Foreign missionaries defy ban during Olympics

The subject of Olympics outreach was touchy for some groups.

"No comment," said a woman who answered the phone at Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of the Campus Crusade for Christ. She then hung up.

However, a spokesman for the Missouri-based Fellowship of Christian Athletes was happy to talk about outreach efforts within the Olympic Village by its athletes, including American marathon runner Ryan Hall.

Athletes stepped up to lead their own prayer groups or Bible studies after the Chinese said they would assign chaplains to the village's religious services center instead of allowing teams to bring in their own, said Dan Britton, the fellowship's senior vice president of ministries.

"It's a very unique situation," he said. "When you assign a chaplain, it's almost like saying, 'We're bringing a team to China and assigning the coach.' Well, the coach doesn't know the players and only knows the sport. We feel the spiritual realm is the same way."

One outreach success came ahead of the Olympics, when a U.S. team was in China for an exhibition match. The U.S. team and the Chinese team — Britton wouldn't name the sport — gathered in a hotel room the night before the match for a 30-minute prayer meeting arranged by a foreigner who had access to the Chinese team.

"It was very powerful," said Britton, who said he had seen photos of the meeting, where members of both teams prayed and sang. "God pulled it together."

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