Filed under: Andrea Mullins | Tags: Evangelism, missions, Moer than Gold, olympics, Service
What does a mission team to the Vancouver Winter Olympics look like?
They are all ages, as young as 4 and up toward 80. They are all ages and come from all over the world. My team came from across the USA, including Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Alabama. They came with many gifts and abilities, but foremost, they came to share their love of Jesus in as many ways as they possibly could.
What does a mission team do at the Olympics?
Every country and city is unique, and our foremost goal is to partner with the churches to fit into their culture with the hope we have come to share. In Vancouver our goal was hospitability in the name of Christ. You could find our volunteers along side Canadian Christians and other Christians from other countries helping serve hot chocolate to hundreds of people who came to see the Olympic sports and cultural venues. Our volunteers could be found on trains and buses, engaging in conversation that often led to a verbal witness to Christ. Our volunteers were found trading pins—Olympic pins, city pins, company pins—every kind of pin—for the opportunity to learn more about the person and to perhaps give them a pin that said, “More than Gold.”
The More than Gold pin is designed to share the plan of salvation through the various colors of the pin. When there was time, we also had More than Gold pocket guides, New Testaments, the Book of Mark, testimonies from Christian athletes, to give to those who had an interest. Since our team had over one thousand pins, I can tell you that at least that many conversations about Christ were had in Vancouver through our team. And that is not counting all the other conversations that took place where we didn’t have time for pins or materials.
That brings me to hot chocolate. While Vancouver may have been warmer than usual, it was still cool, and the nights were definitely hot cocoa nights. People attended sports events and then had to walk to their cars or the buses and trains. They stood in lines that were blocks long and there along the way, they were offered hot chocolate. “Would you like a FREE cup of hot cocoa with whipping cream?” I saw streets where everyone had a cup of cocoa in their hands! “Why are we doing this? Because we are here to welcome you to the Olympics, and remind you that there is something worth more than gold—God loves you, has a plan for your life, and sent His Son Jesus so you could know His love.”
But this isn’t all we did. We had clowns on our team, who through their face painting and balloon art, pointed people toward Jesus and His love. What a hit they were! Where ever the clowns were painting, there was a crowd listening in.
But this isn’t all. We also helped host a cultural event. The More than Gold organization sponsored a play called “Hockey Dad.” We served by handling the snack shop, taking tickets, ushering, welcoming those who came. It was a lot of fun, and the one warm responsibility we had.
In between these jobs, we went to events, rode the trains and buses, met and talked with people wherever we were.
Where did we stay?
We slept in Towers Baptist Church on air mattresses and had a wonderful disaster relief team taking care of us and other volunteers at our church. While we shared showers and class rooms, we truly enjoyed getting to know one another.
This is my first report of a great team who showed up to be Christ in Vancouver. Pray that God will use our efforts as the churches continue to reap from the ministry we did.
When it comes to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, I am not an athlete, will never fly through the air on a snowboard, or slide down a mountain at breakneck speeds on a bobsled, or race for my life around an ice skating track. But I am a terrific fan, and a More than Gold Olympic volunteer!
I arrive in Vancouver, Canada, on February 19 to spend a week side-by-side with Christian volunteers from around the world. Our purpose in Vancouver is to be salt and light to athletes, fans, world travelers, and Canadian home folk. With me is my team of 18 whose Olympic spirit is already evident in their willingness to serve. They have left the comfort of home and a nice view of the Olympic venues right in their living rooms to spend a week on the streets serving water and hot chocolate, greeting and meeting, and trading pins. And whatever they do, the message will not change. There is something worth more than gold, and it is found in Jesus Christ. What a week it will be!
New Hope Publishers’ parent company, WMU, has been sending volunteers to the Olympics since 1996 when Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics. That was my first opportunity to represent WMU at the Olympics, and since that year I’ve led our teams to serve in Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, Turin, and now Vancouver. In Sydney we worked in an official Olympic visitors center that hosted an Olympic Torch, an Aboriginal art exhibit, and a coffee house. We visited with people who came to hear the cultural programs and musical entertainment on stages outside the center. In Athens we visited hundreds of businesses with gifts and a witness, put on puppet shows, and staged large entertainment events. In Salt Lake City we worked in an inner-city ministry where we offered a free clean toilet and free water to both the homeless and wealthy government leaders from around the world. In Salt Lake City, we also hosted coffee houses and hung out in the pin trading tents. In Turin, Italy, we rode the trains to the Olympic venues and captured audiences with clowning and face painting.
