The Torch Is Lit

The flame for the Winter Olympics in 2010 was lit in Ancient Olympia, Greece today. It will make its way to Canada for the torch relay and its ultimate destination: Vancouver. Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong commented, "More than just a sporting event, the Games offer us a unique moment to serve the cause of humanity and celebrate the human spirit." While the symbolism of the Olympics often focuses on the human aspect, Olympic Ministry provides the opportunity to share the love of Christ with people and the gift He offers, which is greater than physical ability and worth More Than Gold.

In 111 days the first Olympic Ministry teams will make their way to Vancouver. Be in prayer for the teams as they prepare and for the people they will meet. As the flame reaches the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony, pray that the love of God will spread through the land and that people will have a life-changing encounter with the Light of the World: Jesus Christ.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

And the winner is...

Rio de Janeiro! While Chicago will have to wait for their chance to bid for the 2020 Summer Games, a US city could make things interesting by throwing their hat in for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Any city would have to decide quickly as the deadline is October 15. A few US cities were considering bids, but the USOC decided to focus on Chicago's bid and delay a Winter Games bid until 2022, but anything can happen.

Cities that we know will bid for 2018 are Pyeongchang, South Korea, Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France with Harbin, China strongly considering and even beginning to build venues to strengthen a bid. We'll have to wait until July 6, 2011 to find out!

In more relevant news:

Whistler has enjoyed its first snowfall, white gold as they call it. The scenery is going to be beautiful. We are about 130 days from the first team's departure for Vancouver. A little over four months until people will be intentional about sharing and showing the love of Jesus with the volunteers, athletes and spectators attending the 2010 Winter Olympics.

A little closer

Three teams of Olympic volunteers from South Carolina met in Columbia on Saturday, September 26, to prepare for the upcoming games in Vancouver. After an overview of the ministry opportunities in the Vancouver area, we looked at creative ministry ideas that teams can use such as face painting, ballooning, and the ever popular pin trading that is always a hit at the Olympics. The importance of building relationships with the people we meet was also stressed. Interacting with and responding to people with respect goes a long way.

In other Olympic news:

While we know the locations of the next three Olympics, (Vancouver 2010, London 2012, Sochi 2014) the Summer Games of 2016 are yet to be decided and that is cause for excitement because our very own US city of Chicago, Illinois is one of four finalists (Madrid, Spain, Tokyo, Japan, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are the others) in the bid process. There is a large delegation going to Copenhagen this week to lobby for votes from IOC members. Landing the 2016 Olympics would be a huge accomplishment for the United States and would open up limitless opportunities for Olympic ministry. If Chicago secures the bid, it will be an unprecedented fifth time the United Sates has hosted the Summer Olympics and ninth time overall (four Winter Olympics). The announcement of the winning host city will take place this week! Regardless of location though, be in prayer for what God wants to do with Olympic ministry. No matter where the games are, we still have the opportunity to tell people about something that is worth far more than gold, and that is a relationship with Jesus.

Great News from Vancouver

Here is another update from Janet in Vancouver:

Hi again everyone,

I know I just sent out our update yesterday, but I just had to share this as well (see below). I got it this afternoon from Bob Kraemer, the Director of Operations for More Than Gold.

Someone in the More Than Gold network knew someone who invited More Than Gold, on fairly short notice, to participate in a Canada Day parade in downtown Vancouver. The leaders of our Creative and Performing Arts group, Russ and Sandy Rosen, put together a float, live music and dance, and it was a huge hit with the crowd. God gave them great favour with the crowd and the organizers. This is a huge encouragement and blessing to us all! Pray that God continues to open doors like this.

Janet

Friends,

This is a brief report on the Canada Day Parade where More Than Gold was given the anchor position. Between 4:30 and 6:30 pm our volunteers arrived and became oriented to what would go on. The team of volunteers was led by our Creative and Performing Arts [CaPA] Working Group leaders Russ and Sandy Rosen. We were fortunate to be given a marshalling position on Georgia Street at Nicola which was the starting point of the parade. So we were able to watch other entries, which had assembled on side streets, march by our position and then we fell in behind the last one to begin our march up Georgia to Thurlow and down Thurlow several blocks toward Canada Place ending on West Pender.

So what did it look like?
Three volunteers led the MTG entry carrying a banner with our snowflake logo and the words More Than Gold – Radical Hospitality. Next came a group of dancers led by Sandy; then a vintage red truck carrying our drummer, sound system and fiddle player, surrounded by four string musicians led by Russ who also led the vocals. Following in behind were approximately 80 volunteers clad in white T-shirts with a big bold More Than Gold logo..

