Olympic ministry needs your prayers

I arrived yesterday in Beijing after a 14 hour flight to Tokyo from Atlanta, and another 3 and a half hour flight from Tokyo to Beijing. When you depart the plane in Beijing there is no doubt they are ready to welcome the world to their city for these Olympic Games.

The airport is newly opened, the workers are dressed in Olympic themed outfits, and people from many nations are busy trying to find their way. However, the challenges of ministering in a communist country are still below the surface.

Along with the Jesus pin witnessing tool that we have now used for eight Olympics, we have a small brochure that explains the gospel using the colors on the pin. Many of the internationals at the Olympics speak English, but they are even better able to comprehend written English. As we share the gospel the gospel using the Jesus pin, we follow up by giving them the brochure.

This year, we did not receive word that we could bring these brochures with us until the middle of last week. Tony Webb, at Burman Printing in Watkinsville, Georgia, was able to quickly turn around 5,000 for us to use here in Beijing. I packed all 5,000 in my luggage. As part of the customs screening process, bags are being x-rayed before you can leave the airport. Well, the 5,000 brochures caused concern. This resulted in me being pulled aside to have my bags searched and to be questioned.

It was an excellent opportunity to share the gospel with the customs officials. I showed them how we used the Jesus pin to trade pins with other people at the Olympics and to tell them the unique story behind the pin. I went through the entire gospel presentation, letting them follow along on the written brochure so they could see how it was used.

In fact, once they decided it was okay for me to have the brochures, I left each of the customs officials with the Jesus pin and a brochure. Only God could have given me this opportunity, and kept me and the brochures from being detained.

By the way, as further evidence of the difficulties of ministering in this country, our blog cannot be accessed here. I had to use a workaround to be able to access the page where an update can be posted.

Needless to say, we need your prayers. Just think, you can reach the heart of someone from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South or Central America, Australia, and even the USA right from your quiet place. Pray that we will not be impeded from sharing the gospel. Pray for our health as our day has been turned upside down from being a full 12 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight time. And please pray for our families that have remained behind as we have come to take the Word to the World at the Beijing Olympics.