Hundreds of volunteers are already in Vancouver. They are witnessing God at work as they lead people to Christ through their service at train depots and water stations. From chaplains in the Olympic Village to child-care providers at special events, volunteers are using their skills to leave a lasting impression of Christ’s love in Vancouver.
Will you pray for us this week? Please share your prayer thoughts in the comments for this post. Here are a few ideas for prayer:
- Protection for every volunteer as well as the athletes and fans coming from around the world.
- Awareness of opportunities and immediate obedience to His voice.
- Influence on city leaders, fans, and Canadians
- Reflection of Christ in our words, attitudes, and actions.
- Opportunities to use our gifts and skills for the gospel.
- Openness to engage other cultures.
- Boldness to take a stand for Christ believing He has indeed claimed the victory.
Yes, I’ll be attending the women’s hockey semifinals, and I’ll be watching snowboarders win gold, but pray that these experiences and others will be enjoyed not only as the awesome sports events that they are, but as places where someone is searching for the Good News we have come to bring.
So watch for us. We’ll be there, and because you are praying many will discover there truly is something worth more than gold. It is found in Jesus Christ.
New Hope author Tom Blackaby, The Family God Uses, has also penned a prayer guide that the More than Gold team will be using throughout their trip. More information on the prayer guide can be found here.
Go USA!
Filed under: Andrea Mullins
One of the hardest climbs for many to make is the one to purpose. For some reason we become captive to our personal day to day tasks, and the view at the top is blocked from our view by clouds of the urgent, the necessary, the tactical decisions required at the moment.
Is our definition of our purpose important? I’ve been asking this question as I look at the future of some of the ministries and businesses I serve. Does it matter if people grasp a present/future scenario of transformational potential?
Yes, I think it matters. It matters because our understanding of purpose determines the actions we will take. Our definition of purpose informs the message we communicate to others. Our purpose either restrains our work or drives us to remove barriers that keep us from accomplishing the work of God in this world.
In the 1800s a young nurse, Florence Nightingale, lifted nursing to become one of the most desirable vocations a young woman could choose. While many people might have described nursing as changing bed pans and bandaging wounds, Miss Nightingale believed nurses could influence hospital systems and overall healthcare. She was outspoken in her efforts to bring changes in hygiene and overall treatment of patients.
Florence Nightingale didn’t see her life in the narrow confines of her task but rather the impact she was having and could have on all of life. Because of her the entire field of understanding of healthcare has been changed. Florence Nightingale “developed a conception of spiritual motherhood and saw herself as the mother of the men of the British army–”my children”–whom she had saved.” She saw her role as a nurse in the totality of the impact she was making and could make, and because of this, she was able to do more to influence the field of nursing than anyone before her.
Our understanding of our purpose will either restrict our impact for Christ, or it will lead us to do those things that we never dreamed we could do.
So how do you view what you do?
**To foster a daily passion for purpose in your life, check out A Passion for Purpose by Kimberly Sowell, Edna Ellison, Joy Brown, Tricia Scribner, and Marie Alston**
The tally of lives lost is rising. An understanding of the extent of the damage is growing. The massiveness of the need is becoming more evident. How can we help? New Hope Publisher’s author, Jimmy Dorrell, has been ministering in Haiti for years. He offers the following guidelines for our response at this time.
Haiti…what can you do?
by Jimmy Dorrell, executive director, Mission Waco
(We have heard from our Haitian friends that they are safe, though they have not yet heard if some of their relatives in Port au Prince are alive and well.)
In the last 48 hours, I have received numerous calls and emails asking what caring response to Haiti’s disastrous earthquake is best right now. Thank you so much for asking and your willingness to enter this incredible suffering with help and hope. Here are some of my suggestions:
Photo courtesy: NY Daily News
We sit before our TVs overwhelmed by the extent of the need in Haiti, struggling with our desire to help and knowing that for the most part we can only give aid from a distance, and even then, wonder how the aid will reach those who need it so desperately.
Because of this, I’ve asked two New Hope authors to help us understand the situation in Haiti and how we can help.
Meet Mark Russell, author of The Missional Entrepreneur: Principles and Practices for Business as Mission. He speaks from first hand knowledge of human need and how we can intersect with hope.
Filed under: Andrea Mullins
When the University of Wyoming won the New Mexico Bowl just a few days before Christmas, I was inspired to wear my alumni hoodie as often as possible. As a graduate of UW I know that when the football team wins a game, I will have an email in my inbox within minutes after the game ends offering a variety of alumni hats, jackets, and shirts. They know I am more likely to buy when the school is winning.
