Recently, some 108 teenagers and adults from the United States converged on the city of Thessaloniki, Greece as part an intensive International World Changers ministry project. Of those 108 World Changers—representing several churches in different states—Mount Hermon Baptist Church had the largest contingent by far, with 46 participants.
This was indeed a historic trip for our church. Although our youth ministry has a long and illustrious history of hands-on missions involvement, this certainly was our most far reaching effort in terms of distance and scope. Sending nearly 34 teens and 12 adults across the Atlantic for a week of ministry and outreach is no small undertaking. I want to applaud our church family for their faith, vision, obedience, prayerfulness, mission-mindedness and generosity, without which this trip would have been utterly impossible.The trip also was historic because of the destination itself. Think about it, we were visiting a place written about in the Bible. And we were following in the footsteps of the first missionary to ever carry the Gospel to that part of the world.
Some 20 centuries ago, the Apostle Paul came to the region of Macedonia, entered the city of Thessalonica, proclaimed to Jew and Gentile alike the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, and planted a church there. Acts, Chapter 17 records this story for us. (The New Testament also contains two letters that Paul later wrote to encourage and instruct the new church at Thessalonica.) It was exciting for our teens (as well as their pastor) to realize that we were literally continuing the work Paul had begun in Thessalonica some 2000 years earlier. For there’s still a great spiritual need in the city today just as there was in Paul’s day. 
Modern-day Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece. It’s a coastal city, located in the northern part of on the country, along the Aegean Sea. The city’s metropolitan area has an estimated population in the neighborhood of a million people. Thessaloniki (also was known as Salonica) was named after the sister of Alexander the Great. Founded in 315 BC, its history has been like a Greek tragedy, with disasters, warfare, and foreign domination part of its story. Consider the events the 20th century alone. In 1913, the king of Greece was assassinated on a trip to Thessaloniki. Most of the city was destroyed by fire in 1917, leaving thousands 
homeless. During World War II, the city fell to Nazi Germany. Under German occupation more than 90% of the city’s Jewish population was exterminated. Then, the city suffered severe damage from Allied bombing throughout the remainder of war. Although today Thessaloniki is a prosperous, modern city, its residents have definitely known heartache and suffering.
The predominant religion in Thessaloniki (as well as in all of Greece) is the Greek Orthodox Church, which split from Roman Catholicism nearly 1000 years ago (some 500 years before the Protestant Reformation). In fact, the Greek constitution recognizes the Greek Orthodox faith as the “established” religion of the country. Reportedly, some 98% of Greek citizens are baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church, though far fewer actually practice their faith. And most of them certainly do not understand the opportunity (and necessity) for a personal faith relationship with Jesus Christ. 
Evangelical Christians are very much a minority in Greece. Reportedly, only 30,000 Christians are classified as Protestants. That’s miniscule considering the nation’s total population is over 11 million.So, there are some unique challenges to doing ministry in Greece. But our World Changers rose to the occasion and in one incredible week left a huge positive impact on the city—an impact that I trust will continue to be felt long after we’re gone.
What kinds of things did we do? Some of us worked out in the hot sun for much of the week doing beach clean up in the Pilea district of Thessaloniki. This garnered quite a bit of local media coverage. (A television camera crew came by to film us in action. A newspaper reporter interviewed many in our group. A major news article including photos of many of our teens appeared in the next day’s paper.) We also 
received public recognition from the mayor himself. (He brought us to his office at city hall for a special presentation, he came to the beach personally to observe our work, and near the end of the week he invited a number of our World Changers to a special dinner to show his appreciation!) All of this created a great deal of positive goodwill in the city and left the residents with a much more favorable impression of evangelical Christians (and Americans as well).A lot of our ministry, however, was to the city’s minority groups, immigrants, refugees, and
outcasts. Some of our work crews labored in intense heat in the local gypsy camps, doing construction work as a way of demonstrating the selfless love of Christ. Many team members also ministered to the gypsy children and their families. All of this created such a positive impact that the King of the Gypsies opened his arms to us and met with our leaders. A vital connection had been made to one of the hardest-to-reach people groups. Other World Changers ministered in the city parks and public square. Drama, face-painting, balloon shapes, survey work, personal one-on-one witnessing—all of these were a means of getting the Gospel out. One of our own young ladies led a 19-year-old German tourist to Christ! In the midst of all this activity, many of our Mount Hermon youth perhaps for the first time encountered people that were completely atheistic in their worldview.
Sports ministry was also a key part of our week. Our guys and girls doing sports worked under the leadership of Pastor Ernie, the shepherd of Glad Tidings International Fellowship. A native Filipino and—before coming to Christ—a seaman, Pastor Ernie leads a flock that is a colorful mosaic of people, a true microcosm of the world. His English-speaking congregation, which looks a lot like what Heaven is going to look like, consists of Asians, Africans, Americans, Middle Easterners and others.
Each night, with Pastor Ernie serving as the referee, the boys played soccer in the park. The games were intensely competitive. America vs. Greece. America vs. Afghanistan. America vs. the world. Following the games, there would sometimes be a late night dialogue regarding matters of faith and religion. One night, our young men had a deep discussion with a group Afghani refugees regarding Christianity and Islam.
At the same time the guys were playing soccer, many of our girls were involved in volleyball. A few native Greeks participated, but for the most part the other girls were Albanian, Afghani and Russian. After the games, there would a time of fellowship and one of our girls would share a personal testimony of her faith in Christ.The week was all about connecting with people, establishing relationships, building bridges of trust, and planting seeds, so that our brothers and sisters there can continue to cultivate those relationships and water those seeds. Our hope is that someday it will all result in a harvest. I plan to stay in touch with Pastor Ernie and get periodic reports on the follow up efforts.
All in all, it was a great week. We had some hurdles to overcome, but we easily did so with God’s help. A number of our youth had never flown before. Traveling across 7 time zones, flying all through the night across the Atlantic, spending 8 or 9 hours on a plane in one sitting, dealing with jetlag—that was quite an experience for one’s first flight. But everyone did well.And then, there were the physical challenges. The temperatures for part of the week were in the triple digits as Greece experienced its worst heat wave in many years. Our daily schedule was very intense, and often grueling, with very little
letup. Several teens dealt with health issues—allergies, respiratory infections, upset stomachs, dehydration, etc—but they were troopers and pressed on as best they could. And then of course, there was the traffic. Crossing the busy streets in Thessaloniki is truly taking your life into your own hands. I’ve been to a lot of different countries, and seen some crazy driving, but I’ve never seen such aggressiveness behind the wheel as I saw in Greece.But, through it all, our team was resilient, God was glorified, and we all came back safe and sound (although weary). I wish you could have been there to see our youth in action. You would have been so proud of them. I certainly was.
Stay tuned. In my next blog, I'll tell you more about our Grecian experience.
Pastor Danny