So what happened?
As Russ and the group performed a rotation of 3 lively songs with clear Christian lyrics, including the prominent repetition in one of the joyful expression Hallelujah, the rest of us walked, danced and smiled our way along while handing out 2,000 small cards with our identification and how to say hello to people in 12 languages.

As we passed the last point for other entries to join the parade, Russ invited people to join in behind us and in front of several police motorcycles which marked the end of the parade. The reaction was phenomenal as hundreds of people joined in the dancing and singing and just had a great time celebrating. From the halfway point on, Bob fell back to a position where there were at least 300 people between he and the truck and took a look at literally thousands on the sides of the streets who were enthusiastically entering into our celebration. Karen was in the front – inviting people to join in the circle dances. When Russ would reach key climax points in the songs, people, unrelated to MTG, would jump in the air and wave small flags and their exuberance was infectious.

We thought, what a great picture of what we are trying to accomplish through More Than Gold. To have a group of Christians visible in celebration of our relationship with God and allow others to experience our joy and enter into God’s party… so their lives can be impacted with His love!

How did it end?
We came to the dispersal point and the crowd wanted us to do more. We really didn’t have permission to carry on, so we did one more verse with the truck parked at the curb on West Pender and then led in O Canada. The crowd gave us an appreciative round of applause and we eventually went on our own ways. One of the organizers told us, “what a great way to end the parade!”. Another said it was the highlight. One of the many asked, “What is More Than Gold all about?” As it was explained, she said, “oh, so the Christians are banding together for this hospitality, eh? That’s great!”

Vancouver Update

Here is the latest from the MTG office in Vancouver. What do you think of their definition of hot?

Greetings from Vancouver!
We always tell visitors to be prepared for rain, but this week is sunny and hot! “Hot” here is anything above about 25 degrees Celsius (about 77 F). Schools get out at the end of June, but it feels like summer is pretty much here already. That means we have only 2 seasons before winter and the Olympics/Paralympics! We are working hard to get ready.

General Update
More Than Gold meetings continue to keep us both busy and driving all over the city. Yesterday we were both at the Hospitality Working Group meeting held at the Salvation Army Headquarters, and today Janet attended the Resources Working Group, held at Campus for Christ. Tomorrow, we have the Executive Committee, which includes the leaders of each Working Group plus all of the denominational representatives. There are now 15 denominations participating in More Than Gold, plus several major organizations. It is exciting to be part of the larger Body of Christ – to come together for a common purpose at such a strategic time as this! The overall leader of More Than Gold is emphasizing that we want to be known to the watching world in 2010 for our “radical hospitality” – extending the love and welcome of Jesus to all.
In May, we both participated in 5 evening meetings designed to introduce More Than Gold to even more local churches in various parts of Metro Vancouver. The vision and excitement is spreading. The finances are not keeping pace, so please join us in praying that critical needs will be met. As far as we can tell, this is not due to the recession, but rather local people with the means to give are holding back until they see sufficient “buy-in at the grassroots level” – which IS happening, so please pray that they may see it and be led to give.


Resources
The website (www.morethangold.ca) is still being revamped – the process has been much slower than anticipated – so the online store for ordering the witnessing pins and clothing and literature that we have been telling you about is not yet open. “Any day now…” Baptist churches and mission teams wishing to reserve quantities of pins, pocket guides, jackets, umbrellas, etc. can pre-order them (even an approximate quantity will do for now) by simply sending an email to either of us, and we will make sure you are the first to get your items officially ordered when the online store does open. Janet can email you a draft order form (prices might still be subject to change) upon request.

Hospitality Bags
(Welcome Kits for visitors/Care Kits for people who are homeless)
Kevin has a mission team from Mississippi serving with his church this week. Yesterday, he managed to “borrow” some of them to help us clean up and move furniture at our office to prepare space to store all of those items we are expecting in the mail. We are asking people all across North America to donate items for the bags, including travel-size packs of tissue, hand wipes, band-aids, lotion, etc. Please email or phone Kevin if you have not received the complete list and the suggested timeline for mailing items. Even though we suggested some of them be sent in May, it really is fine for you to send those items as you are able. Our goal is 28,000 bags!
Our estimate for each bag’s cost/value is $10, so if your church or group would find it more convenient to send funds for a certain number of bags, rather than actual items, we would gladly receive those funds. (Checks made out to More Than Gold, please.)
There is currently some talk of preparing special gifts for military personnel who will be brought in to provide security during the Games. More on that when we know more.

Mission Teams
Southern Baptists have been the first to send in mission team applications. We currently have about 150 volunteers who have applied to come. Kevin has taken on the job of receiving and filing forms, entering info into a database, and getting registration fees in to the More Than Gold office. An acceptance/information package will be emailed to each team leader as soon as it is ready. Every time the Mission Teams Working Group thinks we are ready with a document, it seems there is something that needs to be changed, corrected, added, etc. as we try to anticipate questions and answer them. Thank you for your on-going patience!