The Christian faith works in the same way. When we pray, or when we share our faith, and we see God work, it’s like winning a bowl game. The more we pray, the more God will answer. The more we share our faith, the more He will work through our lives to touch another life. Praying and sharing our faith are winning actions that encourage us to show our Christian faith in all areas of our lives. As exciting as it is to see UW win the New Mexico Bowl, it is even more thrilling to experience God’s work when we pray or share our faith.
As we begin a new decade, we can have a winning season and see God at work in our lives every day. Here are a few simple suggestions to get you started on this journey. All of these come with little or no cost (just in case you happen to be on a tight budget).
1. Accept God’s love for you. (Before you get out of bed.)
2. Ask God to guide you. (And expect Him to do it.)
3. Learn something about God. (Your Bible is the best source.)
4. Say the name of Jesus aloud. (It gets easier the more you do it.)
5. Treat one person with kindness. (Even if they don’t deserve it.)
6. Write one thank you note. (Gratitude softens the heart.)
7. Forgive one person. (Not always easy, but rewarding.)
8. Add value to another person’s life. (This will make you smile!)
9. Choose to give rather than get. (We can’t out give God.)
10. Encourage a coworker or family member. (Always appreciated.)
Tomorrow, the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide will meet in the final college bowl games of the season. No doubt, many fans will be wearing their school colors throughout the game. But after the game, fans of the winning team will be easy to spot by their enthusiastic desire to be identified with the champions.
One day at a time is all it takes to have a winning decade. “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 (NRSV) There is no assurance that Wyoming will have a winning season next year, much less every year of this decade. But letting God work in our lives each day is a guarantee that every year will be winning season and we’ll be showing our faith in every area of our lives.
Filed under: Andrea Mullins
I awoke early in the morning and was sitting in the darkness, with just the light of the tree, on Christmas morning when my granddaughter Chelsea was 3 years old. She was just old enough to understand that she might receive gifts that were the very desires of her heart.
I heard little footsteps coming down the stairs and Chelsea walked into the room where the tree and gifts were waiting. She didn’t see me but went over to the area in front of the tree where her gifts were placed. And there she found the toys she had dreamed of. I heard her catching her breath in utter delight. She could hardly move she was so overwhelmed by what she saw.
There is nothing ordinary about Christmas. The coming of Christ is divine, breathtaking, awesome, majestic, and inspiring. The New Hope staff prays that you will discover the transforming realities of Christmas. May they be so real that the wonder of it all leaves you breathless, hardly able to move as you consider the majesty of the Savior, Christ the Lord, born anew in hearts of men and women, boys and girls, everyday.
Merry Christmas from New Hope Publishers!
Perhaps most disturbing in all the discussion about Afghanistan is the lack of reference to the plight of women in this country. A report just out highlights these concerns that are as serious for women and girls living in this country as in past years. According to a new report from the Human Rights Watch, “Women and girls continue to lack access to justice and education and suffer from high rates of violence eight years after the fall of the Taliban…One nationwide survey of levels of violence against Afghan women found that 52 percent of respondents experienced physical violence, and 17 percent reported sexual violence. Yet because of social and legal obstacles to accessing justice, few women and girls report violence to the authorities. These barriers are particularly formidable in rape cases. Although women activists and members of parliament pushed hard and succeeded in putting rape on the statute books this year for the first time, the government has shown little willingness to treat each case as a serious crime or to engage in a public education campaign to change attitudes.” To read more about this go to Human Rights Watch.
With less than three months to go, plans for the Vancouver Winter Olympics are well on their way. Along with athletes and coaches, city leaders and Olympic Committee staff, spectators and thousands of volunteers, will be those who are attending the Olympics to share an important message—there is something worth more than winning gold. The highest of all prizes is receiving Jesus as Savior.
I will be leading a team of volunteers to minister to those in bondage to human trafficking. Not surprisingly, several reports link international sporting events to increased human trafficking for the purpose of the sex trade. Vancouver was singled out in the U.S. State Department’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report as being a destination city for trafficked persons from Asia. The report also stated that a “significant number” of victims, particularly South Korean females, transit Canada before being trafficked into the United States. Undercover police investigations have revealed the use of student or visitor visas to spirit young women from Asia into the sex trade in Vancouver, and then on to other cities, including Calgary. Click here for more.
