NAMB missionary serving as Olympic chaplain

North American missionary Derek Spain is serving as one of the official Vancouver Olympic Committee chaplains at the Athletes Village in Whistler, B.C. As a chaplain, Spain will be available to pray with and minister to the athletes competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Spain is pastor of Lake Placid Baptist Church and director of  North Country Ministries, a ministry focused on the athletes who live and train in Lake Placid, N.Y.

To keep up with Spain, follow him on Twitter (@derekspain) or on his blog.

Day 4, Vancouver, B.C.

 It's Monday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

At the corner of West Cordova and Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver the seagulls fight for positions atop lamp posts, flapping and cawing at ravens, pigeons and each other.

From this intersection one sees the nations mingle with a city living its Monday morning, even though so much of its rhythms are set to the beat of this most prestigious of Vancouver events since the World Expo of 1986.

Canadians and Croatians alike mount the sidewalk from buses whose sides read Vancouver 2010. Some countries go to work today, and some are just beginning their celebration of global competition and camraderie.  

Vancouver is grand without the Olympics, its mountains rising snow capped at the ends of alleyways and vessels cutting wakes through Coal Harbor. But now a new world of expectations and anticipation turns every Skytrain stop and street corner into an intersection with possibility.

This is the Vancouver Southern Baptists enter with their mission of making the Gospel of Christ known among nations.

Yesterday, Quillian Mercer shared a More Than Gold pin with a family at events in Whistler. “They were just so excited just to get the pin. Then I gave them the card that explains it,” said Mercer, a student pastor at Bethany Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. “Some people just wanted to hear my accent. I never thought God would use my accent as a way to talk about Him.”

Olympic pins, hot chocolate, coffee and accents are all part of seed planting among the nations in Vancouver.

“There’s a lot more happening here than just sports events,” says Jeff Wagner, North American Mission Board resort and special ministries coordinator. Jeff sees a man with a book full of pins from many Olympics. “Where there might be hesitancy to talk to me about Jesus on any other day, sharing a pin or a cup of hot chocolate shows that we’re interested in them on a human level.”

This is day four and only the beginning as we watch God work in the lives of His people here in Vancouver!

Years in the making

From an apartment window at 26 stories we watch fog fill distant hills and traffic stir the streets of Surrey, a town just 20 minutes from Vancouver on the Skytrain. Loss of a slider from the Republic of Georgia's luge team creates mixed emotions as a city builds toward tonight's festivities and more than a thousand Christian volunteers gear up for ministry. NAMB missionary Derek Spain remains in Whistler with fellow Olympic chaplains, ministering amid aftershock of a fallen competitor.

Churches across Vancouver will host viewings of the opening ceremonies, providing venues and hospitality to a city whose population will swell by more than 300,000 over the next three weeks.

"This has been years in the making," says Alan Au, a coordinator for Southern Baptist work during the Vancouver Olympics. "We've had volunteers arriving for three days from all over."

Many volunteer groups led by NAMB missionaries and pastors have already jumped into their roles providing hospitality at Skytrain stations, labor support to More Than Gold offices and outreach efforts throughout the city.

"The Olympics have provided Vancouver with an opportunity it hasn't seen since the World Expo in 1986," says Au. "It provides for increased infrastructure, for more emphasis on caring for the underprivileged and homeless and for an amazing cooperation among churches of many different denominations. Because of this the churches in Vancouver will be able to work together for many years to come."

Life in the Fast Lane

He travels “90 miles an hour down an ice chute with an inch of error on either side.” His name is John Napier. He is a U.S. Olympic bobsledder and a new Christian. In this video, travel to Lake Placid, N.Y. and learn how North American Mission Board missionary Derek Spain leads Olympic athletes like John to faith in Jesus. View video.

The church in the center

By Adam Miller

A critically ill infant, a desperate prayer and a call to missions: God is working through missionary Ben Hays to bring together the most unusual of ingredients to build a church in the most unusual of places – the Texas Medical Center in Houston.  (View video) 

For years Ben Hays and his wife, Kelly, served in local churches, but for many years “missions” had been a recurring thought. Though they “never knew the ‘where’ or the ‘when,’” Hays said.

Then their son, Landon, was born.

“He was this robust 10 pound, 10 ounce baby boy. Looked like the picture of health,” Hays said. “But on the second day of his life, we discovered that Landon was born with a pediatric liver disease.”

God sent them to the medical metropolis of the Texas Medical Center in Houston as “two extremely terrified young parents going through a really hard time dealing with this illness with our son.”

