wfn.org | 2002 Olympics to Include Presbyterian Welcome Center

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

14-January-2000 
00022 
 
    2002 Olympics to Include Presbyterian Welcome Center 
 
    Facility will offer worship, hospitality,  "respite" 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In February 2002, the eyes of the world will be on the 
snow-capped peaks of Utah for the Winter Olympic Games -- and the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be there, as host of a Presbyterian 
Welcome Center. 
 
    A campaign is under way to raise an estimated $2 million to $7 million 
to build the facility, envisioned as a worship, hospitality and information 
center for visitors to the Olympics from around the world. Organizers must 
have $1.5 million in hand by early March to secure a 2.8-acre tract of land 
in Park City, Utah. 
 
    "It's basically offering Presbyterian hospitality to those who would 
come to this part of the world for the Olympics," said the Rev.  Marvin L. 
Groote, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Utah, one of three 
welcome-center sponsors. 
 
    The center would be about a 30-minute drive from Salt Lake City, where 
the 2002 Games will be centered, and would serve during the Olympics as an 
educational centerpiece for Christian faith and for the mission of the 
PC(USA), according to the other project co-sponsors, the Synod of the Rocky 
Mountains and Summit Presbyterian Church, a new-church development that 
plans to make the new center its post-Olympics home. Planners also expect 
the facility to operate a retreat/conference center for the denomination. 
 
    "We are doing it for two reasons," Groote said. "One, we want to have a 
Presbyterian-Reformed presence at the Olympics. The second (reason) is in 
order for the fledgling (Summit Presbyterian) congregation to have a place 
to worship. If we can put those two together in a way that will make it 
work, and can raise the funds, we will probably be three to five years 
ahead on our plan for the Park City congregation." 
 
    Officials hope to break ground in Park City, one of several venues for 
Olympic events, on June 11, Pentecost Sunday, and to finish construction of 
the center during the summer of 2001. 
 
    The welcome center will be a place of "respite," with big-screen 
televisions broadcasting the Games, and will also offer Bible lessons, 
worship and music, said Robert L. Sheldon, mission development director for 
the Synod of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
    Foreign-language assistance and pastoral and crisis counseling also are 
to be offered as spiritual support of people traveling far from home. 
Multi-media presentations on Presbyterian missions and Internet access also 
are part of the plan, as are community programs, classrooms for Christian 
education and a 10,000-square-foot sanctuary seating 300 to 350 worshipers. 
 
    "I'm excited about having folks there that know a variety of languages 
and who are trained in evangelism and hospitality," Sheldon said. "It's 
going to be a cool time." 
 
    A Presbyterian welcome center will be established in time for the 
Olympics, "but how elaborate it will be will depend upon the fund-raising 
that we do," said the Rev. Richard Wyatt, executive for the Synod of the 
Rocky Mountains. 
 
    Meanwhile, the denomination's Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD) 
stands ready to assist welcome-center officials with mission interpretation 
and to help identify mission personnel qualified to assist with 
programming. 
 
    "We're in a responsive role here, and we'll do what we can," said the 
Rev. Marian McClure, the WMD director. "This project is an opportunity once 
again for us to show hospitality to sisters and brothers from far and 
wide." 
 
    Plans for the center came as a blessing to Summit Presbyterian 
officials, who for most of the past two years have held services in various 
locations near Park City, a ski-resort town where land is expensive. The 
congregation has about 100 regular members and hopes to receive its charter 
on Pentecost Sunday, when ground is to be broken for the welcome center. 
 
    "Oh gosh, if it wasn't for this new plan, we wouldn't even be thinking 
about breaking ground for several years," said the Rev. Alan R. Akana, 
organizing pastor of the new church. "This way, we're looking at June of 
this year (for breaking ground). So it really picks up the speed. It's been 
a real shot in the arm for this congregation." 
 
    Additional information on the welcome center can be found by logging 
onto the Synod of the Rocky Mountain World Wide Web site: 
<www.synodrockymtns.org>. 

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