Our team will be serving from February 20 through February 28, 2010. I’ll begin to post information about the ministry from time to time. Seldom will you find a place where people come together from all over the world with a desire to interact with people from other places in the way they do at the Olympics. The team is limited to 20, and we have about 5 spaces left. Serving at the Olympics requires a heart for the gospel, a love for people, good health, flexibility, relating across cultures, and the ability to walk a lot, stand most of the time, engage people in conversation, and use your gifts and skills to minister to the needs of people. And did I mention you’ll most likely be sleeping in a church with several other people and often eating as you go?
This is my sixth Olympics ministry experience. My teams and I have enjoyed French coffee with French believers and puppet shows by Scottish Christians. We’ve toured the Blue Mountains and held a koala. We walked in the steps of the Apostle Paul and enjoyed coffee at Starbucks on the Grecian coast. We’ve been to Ephesus as well as Bucharest. We’ve had Italian coco and watched snowboarding in the Alps. These are just a few of the amazing experiences we’ve enjoyed.
But best of all, we’ve seen people come to Christ—high level officials as well as the homeless. God has worked through us to share His love. Olympics ministry is life changing for both volunteers and those whose lives the volunteers touch. Remember, only a few places are left for a few good women who will leave their comfort to see what God can do.
To learn more about the organization that organizes Christian ministries for the Olympics, visit the More than Gold website. You don’t have to stay home and watch. There is something worth more than gold for you to share. See you in Vancouver!
Filed under: Andrea Mullins
Not long ago I asked leaders of women’s ministries programs from some of the leading churches in our nation to share their vision, mission, or philosophy for women’s ministry in the church. I was surprised to discover there was little intentional focus on involvement in God’s mission in the world. The lack of intentionality in equipping and involving women in evangelism or personal ministry, as well as on meeting the spiritual and human needs of people around the world, was quickly evident.
One of our authors, Dr. Frank Page, is the new Vice President of Evangelization for the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board. He is author of The Nehemiah Factor, 16 Characteristics of a Missional Leader. His view of missional is
“Christianity that integrates concern for both evangelism and social ministries. It is a kind of acting out of the faith in daily life. The word encompasses much of what Christians have simply thought of in the past as living out the Christ life.”
So what is the “Christ life?” It seems it should be a life lived as Christ lived. Didn’t He live and lead with an absolute focus toward God’s mission–to preach and bring the good news? His disciples heard and observed firsthand His preaching, teaching, and ministry. While Jesus may have had some natural ability as a leader, I believe His missional leadership came as a result of His obedience to His Father. Jesus understood what was important to the Father and that is who He became and why He lived. To live the Christ life was and is now to preach and bring the good news in obedience to God’s commands.
Dr. Page defines missional leadership as a result of obedience to God’s leading.
“In my own life, I have sensed the call of God in many ways and at many times. Sometimes that sense of call is in regards to a specific issue or location or task. Other times I’ve had a clear sense of peace which came immediately as God has directed me. For example, when I was running for the President of the Southern Baptist Convention office in 2006, God spoke to my heart very clearly early in the morning regarding the day’s outcome. He used John 15:16 to let me know that he was going to place me in a position which would enable me to “bear fruit that would last for eternity.” It was a clear sense of direction from God which gave me a peace throughout the day and beyond.” All of us need to continue growing as leaders. All of us need to continue seeking to follow the passion that God lays upon our heart. I’m convinced that one of the great characteristics of leadership is the element of charisma in which a person is perceived to be so committed to a passion or an issue that is more important than life tself. Can’t we all agree that the Gospel is such a worthy cause?
For Dr. Page the focus of Christian leadership is the gospel of Christ. The gospel is our “great cause.” In other words, the goal of Christian leadership is the equipping of believers to live the Christ life—preaching and bringing the good news, whether to the neighbor next door, or the stranger in a far off place. Dr. Page is often asked questions about leadership and one of the most often asked questions is,
“’Can a person learn leadership or does one have to have an innate quality of leadership from birth?’ I do believe there are truly gifted individuals who seem to have a capacity for and a propensity to leadership from early childhood. However, I do believe that all persons can learn to be better leaders. I believe the key to making leadership effective is to have a calling, a passion, or a cause that leads us to commitment. For believers in Christ, it is easy to be passionate about the mission to which he has called us. He has given us our marching orders in the great commission and given us our instructions on how to live in this world throughout the entirety of the Bible. Therefore, the passion does not have to be manufactured nor the cause manipulated. We are fortunate to have such a great cause to believe in and a great mission to follow.”
So whether we are running for president of a denomination, or leading a women’s ministry in our church, or teaching a Bible study, or influencing our families, our leading is always to be missional. As Dr. Page shared, “We are fortunate to have such a great cause to believe in and a great mission to follow.”
