Sixty-three countries were represented among the teams recruited for Youth With A Mission's wide-ranging Games Outreach, which continued as planned despite the Centennial Park bombing.
While many groups presented the gospel to visitors through open air music and performing arts, others turned their attention to Atlanta residents. Volunteers ran youth sports clinics for would-be future Olympians, and helped local ministries working among the city's homeless.
Almost 1,000 of the YWAM workforce served as official security personnel for the Games - the first time that the organization has been a formal part of the event since staging large-scale outreaches at each Olympics from 1972.
In addition to staging music performances around the city, the mission also sponsored three concerts inside the Olympic Village. During a presentation by the Polynesian music and dance group Island Breeze, former US gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton - covering the Games as a TV commentator - joined the troupe on stage for a Samoan dance.
Following the bombing, outreach leaders decided to keep to their program, except for activities which required groups to gather at the park. The incident became a focus for conversation with visitors and passers-by.
"The gathering of nations at the Olympics forms a global marketplace, a place where the world exchanges ideas," said outreach director Matthew Nocas. "One idea we felt to clearly communicate was that violence is not the answer to the world's ills. Rather, that the remedy is found in the truth contained in the Bible."
The night after the bombing, YWAM organized a special prayer rally just a few blocks from the scene, and sent 20 teams out across the city to pray for safety.
Organizers also recruited prayer support for the outreach from around the world, through the Internet. Atlanta Gold, the world wide web newspaper of the outreach, reported testimonies and events each day. A second site, Realgold - a collaboration between YWAM and the Moody Bible Institute - also posted daily reports.
(Photo available on request)
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