Email: "Local pastor Vancouver bound to aid athletes"
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    LAKE PLACID — Local Baptist pastor Derek Spain will head off to Vancouver on Friday to take the position as an official volunteer chaplain at the 2010 Winter Olympics.


    Spain, who has been the pastor of the Lake Placid Baptist church for 8 years, will be stationed at the athletic village in Whistler — a resort town north of Vancouver and the center of mountain sports — where he will provide spiritual encouragement for the athletes.


    “One of my main jobs will be Bible study and pastoral counseling, but I also just want to be a positive person for athletes to connect with,” Spain said.


    After a lengthy application process — including a written section, a phone interview and letters of recommendation — Spain was chosen as one of 27 Christian chaplains who will be attending the Winter Games.


    He is volunteering through a group called More Than Gold, which is organizing faith-based volunteers of different denominations from across the United States and Canada to help at the Olympics.


    Spain said he will counsel athletes about any issues that may come up including the pressure of upcoming competition and more personal issues.


    “People forget that the athletes are there for weeks,” Spain said. “It’s not like life starts and stops during that time.”


    He plans to stay in a rented house with a group of volunteers for part of his trip and with a family from a Whistler-area church for the rest of the time. During his days off he hopes to make it down to Vancouver to visit with friends from Georgia — where he lived and worked before Lake Placid — who are volunteering through the same organization.


    As the director of North Country Ministries, a group of church members who share their love of Christ with those who live, work and play in the Adirondack Mountains Region, Spain has volunteered at many local sporting events in the past.


    “We always pride ourselves in doing the stuff that no one else want to do to help make events go smoothly,” Spain said, chuckling.


    Through volunteering at local events Spain has gotten to know some of the athletes who will be competing in Vancouver, such as bobsled pilot John Napier, who attends Lake Placid’s Baptist church.


    “I’ll see John at the village and around town and provide as much encouragement for him as I can,” Spain said.


    “Most of all, I’m looking forward to celebrating the Olympics with people from all over the world,” he added.


    Although Spain doesn’t have tickets to any of the events he is hopeful he will enjoy the Olympics as a volunteer support system as well as a spectator.


    “If the Lord wants me to watch the events, then so it will be,” Spain said, laughing.


    The Olympic Winter Games run from Feb. 12 through Feb. 28.


    To learn more about More Than Gold, visit www.morethangold.ca.

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