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Olympic ministry offers first sports apologetics news site.

Written by Chronicle Staff Report

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

MADISON, Wisconsin -- 4 Winds Christian Athletics has put Olympic track and field athlete testimonies in the underground Chinese church since the summer of 2006, estimated to be over 100 million people. While the Olympics are occurring, testimonies of American athletes are being distributed in China through various forms, including radio broadcasts from free countries surrounding China.

Not shying away from controversy, the ministry also offers subterraneanNEWS, the first sports apologetics ministry in the world. 4 Winds started working in apologetics in the summer of 1997 alongside the Olympic ministry. The apologetics website can be found at www.subterraneanNEWS.org.

subterraneanNEWS offers articles from media sources throughout the world on current events. Articles on apologetics are put alongside these news articles so people can receive clear Biblical teachings for greater discernment.

Some of the subjects that are covered include abortion, the Word-Faith Movement, Mormonism, the New Age Movement, Contemplative Prayer, Yoga, Wicca, Homosexuality, etc.

Most sports ministries deal with celebrity athletes whose testimonies are distributed. 4 Winds believes that athletes should not be exempt from holding clear Biblical positions on essential issues. With their celebrity status, athletes have platforms that influence people on a greater scale and this requires greater responsibility.

Steve McConkey, 4 Winds president, has been in track and field ministries since 1981. Since that time, Steve and his wife Liz have done ministry work at six Olympic Trials and two Olympic Games. Over the years, Steve observed that some ministries do not hold athletes accountable as they promote athlete testimonies. Being disturbed by this trend, 4 Winds started subterraneanNEWS.

The name subterraneanNEWS is a spin on words. Many of the 1960s underground newspapers had the name 'subterranean' in their titles. Subterranean means underground. Liberal forces in the 1960s were supposedly underground during those times. Currently, Christians are now the ones who are being driven underground by liberal forces.

Also, Steve believes evangelicals are getting away from primary issues. After research, the ministry found that there are 42 million abortion deaths per year worldwide (not counting the morning-after pill or the killing of embryos for stem-cell research), 9 for starvation, 3 for AIDS, and 0 for global warming.

Despite these statistics, the evangelical church is moving away from the primary problem of abortion. The other problems are important, but 78 percent of the problems are centered around abortions.

4 Winds is a member of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions.