It can be said without exaggeration that Europe has contributed one very important thing to the world's culture: sports-and in particular, the Olympic movement. Throughout the ages, sporting events were a very important part of European society, and they were used in a variety of ways. In our part of Europe, during the period of the "Cold War," sports were a demonstration of power on one hand, and on the other, a display of national identity. For this reason, AIA appeared early in Eastern Europe and Russia, and its members were eyewitnesses of historical events, such as Polish Marshal Law in 1981. During this time a team of AIA wrestlers was staying with part of the Polish national team in Zakopane.

One of the great opportunities is to participate in events such as the Olympic Games. Because we are Athletes in Action, we use the opportunity to serve as chaplains during the Olympic Games and have access to 12,000 of the best sportsmen and women in the world. It was at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens that Dariusz Jablonski, a Polish wrestler and the 2003 World Champion, had the opportunity to meet Jesus personally.

His short story:

"I always thought I was a good Christian. I went to church, I did my confessions and I tried to do good and not to do any harm to anybody, and to get on well with everybody. I was thought of as a calm and patient man, but nobody knew how much it took for me to control my emotions and my actions. I wanted to have control over my feelings, and I kept a lot of them suppressed inside of me.

I read a lot of self-help books: how to forgive, how to influence others, how to handle stress. I struggled with the sins I committed. I wanted to stop sinning, to break free and I could not bear my own helplessness in this area of my life. I believed in God and believed He was always by my side, but I did not know Him.

So it happened that God sent a man my way with a question: 'Have you really received Jesus into your heart as your Savior?' I was quick to answer 'yes.' But that night when I was going to bed, I realized I had been wrong. Jesus was by me, but not in me. I confessed my sins and received Jesus into my heart. I started to read the Bible and grow in my Lord Jesus Christ. He became 'number one' in my life. He is leading me and now I am free from anger and complaining. I gave up my mind, my emotions and my will to Jesus. He leads me and I trust Him."

Through our ministry, we have the unique opportunity to reach those whom we normally would not meet in a church. For them, religion is something only for weak or elderly people. However, sports provide the way to convey the truth that would otherwise not be possible. The world has no boundaries for athletes. In Communist times it provided a chance, sometimes the only chance, to go beyond those carefully guarded divisions between the East and the West. We are now poised in a unique position in Europe in such countries as Albania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Belarus and Russia. Our hope is that in the not too distant future AIA will exist in every Eastern European country.

by Zbyszek Masewicz, AIA National Director of Poland