Why Athens? Athens is a city with a population of close to 5 million with only .04% being born-again Christians. That comes to about 2,000 Christians.* How do we put this in perspective? That would be like taking the senior classes of Broken Arrow and Jenks and dropping them in a city the size of Los Angeles(1) and Dallas(2) combined.
While we were in Athens, we saw God open many doors and provide us with opportunities to begin relationships with citizens, educators, business owners and even government officials. We made many friends in Athens - including a group of missionaries that are living and working there for an extended period of time; Raymond and Billie, Jonathan, Anastasia and Suzanne.
Three days ago, a 15 year old boy was shot and killed by police. That has set off 4-days of massive riots. Rioters are throwing concrete slabs, rocks, flaming gasoline bombs, torching businesses and cars and gunfire can be heard throughout the city. The violence has spread beyond Athens to much of Greece and the situation is very volatile.
Please keep Athens, Greece in your prayers and specifically those listed above. Pray for their peace and safety.
•Mathematical computation provided by Dustin Talley
1) "Los Angeles (city) Quickfacts from the US Census Bureau" (html). US Census Bureau (25). Retrieved on 2008-10-14.2) "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
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2 comments:
I greatly appreciated your report on the short-term mission trip to Athens. We also had a team working in Athens this fall, working with International Teams' program for refugees there. There is much to be done there, and God is doing wonderful things through His people. I trust that those from your congregation who made this trip will be inspired to even greater service because of it.
Thanks Greg, Athens certainly needs a lot of help. I have named it "The City Without Smiles". Seemed like nobody smiled or wanted to make eye contact. We had a great time and have 3 more groups going back in 2009.
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