Please continue to pray for us, for wisdom, strength, energy, good use of resources and time, and anything else the Lord brings to mind (drop us a line and let us know of those items!). Thank you!

Three teams - One purpose

The SC Baptist Convention is sending three teams to Vancouver. I am leading one of those teams to Vancouver in February 2010. It will be my second visit, though my first for Olympic ministry. I have sent out packets to a number of people who expressed interest and some that I invited to go with us. I am very interested in the chaplaincy part. Hopefully we can get the training they require-if not, then whatever ministry is needed! I live in Lexington, SC and go to Willow Ridge church. There may be a few team members from WR. Praying about who God will lead to join our teams!

Registration has started

A lot has taken place since the last post, including NBC running the first commercial for the 2010 Olympics. Talk about a head start! Information packets have been prepared and you can download the file by going to the SCBC Website.

Your information will be sent to the appropriate team leader once the packet is returned.

Meanwhile, here are some prayer requests from our MTG contact in Vancouver:

• More housing for volunteers to become available in both Vancouver and
Whistler.
• Openness by VANOC leaders to utilize More Than Gold volunteers and resources.
• Local churches to step forward and commit to involvement.
• Success of five regional church involvement meetings taking place over the
next two weeks.
• Continuation of the spirit of unity and cooperation between the Christian
community in Vancouver and Whistler.

They also sent this picture to get us excited about the mission project:

An evening view of False Creek, the Burrard Street Bridge, and English Bay

Real Life Training

The meeting scheduled for March 2 at the South Carolina Baptist Convention was held and we discussed alot. At first, I was not sure if I would make it because of the six inches of snow that fell on March 1. I considered it real life training for driving at the Winter Olympics and hit the road to Columbia.

The meeting was productive as we outlined team sizes and deadlines for applications as well as expectations for team members. We will really start recruiting team members beginning in April with teams limited to 15 members each.

As we work on the trip details, please continue to be in prayer as to your role in Vancouver in 2010.

First Meeting Planned

We are going to have our first meeting at the South Carolina Baptist Convention building on March 2. The three team leaders will sit down and talk about what our ministry approach will be as a team and look at dates for getting things rolling.

If you were to look at the state in three sections, the Upstate, Midlands, and Lowlands or Coast, are covered by the three team leaders. As we meet, we will find out if there is a need for more than that, which would be a good thing.

More Than Gold in Vancouver is expecting a big response so they have bumped the application deadline date from November 1 to June 1 so they will be able to accommodate everyone. That is also a good problem, but also speeds things up quite a bit! We have to talk about dates for a pre-trip to Vancouver as well as start building our teams who have to apply with MTG and then start training for the event. All of this on top of regular church events like mission trips and VBS with less than a year to go!

We are "Twitter"pated

If you have never seen Walt Disney's "Bambi," then the title makes no sense. In hopes of being able to better update you on what is going on with preparations for the 2010 Vancouver Games, I will be using twitter, yet another amazing technological creation like blogging, to keep you up to date.

You can go to twitter.com to set up your own account and follow me! After you join, go to twitter.com/BryanPittman and click "Follow." This is a great way to send and receive quick updates or "tweets" so you know the latest that is taking place.

On the Olympic front, we will hit the one year mark this week! February 12 will start the countdown and I am sure it will fly by. We will have plenty of leadership and team meetings as well as a pre-trip to Vancouver in late summer. MTG has launched their Web site; www.morethangold.ca and you can what they have planned, what they hope to do and what is coming up next as the Games draw closer.

Plans are underway

With just over a year to go before Vancouver and Whistler open their arms to the world, plans are well underway to take teams from South Carolina, and elsewhere, to help with ministry opportunities naturally created by the Olympics. As with previous Olympic ministry events, you can check here for the latest information on what is taking place to make it happen.

I am excited about this blog because unlike the Beijing blog, I can give you full details as to where we will be going and what we will be doing without having to work to remain anonymous or avoid typing anything that would draw attention from the Web watchers we were warned about in Beijing.

So what is taking place a year out? Lots of ground work. The South Carolina Baptist Convention is laying the foundation to equip team leaders and team members who have a passion for Olympic ministry. While the SCBC is the local body we are working through, we will fall under the direction of More Than Gold or MTG.

MTG is an amazing organization that formed several years ago with their trademark snowflake logo. The idea was to minister to people at sporting events in an effective way. The rest is history as MTG has been a huge influence in many Olympics since 1996. They work to build relationships with the local organizing committees which allows for a better working environment when it comes time for teams to arrive.

Over the next weeks and months, I will be laying the ground work for this blog so you will have an idea of what our Olympic ministry will look like in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.