amazing.  Report after report has poured in
of encounters orchestrated by the Holy Spirit to bring hope and healing and
truth to hungry people.  Below are a few of these firsthand stories,
descriptions of experiences of various More Than Gold volunteers over the
past two weeks, in their own words.  Names and a few identifying details
have been changed to protect privacy.

Jocelyn: We had an amazing first day.  After meeting the pastor at our
church, we grabbed some food and then of course some Starbucks and headed to
the OZone.  Our first challenge was to notice people and how we may begin a
conversation with them.  The fun began right away when we noticed a young
married couple finishing their Starbucks outside the ozone.  We bonded over
Chai Tea Lattes.  They were both from faith backgrounds but had struggled
getting plugged into a church.  They were left with a Soul Cravings Prequel
and an encouragement to pursue getting plugged into a church.  We also spoke
to some Olympic Volunteers and after introducing what we were doing I was
able to offer her something "free" as she was sharing how it was refreshing
that people actually wanted to talk and not just get free stuff.  I told her
about Soul Cravings and she replied, "those are all things my soul craves"
and thanked me for the gift.  Prior to leaving I begin talking with another
OZone volunteer after she had attempted a second time to give me a magnet
and this time I accepted. (God gave me a second open door to talk to her !)
As I learned what she was studying and if she was an athlete herself she
asked what I did.  After hearing the three dimensions of how we build
athletes she replied, "Is this something religious?"      I was unsure if it
was a negative or positive response so I asked if faith was important to
her.  She replied how she was actually on a spiritual journey of her own as
her mother had a Christian background and her father was a Buddhist.  She
had explored a number of religions but just had begun to read the Bible and
really enjoyed Jesus' teachings.  I inquired what had attracted her to Jesus
over the other religions and she responded that "in her gut" the others
didn't seem right.  I then asked what the barriers to her beginning a
relationship with Jesus were and she hesitated as she really didn't know.
Finally she sighed, "I guess I just don't feel ready yet". We talk a bit
more about God's love and then I left her with a Soul Cravings Prequel and
email, directing her to the icravechange.com website to learn more about
Jesus.  We look forward to seeing God work again today!

Rebecca:  The highlight for me was that I got to connect with a French
Canadian woman from Ottawa, who has been traveling for two years, no
schedule, working as a massage therapist here and there.  She is also an
ultimate Frisbee player. :-).   I mentioned that I was a bit jealous of her
"free scheduled travel" - to which she replied that she wanted to have more
purpose/direction and someone to live life with.  We were talking in French.
I had been reading the Soul Craving Prequel so it was already in my hands. I
showed it to her saying that was what I was reading about.  The conversation
continued and as she got ready to leave the train, I offered her the book
-and she was really thankful. I put my email in it too. I told her it has a
spiritual element to it, and she quickly said she grew up Catholic but isn't
practicing - but is spiritual.  When she got up I wished her all the best in
all of her journeys and she said she really enjoyed the conversation --
talking with cool people ;).  What a blessing....  I am leaving out a lot of
the talk, but it was great.

Jason:  Three girls from our group stopped at Starbucks for a break after
several hours of outreach.  They were hoping just to get a coffee and leave.
But they heard some guys debating the existence of God at the table next to
them, so they invited themselves over.  They had an hour conversation and
gave away Soul Cravings Prequels which were very well received.

Alexis and Austin, two young artists, were on break Sunday night at First
Baptist (on Burrard) standing on the front steps of the church. In a moment
of inspiration, they decided to sing a few songs a cappella. A small crowd
gathered around and people began leaning our their car windows to listen at
the stop lights. One person who passed by enthralled with the music, wasn't
able to immediately locate the singers and remarked to his friends, "Wow! I
thought there were angels singing! That was beautiful."

Marie: A teenage girl was walking by the Hobbit House (a cafe at First
Baptist on Burrard) Monday night and was drawn to the live music and
enthusiasm coming from inside the church. She went in to see what was going
on and quickly got caught up in the excitement. After being there awhile,
she found one of the More Than Gold volunteers and proclaimed, "I've been
wanting to go to church for a long time...and I'd really like to go to a
church like this!" She stayed for the rest of the evening and left with a
big smile on her face, as well as with service information and church
personnel who are going to follow up with her.

Rick: The work isn't hard, but the weight of the backpack (full of hot
chocolate to hand out) wears on your knees and back. It is, however, worth
its weight in gold as a conversation piece. One such conversation was with
Jamie. I met him on Sunday. He is from Adelaide, Australia and is in his
sixth month of a walkabout. A walkabout is an Australian term for a journey
of discovery, self or otherwise. We had a good conversation about various
things and then he left.  He was back again today. I asked him what he was
looking for on his walkabout. He said he just wants to see all of the
different places and cultures before he narrows down to the main thing he
thinks he is supposed to find. I used that as an invitation to ask him what
his spiritual thoughts were and he said he grew up in the Anglican Church.
After a light discussion of the various approaches the Anglican, Catholic
and Protestant church take on spiritual concepts and I showed him the More
than Gold pin and the symbolic colors to describe what Jesus had done. I
shared my own spiritual walkabout with Jamie and he appreciated the use of
the Aussie concept and said he would stop by on Wednesday to get a copy of
the book of John. Please pray that God will do an amazing work in Jamie's
life and let him know without a doubt that God loves him and wants a
relationship with him.

John: Last night as Mark and I walked and were encouraging ministry teams at
the downtown warming stations, I sensed that still, small voice tell me to
go and speak to a tired looking man who was sitting on the steps leading
down to the Waterfront Centre Food Court.  It did not take ten seconds for
me to recognize his accent; a Brazilian who is working here with a
television station.  He was at the end of a sixteen hour day and exhausted,
but lit up when I began to speak to him in Portuguese (we lived and
ministered in Brazil for ten years). To make a long story short, we had a
great conversation about spiritual things including our destiny and God's
love for people. It was marked by his sense of amazement when he told me he
had complained to himself: "God, if you really cared for me you would send
someone here to help me get through the day." We'll be having lunch together
later this week. Be encouraged and listen to that still, small voice. There
are God encounters out there!