ST. LOUIS — A St. Louisian will be heading to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. He won't be on the track showing off his speed, he will be on the streets of Paris showing off his pins.
At Concord Church on Tesson Ferry Road, they employ a fascinating figure.
Jeff Wells is an Online/Missions Pastor at the church. He is 56 years old, a father of two and does the typical work of many pastors. He is often devouring his Bible and perhaps taking notes for a Sunday sermon.
But make no mistake, this summer will be nothing typical about Jeff's life.
"I really believe there will be people in heaven who will say, 'Hey, you don't remember me but because you had that conversation with me in Paris is why I'm here today,'" Wells said.
He is heading to Paris for the 2024 Olympics, and he will bring with him about 3,000 of these Olympic pins.
"Every pin represents a gospel opportunity, whether it's a conversation, or if we stick it on one of our business cards, and we hand it to a clerk in a cafe or a little retail shop. That's an opportunity for the gospel to go forward. And that's why I'm there," he said. "Of course, I'm gonna love being in Paris. I've been in some incredible cities around the world being on every continent, but Africa. The point the purpose, the reason I'm going to be away from my family for 19 days is so that I can have gospel conversations."
Paris will be Jeff's 11th Olympics.
He started in Sydney in 2000, then on to Salt Lake in 2002. Next on to Athens in 2004 and Torino, Italy, in 2006. Bejing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010 and there was London in 2012. Sochi in 2014, Rio in 2016 and Peeong Chang in 2018.
He's met everyone from TJ Oshie to Kristi Yamaguchi, but it's not about the celebrities.
It's about trying to have 100 conversations a day with people from all over the world, and it's not easy all the time.
"The rudest I've experienced in the past, typically people just walk away from you'll be in the middle of having the gospel conversation. And they'll just, oh, it's religion, don't want it and they'll just walk away," he said.
"And you don't take it personally?" Frank Cusumano asked.
"No, not at all. I mean, that's why we really try to lay a legitimate relational foundation so that as we transition to the Gospel, I'm not there, I'm not there selling Jesus, I just want to tell you about what God's done for me through Jesus and what he offers to do through you," Wells said.
So why is the pin trading as the hook?
"It's called the unofficial spectator sport just makes for a great way of engaging in Gospel conversation in conversations in general," he said.
The Bejing trip was his favorite because that started the process of adopting his daughter, Joylee, who just turned 14.
"If one person from your meetings in Paris becomes a believer, this is all worth it?" Cusumano asked.
"Oh, absolutely. I mean, I would love to come home and say, 'Hey, we shared the gospel 3,000 times and we saw 100 people prayed to receive Christ while we were there.' We had those kinds of experiences when we were in Australia in 2000. But you know what, Frank, even if I come back and not one person makes that decision in the moment. It's still going to be a success. It's just a matter of what degree of success it will be," Wells said.
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