Multiple surgeries and procedures made the hospital a second home, but it also opened the eyes of these scared parents to the mission work to be done in the Houston medical community.

“God said a couple of things to us through that,” Hays said. “That I’d never belong long-term on the international mission field. And that you don’t have to go to the international mission field. You have one right here in front of you.”

While praying for his son’s health, Hays began praying for the doctors, nurses, technicians and students he passed while walking the medical center’s campus. He soon realized God was calling him to plant a church. The Hayses were appointed as church planter missionaries on April 1, 2008 by the North American Mission Board.

Ben and Kelly’s son, Landon, is doing well now and so is The Church in the Center , which launched in September and meets on the 8th floor at the Hilton Houston Plaza in the Texas Medical Center.

“We felt the need to put the church right in the heart of where the people are,” Hays said. “The chances of the very busy doctor, resident, intern or med student who doesn’t have a car making his way to a suburban church is very unlikely.”

The Church in the Center reaches people from all groups and walks of life. From California to places such as India, China and Africa, the medical center staff is an international community and mission field.

“Some grew up in church but have a huge spiritual vacuum. Others have never been exposed to the Gospel,” Hays said. “There’s a need that cries out for a church that is contextualized for this community.”

Adam Miller is associate editor of On Mission.

North American missionaries minister to people groups

As a young man living in India, Vivek Arora had a dream he would someday find a book that would answer all his questions and that he would be instrumental in bringing people together in a way that would let them live in harmony. He discovered that book years later when he came to faith in Christ while reading a Hindi translation of the Bible. As for people living in harmony, he believes the Great Commission is God’s plan for that.

Today, Vivek and his wife, Manisha, are church planting missionaries in Boston, reaching out to the international community that has gathered from around the world in one of America’s great cities.

“We are reaching out to international students and professionals,” Vivek says. “Many come here from their countries for two or three years. If we can reach them for Christ the impact will be greatly multiplied when they return to their home countries.”

The Aroras were among the 119 missionaries and chaplains commissioned by the North American Mission Board on Oct. 5., in Denver, Colorado.

Those commissioned reflected the diversity of the mission field and the missionaries going to that field: Prasad and Vandana Aghamkar minister among the South Asian Indian and Nepali communities of Louisville, Ky.; Ken and Thurleen Bain reach out to Native Americans in Arizona; Chuy and Maria Avila are reaching Hispanics in Laredo, Texas; Jali and Sundus Dawood minister to the Arabic community of Dallas; Harold and Barbara Lunsford minister to oilfield workers in Wyoming; Pedro and Dionisia Escobar are reaching Latinos in New Mexico. All of these missionaries work through state convention partners to most effectively link national priority with local strategy while maximizing efficient use of Southern Baptist resources.

As North America's population grows increasingly diverse and complex, the greater the need for missionaries and chaplains who can reach specific people groups. Pray for these missionaries and others who God has called to reach people in North America.

Christ revealed at unique events

By Martin Davis

As a missionary evangelist, I work through special events, such as the Rose Bowl Parade, to creatively share Christ with people in settings where crowds gather. But I always look for opportunities to build personal relationships because I also understand how important they are to receptivity for the gospel.

Recently I participated in the Wichita River Festival Outreach in Kansas. While doing street witnessing, I paused on a walkway with ICE (Intentional Community Evangelism) volunteer Walt Dejager. We watched as Darrel Davis talked to a group of young people on the river walk below us.

Juggalos are fans of a certain kind of punk rock who have formed themselves into a family, a closed community of young people who brand themselves with piercings and tattoos. I admired Darrel’s ability to relate to the Juggalos. Darrel is accepted by them. He’s spent a time over the years building a relationship them, and their rapport shows. From my vantage point, I felt like a mere onlooker to evangelism with this closed community because I didn’t have that kind of experience.

          

Beside us, a young woman spoke up. “I was down there last year,” she said softly. “I was one of them. That guy led me to Jesus. I turned my life around.”

Walt and I looked at each other. Here at our elbow was someone special, a person who could go where we could not.

“Do you feel comfortable enough now to start building a relationship with those you used to hang with and start taking them to church?” Walt asked.

She considered. “Do you think I ought to do that?"

We explained that if she was no longer tempted by their lifestyle, she could help reach Juggalos with the gospel. “It might just be God’s calling on your life.”

God placed that young woman in our path at just that moment not only as a call to her but as a reminder to me: God will faithfully prepare and send the right person to go places where I cannot. When a special event ends, God’s intervention in people’s lives continues.

Martin Davis is a North American missionary serving in California.