Athens, August 15 (idea) - When the world's top athletes compete in the Olympic Games in Athens next August Christians will also give their best. They will spread the Gospel in an outreach campaign called "More than Gold".

The mission agency AMG International plans to recruit 800 Christians from 215 nations, in order to take the Good News to athletes and spectators. A special Olympic edition of the New Testament is being prepared for this purpose. The book includes testimonies by Christian sportsmen and women.

Outreaches under the slogan "More than Gold" already took place during the Olympic Games in Sydney (2000) and Atlanta (1996). AMG International with headquarters in Chattanooga (Tennessee) has branches in 55 countries.

Another evangelistic project for Greece is planned during the Olympics, August 13 - 29, 2004. Alexander and Sophia Regehr of the German Missionary Fellowship are trying to win Christians around the globe for a special evangelistic and prayer effort for Greece, especially for 80 Mediterranean islands.

Local churches may "adopt" an island for this purpose. "Operation Gideon" will begin prior to the Olympic Games. 800 volunteers will be trained in evangelism in Athens before taking part in the "More than Gold" campaign.

After the Olympic Games they will move on to the islands spending three days praying and fasting, three days distributing tracts and three days following up contacts. The project will end in a festival of praise. Operation Gideon is organized by "Hellenic Ministries" and "Youth With a Mission".

Greece is where the Apostle Paul planted the first church on the European continent. Today, almost 88 per cent of the ten million inhabitants are members of the Greek Orthodox Church. Adherents of other Christian denominations, for instance evangelicals, occasionally suffer from discrimination, because Orthodoxy is often equated with national identity.