The Paris Olympic Outreach had a huge impact on the people who went and the churches who sent them. In this blog Josh Vick, Outreach Director at Canton Baptist Temple, Canton Ohio and Bryan Coleman, Care and Mission Pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Wilmington, Ohio tell about their experiences at the Olympics.

Josh Vick

The trip to Paris was the highlight of not only my year but also my lifetime! I attended the second week of the Paris Olympics Outreach. To be able to be in a place where people from the entire world assembled, and to have the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them, was an unforgettable moment. I know that I felt this great opportunity as well as those that were within my group. I would like to share a few moments from the trip and the impact the trip had on us as a group.

The first day in Paris while doing our outreach, we were sent to La Défense. In the plaza of La Défense, there was a tremendous amount of people coming and going. At this location, people passed through to gain access to the swimming events of the Olympics. There was also a large shopping mall that drew in many people. I was positioned in a corridor that led to the swimming events and had many people going past me. During that day, I passed out a lot of tracts and had many meaningful conversations. I would like to share two of those conversations.

I met a man from the country of Cyprus. I regret that I cannot pronounce nor spell his name, but I was able to have about a 20-30 minute conversation with him. He explained to me that he believed that there was a God and had some connection to the Greek Orthodox Church. During our time together, he informed me that not too long ago, his father had committed suicide. He started to question whether God was actually real, because if there were a God, how could He let his father do this? We spoke about what he believed he must do to get to Heaven, and he gave me a works based salvation, citing that he must perform the sacraments and strive to be a good person. I pointed him to the true message of the Gospel and explained to him that only through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ could someone be saved. We spoke about that for a while before he explained to me that before he left Cyprus, he prayed to God and said if you’re real, prove it. He then told me, to which I agreed, that it was no accident that he and I were there having that conversation. He promised me that he would read the tract, go to the website, and consider what I shared with him.

During another day, we began to pass out tracts near where the basketball arena was located. There was a little park right next to the arena, and we spent a few hours there passing out tracts. While we passed out tracts, the park security came up to our group and told us that we were not allowed to be there. After a short conversation with them, we moved along. A few of us crossed over bridge that led us to a boardwalk where there were much fewer people with little traffic. I wondered, why here? As we walked up that boardwalk, a man named Raymond that was in our group handed a tract to a man who was sitting there. I decided that I would sit next to him and try to start a conversation. He spoke little to no English, so we had to communicate through an app on my phone. He told me that he believed that God was all powerful, and he told me of a wish that he had. He said, “I wish that I knew how to have peace with God.” I explained to him that this is why we are here, to tell you of that peace! I was able to share the Gospel and leave him with a tract. He told me that he had never heard the name of Jesus before. This man was from Vietnam.

There are so many stories that I could share and so could the rest that were within our group. This trip made a lasting impression on all of us. I heard many within our group talk about how excited this made them for evangelism and the desire to continue with that same passion and zeal as they went home. We pray all who took a tract will read it and receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior! All of the finances, efforts, and long days will not return void as we faithfully shared the Gospel to many! To God be the glory!

Bryan Coleman

First, we want to say thank you from BBC Wilmington to all who put so much work into the planning of the Olympic Outreach trip to Paris. Special thanks to our missionaries Jonathan Laase, Randy Lasse, and Brian Berry, to everyone at Canton Baptist, Bob Hutton, Lewis McClendon and Sue Hoffman, and so many others who labored to make this an amazing outreach.

This opportunity was so unique compared to other mission trips we have participated in. It was such a blessing to serve alongside other groups of like-minded Christians from across the United States. We truly built relationships that will last a lifetime with brothers and sisters in Christ we would have otherwise never met.

There is no way to summarize the conversations with others from all over the world in just a few words, but I wanted just to note a few things that truly gave us all confirmation that the Lord was in what we were doing in France. It was obvious that so many Christians had been praying for months for the ones who went on the trip.

Probably the most surprising response we heard so many times was, “who is Jesus”? We take for granted that everyone at least knows “who Jesus is,” but meeting others from all over the world, it became obvious that is not the case. Sadly, so many in our world have never heard of Jesus. What a blessing to be able to share with so many the testimony of how Jesus has Saved and Transformed us!

Also amazing to us was that almost everyone spoke some English, and we were able to have so many good conversations. I know we may never know the impact of this trip until we reach heaven, but I am always reminded that Our God is Faithful! He is faithful to bless the efforts of people who serve him faithfully. Even on our way home, we received a call about an unexpected salvation of a young man from our church, just showing us again that God is faithful all the time!

We are praising the Lord for how “The Name of Jesus” was lifted up in a very dark place and are excited to see the fruit that will come from the Outreach in Paris.

Only in Eternity Will We Know the Impact of the Paris Olympic Outreach

Thank You for Praying, Giving and Going