Evangelistic “Olympics” Website Launched!

AiG web visitors worldwide might want an update on how Gospel Literature Services (GLS)—in partnership with Answers in Genesis—is gearing up for a special outreach to the Summer Olympic Games in Athens this August.

First, for those who have already supported the AiG/GLS Olympics outreach, our heartfelt thanks. Because of your financial contributions, AiG will be able to translate and print our fascinating, compact book Answers to the 4 Big Questions—a wonderful witnessing tool—in as many as 14 languages!

Using the excellent translators made available through GLS, AiG will be able to print this booklet in so many languages and hand them out free to international visitors gathering in Athens later this year. We also plan to post these translated materials as a free download on this site. We pray that these resources in so many languages will be greatly used by God and will have a major impact worldwide.

Think of it: “The 4 Big Questions” will also be available in languages like Chinese (two versions), Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, etc. as a download so that AiG friends ministering across the globe may use them free of charge to pass on to unsaved family and friends. (See below for complete list of languages.) All of this is possible because God has prompted His people to pray and financially support this special evangelistic outreach to Athens … and to the world through the web.

(Please be aware that AiG also has other free downloads, such as our over 200 free graphics. You may download these and incorporate them into your own Genesis presentations. We want to be very active in equipping you to do creation evangelism.)

What happened four years ago at the Olympics?

As a result of the AiG/GLS joint ministry at the Sydney, Australia Olympic Games four years ago, dozens of people wrote to us and declared that they received Christ. Also, at least five churches were started by local Christians who got excited about their faith after using “The 4 Big Questions” tools and other AiG resources. We pray, of course, that the same will be true in Greece this year—and perhaps many more salvation testimonies and new churches will result.

Right now, the Bible-believing churches in Greece need our prayer support. Christians in that secularized country must continually struggle as they preach the gospel to hard hearts. These believers would be encouraged to know that their Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are praying for them. Indeed, AiG/GLS will be working with these Greek Christians to help equip them to be a part of our Olympics outreaches, and as they carry on long after the Olympics.

“Creation evangelism” is a powerful tool that Greek Christians are just now getting exposed to. Last year, while doing an advance trip to see what we might be “getting ourselves into,” I had the privilege of sharing with local pastors and Christian leaders how powerful the AiG creation/gospel message is in knocking down stumbling-blocks about biblical reliability during witnessing opportunities. One leader was astounded, and told me, “This is it! This is the piece we’re missing!” He asked if he could be my “student.”

As a result of sharing with these various leaders, AiG has been invited to teach at the only conservative Bible college in all of Greece.

Friends, I can’t tell you how encouraged and thrilled we all are by this. It’s not because of anything special about our ability to make all these arrangements, but it’s all to do with God providing this unique message and a-tried-and-true approach to evangelism. In fact, it was the approach used by the Apostle Paul 2,000 years ago in Athens itself when he preached on Mars” Hill. Let me explain.

As Ken Ham shares in his book Why Won’t They Listen? the Western world is like the Greeks that Paul preached to in the first century. If we want to communicate the gospel effectively today, we have to assume that there’s little Christian basis in Western nations. One of the major reasons Christians are failing to communicate effectively with the lost is because they don’t recognize that there has been a foundational change in society, from one based (over 100 years ago) on the Bible being authoritative, to one based on the Bible just being another religious book.

Furthermore, like the Greeks, there is little concept of what sin is. So an effective way to present the gospel and the need of salvation is to start with the origin of sin, as taught in Genesis chapter 3. We can’t assume that people today know about the Fall and what the Cross is all about. Also, we often need to share that the Bible is a reliable book and it is the very Word of God.

Just as Paul used different methods of communicating the gospel to different groups in his day (Greeks and Jews), we need to have the same approach in our world today. By and large, the world is biblically illiterate—they are “Greeks” with no understanding of the Fall, our sin, the atonement of Christ, etc. We need to find different ways to communicate to a world that no longer considers the Bible to be absolute truth.

One truly effective way in sharing the gospel is to show that the Bible is not a fairy tale or just another religious text, but that it is real history—starting from the very first verse—and that Genesis is the foundational book to all the major Christian doctrines.

New website!

GLS has just launched a fascinating new website for those of you interested in keeping up-to-date on our combined outreach in Greece: www.glsonline.org/olympics. Live video/audio feeds—as well as daily reports—will be posted there during the entire 12 days the team is ministering in Athens. Even now, though, please take a peek at the site to learn how to pray more intelligently for AiG and GLS.

In fact, may I ask that you consider “adopting” a team member and praying for him/her on a daily basis, starting today? That would be so appreciated. Thank you.

Maybe you’ve been thinking about joining us on this amazing ministry opportunity? There are only 30 spots left in this evangelistic trip to Athens. If you’re willing to share your faith one-on-one, please consider signing up—it may be your once-in-a-lifetime trip to Greece, some 2,000 years after Paul presented the precious gospel message to the Greek people. Check out The 2004 Olympics Tour for more information

Don’t wait to sign up—the cutoff date is approaching.

[If you are unable to travel to Greece but would like to be a part of this amazing outreach, please consider financially or prayerfully taking a part in AiG's ministry.]