Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG International) will be sending 17 teams to Athens, Greece, an are in the process of constructing a multi-use sports and community service facility as part of an outreach effort for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, which begins on August 13.
The safety is of the teams has been a concern since three small time bombs were recently detonated near a police station in the area of the site of the 2004 Olympics but organizers report no change in their outreach plans.
AMG International will take part in the outreach under Flame 2004, a local organization serving as the umbrella for other ministries collaborating in the Summer Olympic outreach effort.
Cosmo Vision Center, a multi-purpose facility will be the base for their evangelism.
" We are developing a center that we call the 'Cosmo Vision Center,' and temporary housing facilities are being prepared even now," said Paul Jenks, a spokesman for AMG International. "We have sports facilities and facilities for showers and toilets that have been prepared and are being finished now. And hopefully we'll have hundreds of guests that will, in fact, be there during the time of the Olympics to do outreach -- both on the day of the opening exercises [and on the day of] the closing exercises."
There will be many opportunities to present the gospel during the 17-day international event, said Jenks.
The ministry’s website explains the complete plan of Cosmo Vision Center involves four phases:
Phase I – Land acquisition. (Nine acres have been purchased) The total goal is 15 acres.
Phase II – Choo Choo Dormitories: (train cars used as dorms for short term work teams and youth sports camps), two mini soccer fields, a basketball court, beach volleyball, playground, welcome center, biological sewer system, and a 3,000 square foot building to provide rest rooms, showers, and storage and work space.
Phase III – Building A: The multipurpose enclosed gym, seating about 1,500 people, athletic swimming pool, dormitories, a library and six class-rooms, an open amphitheater with 200 seats, a kitchen and dining room.
Phase IV – Building B: Development of the classroom building and the completion of the Cosmovision campus and facilities.
Following the Olympics Cosmo Vision will be converted into the only evangelical Christian school in Athens, according to the ministry’s website.