Olympic mission: sharing the faith

Inspired by a Baptist leader, Garrett Pantano will join 23 other Florida students at the Games in a massive revival crusade.

By MICHELLE HURTADO

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 23, 2000

A Baptist religious leader showed a young student a new way of life, and now, years later, this student is heading off to the Olympics on a mission to show others his faith.

Garrett Pantano, a 1998 graduate of Ridgewood High School who attends the University of Central Florida in Orlando, will be in Australia for seven weeks this summer to help with a massive revival crusade in order to reach out to people in the community, as well as the millions attending the Olympic Games.

"Reach Out 2000" will take place as a result of the help of 330 churches, the International Sports Federation -- a division of the International Mission Board -- and many young Baptist volunteers like Pantano.

"We're getting ready for when the world comes to their (Sydney's) doorsteps," said Cheryl Wolfinger, president of International Sports Federation.

Since athletics will be the focus of the Olympics, sports-related evangelism will be the key to targeting those at the Games, which draws spectators from all over the world. Pantano, who has been playing sports since high school, and other volunteers will hold sports clinics for children, a platform for reaching out to the kids.

Vacation Bible schools with crafts, gospel study and recreation will help with their mission. Pantano will work alongside local Baptists to help spread their message of faith, as well as provide housing, food and service for the other 3,000 volunteers who will be near Sydney. There are 23 other college students from Florida flying over with Pantano; they will be split into pairs to live with local Baptist host families.

Although raised in a Catholic setting, Pantano said he became interested in the Baptist faith through his best friend in ninth grade. Westside Baptist Church of Port Richey, a church that his friend attended, was sponsoring a basketball outreach tournament, and Pantano was invited to play. Not thinking too much of it, he said, he went and immediately liked the pastor, Tom Buck.

"He treated me like a son," Pantano said, and added that he really listened to the pastor's gospel message after the game.

"Most young people are looking for someone to believe in them and point them in the right direction -- Christ. Garrett was the epitome of that," Buck said.

"I realized I was lost, and this was how I was to be saved,'" Pantano said. He then started to regularly attend church and became a part of the youth council and then later the leadership team.

"I didn't care what religion he chose, as long as he is happy, said Pantano's mother, Patricia Shaw. "He was raised to always put everyone else above himself, and we all believe in the same God anyway."

Pantano, who is involved with the Baptist Christian Ministries at UCF, first heard about missions in his first year of college.

"These sound kind of cool -- let me see what these are all about," Pantano recalled.

Then last year, after a few of his friends had spoken well about their experiences with missions, he decided he wanted to try.

The Florida Baptist Convention, an organization that heads the Baptist churches in Florida and provides support for missions through churches in their domain, handed out pamphlets to students involved with the Baptist Christian Ministries at UCF. Pantano took one and applied and was sponsored by his longtime church, Westside Baptist.

"I can't wait to go and help out, though I am a little nervous. I don't like flying and seven weeks is a long time to be so far away from my parents," Pantano said. "The main thing I am trying to do there is show people when you believe, you become saved. You become a whole new person."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.