April 28, 2003
McKinney youth travel to Germany despite threat of war
___By Janice Byrd
___Special to the Standard
___Despite the threat of looming war and the much-publicized anti-American sentiment in Germany, 57 youth and sponsors from First Baptist Church of McKinney traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, for a spring break mission trip.
___After months of planning and praying, the Texas Baptists determined not to let the threat of war keep them from their mission. Instead, they redoubled prayer efforts and resolved not to disappoint the five churches in far eastern Germany that were awaiting their arrival.
YOUTH from First Baptist Church of McKinney play indoor soccer with German youth during their spring break mission trip.
___The destination was Cottbus, Germany, 20 minutes from Poland and an hour-and-a-half south of Berlin. The Americans--plus two youth from Pachuca, Mexico, and a Hungarian immigrant--were warmly welcomed with frankfurters, hugs and applause. Church members from Cottbus, Spremberg, Forst, Guden and Eisenhuttenstadt took the tired Americans into their homes to live for a week of partnership.
___Several of the small Baptist congregations had no youth of their own, but they had made arrangements to take their visitors to a secondary school each morning where the American youth spoke to English classes, played volleyball in gym classes, answered questions about American youth culture and invited the interested Germans to come to their respective churches in the afternoon to hang out, talk, bake cookies and play sports.
___Baseball is virtually unknown in Germany, and the Texas youth enjoyed teaching their counterparts the game.
___On Wednesday, when bombing began in Baghdad, many more students came to talk with the American Christians. Some of the churches had special prayer meetings that night, asking God to miraculously spare the lives of innocents in the war.
___One German student boldly boasted in school: "For myself, I do not believe in God. Everything depends on me." But he came to the church to discuss, one-on-one, in English, the relevance of Christianity in the lives of the visiting team members.
___The Texas youth reported that most of the German students they met never had been inside a church before. They knew nothing of the Bible, and their knowledge of Jesus was limited to profanity.
___The Americans politely refused to discuss politics and to give their opinions on governmental policies and statements by U.S. leaders. They emphasized instead that God wants to have a personal relationship with every person.
___In Cottbus, the Texans were invited to the mayor's office, and the local church was thrilled to have the connection.
___Local newspapers interviewed the teams, and some of the teams were shown on local television.
___Every evening, from Monday through Thursday, services in various forms were conducted in each of the participating churches. Even in the churches where there were no indigenous youth, 50 or more German students came to the nightly activities. First Baptist youth gave testimonies, led in worship, taught Christian songs, preached short sermons and built relationships after the worship time.
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