It is the intention of SFC to build a global culture of our six B.R.I.D.G.E. Values – Believing, Relationships, Identity, Doing, Gospel, Engaging. This story from our interim European Director, Hondo Wynn, epitomizes the Value of Engaging, by meeting all people right where they are.
Sarajevo 84 Olympic Village
Seven years after Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Olympics, Yugoslavia began to break up. Without going into the long and complicated situation, by 1992 Bosnia was at war. The war was ethnically and religiously tied, and there were many casualties of this war that lasted several years. Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, was under siege for a couple of years. The city that once hosted the Olympics was being bombed. The slopes that once held the ski races were now the scenes of intense mountain warfare. They continue to find landmines in those areas to this day.
I met some Bosnians when I was in Czech at a conference. After some chatting, I found that they run snowboard camps for Bosnian youth. I asked if there was anything SFC could do to help them with their camps. They said it would help tremendously if we could bring some people to teach snowboarding. I recruited a couple of Swiss SFCers, and we made it happen in January.
When we rolled into Sarajevo late at night, it was -23 celsius and snow was piled everywhere. We jumped right into a camp full of Bosnian teenagers who were stoked to learn to snowboard. We were able to teach them at two of the Olympic resorts. On the last day, we built a mini terrain park with some tubes and shovels. Good times were had by all. We shared stories of how God found us, and we had lots of great conversations riding (scary, old) chairlifts and hiking the mini park. It was a unique experience that blended engaging students in a war-torn country and teaching them to ride and enjoy the big local mountains God put on the outskirts of their capital city.
Help SFC BRIDGE
ONLY ONE DAY LEFT! We’ve shared six amazing stories with you that express each of SFC’s values. This is how God is working in the ski and snowboard culture. We want to ensure that more stories like this keep happening, but we need your help. Right now we only have $30,000 left to raise and ONLY ONE DAY LEFT TO DO IT.
Would you pray about joining us to keep THE LIGHT ON THE HILL?