Living for More than Gold

by Dave Geisler

In September 15, 2000, over 3.5 billion people from 198 countries will watch ceremonies dedicated to showing that at least temporarily much of the world can live together in peace and think about striving to be the best human beings they can be. More than 10,000 athletes will participate in a total of 300 gold medal events. Overnight, there will be new heroes.

BERT MATHIESON
Most of the athletes however, will fall short just as all human beings ultimately fall short of their quest for anything beyond the rewards of temporary immortality through fame, wealth, and achievement.

Bert Mathieson is an Olympic caliber athlete who could be an example for all those who never got to stand on a victory platform despite years of hard work and dedication. Bert is a gymnast. Gymnastics is one of the original and most popular summer Olympic sports. Bert holds citizenship in both the United States and Canada. Bert chose graduate school at York University in Toronto, to study nutrition and be coached by a former Chinese world champion floor exercise gold medalist. Bert said, “My coach was awesome. He could do a full twisting double-back somersault dressed in a winter coat and boots. It was by far the best gymnastics team in Canada.” Bert became the 13th best gymnast in all of Canada. However, his dreams were dashed when he never made Canada’s Olympic team. Recently he commented, “Gymnastics was my God. So when I realized that I would never be on the Olympic team and win a medal, I was devastated.”

Olympic sports was through with Bert, but God wasn’t. The failure caused him to give his life to Jesus. Since that time God has given him a ministry of reaching out to teenagers who love extreme sports. Bert now performs his gymnastics on skateboards to earn the right to share the gospel with his audiences. He also wants to go to the Olympics and get people’s attention with his gymnastic skateboarding so he can share about the eternal rewards of faith in Jesus.

MORE THAN GOLD
The slogan “More than Gold” has more than one meaning. To athletes it means they have worked years to achieve success in winning the gold medal and all that goes with it. To the hundreds of athletes that have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, the words mean something much more important. It means they realize their faith is worth “more than gold” (1 Peter 1:7). These Olympians who are choosing to partner with churches and ministries in every country with this goal: To let people know that even though they desire a gold medal, their faith is worth more than gold.

The Salvation Army will be coordinating “More Than Gold” ministry efforts at the 2000 Games. They desire to minister creatively through Christian bands, theater presentations, and servant ministries. They are also hoping to present the gospel through the creative arts and evangelistic sports clinics. There will be thousands of Christians who will be ministering to the millions attending from all over the world hoping to offer a vision of living for more than medals.

Gospel Recordings will have workers in Sydney preparing gift packages for visiting athletes that will include a cassette in the language of the athlete, a “Good News” picture booklet, and a Christian athlete’s testimony. There will be large scale Christian music concerts and perhaps evangelistic concerts for the world’s athletes right in the Olympic Village where the athletes from around the world will be living. There is also a strong ministry to visiting athletes families called Athlete’s Family Host Inc. Christian families in Australia are being contact to provide hospitality to many families from visiting nations.

Another resource that has been designed specifically to reach the high tech generation is an interactive “More Than Gold” multimedia CD-ROM. It can be customized for a given region like East Asia. For example, one CD–ROM may feature an athlete and a song by a Christian group in North America, and a different one will feature those from the Pacific Islands. The gospel presentation is done in partnership with Fellowship of Christian athletes.

SPORTS: A NATURAL LINK WITH THE AUSTRALIAN PEOPLES
We hope that the Salvation Army’s efforts will also impact people from many different ethnic groups living in Australia. For most Australians sport is the ultimate super religion. The majority of Australians don’t go to church, but they do participate in sports. The results from surveys show that 98 percent of Australians watch sports and 89 percent of Australians participate in some type of sporting activity.

These evangelistic outreaches will take many forms. There will be Vacation Bible Schools with Summer Games themes, and sports clinics featuring testimonies and instruction from Christian athletes. There will be outreach meal parties featuring sports–themed evangelistic videos in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Arabic, German, Polish, Greek, and Russian.

Bruce Baird, Managing Director of the Tourism Council of Australia says, “The Sydney 2000 Olympics represents a great opportunity for the Christian Church right here in Sydney. We’re limited only by the imagination of the Christian community in Australia.” One of the athletes involved in evangelistic outreach puts it even more clearly. She believes the impact of evangelism at the Summer Games can influence people locally, nationally, and internationally. Betty Cuthbert, the Australian runner who has participated in the Olympics three times and won four gold medals said, “The Sydney Olympics is a wonderful opportunity for Christians to reach world communities with the love and truth of God’s Word.”

AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIANS GET MOBILIZED
With the Olympic Games approaching, the church community in Australia will become more involved with outreach. Preoccupation with the games give pastors a powerful opportunity to life–impacting messages using sports themes. The More Than Gold outreach encourages pastors to do this. Hopefully churches will follow through with this evangelistic strategy where pastors will preach a message that coincides with the games and spiritual issues. Some sports–theme topics include finding genuine victory in life, pursuing eternal rather than temporary goal, overcoming defeat, and being persistent. Churches and individuals who distribute materials to non-Christians will be encouraged to follow up by building personal relationships with nonbelievers and invite them to their homes to watch a portion of the Games.

LET’S PRAY NOW!
All of the activities the Salvation Army coordinates are underpinned by prayer. There is a regular prayer meeting held at the Olympic site called Homebush. But we are asking you as readers to join them in pray for the success of these outreaches. As this is being written, the Olympic torch is being lit in Greece and passed around the world. Please pray that the flame of the Holy Spirit will be ignited in the hearts of participants and spectators of the Olympics by tools like the JESUS Film Projects special “More Than Gold” video which features the testimonies of athletes along with a presentation of the gospel in “Jesus: According to the Gospel of Luke.” Pray that the Holy Spirit will direct all evangelism work this month so that many will learn to run the race to victory.