Experiencing the sights, sounds and people of Eurasia
By Kara Chase
On Wednesday evening, hundreds of General Council attendees were transported from the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, to the heart of Eurasia. The first flight took off at 4:30 p.m., as AG World Missions presented A Journey Around the World: Eurasia Experience.
The hour-long, interactive experience is designed to expose participants to life in Eurasian countries and raise awareness for the vast spiritual needs that exist there. The region of 2.1 billion people includes more than 4,000 unreached people groups.
More than 200 missionaries and local church volunteers helped bring the event to life, serving in roles throughout each leg of the journey as flight attendants, beggars, street vendors, monks and other characters clad in authentic Eurasian apparel.
Upon entering the Eurasia Experience, attendees each received a passport and embarked on their journey by boarding a flight on Assemblies of God World Missions Airways. The “in-flight movie” was a World Missions Now video that highlighted effective missions efforts taking place in the Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Northern Asia AGWM regions.
Approximately 15 minutes later, the travelers arrived in Eurasia and were corralled through immigration and customs, where no-nonsense customs agents demanded to see everyone’s passports. Immediately after passing through customs, people wearing clothing from a variety of Eurasian countries told the travelers that they were in a holy place and that they were required to cover their heads at all times out of respect. Women were given scarves to place on their heads, while men received traditional hats.
From there, the travelers passed under colorful tents and into a bustling Eurasian marketplace where adventure and heartbreak collided. Packed tightly, the crowd moved en masse as they came face-to-face with aggressive vendors eager to sell their goods, veiled women desperately seeking missing loved ones, pushy shoppers and even a line of young girls, wrists bound in rope and waiting to be sold into slavery.
After the travelers had made their way through the marketplace, they watched a presentation consisting of live-action and media elements that further enhanced the magnitude of spiritual need in Eurasia. Several missionaries to the region shared powerful stories of how God is transforming lives in these spiritually dark nations. They described how through miraculous signs, hope-strengthened persistence and divine encounters, people of all ages and backgrounds are encountering the gospel for the first time.
At the conclusion of the experience, a missionary to Eurasia challenged participants to do three things: pray, using the head covering they received as a tangible reminder; give, to support the laborers; and to move beyond the experience toward involvement.
“Do not mistake unreached for unreachable,” the missionary emphasized as the journey came to a close. Attendees each received a response card as they left the Eurasia Experience area, giving them an opportunity to commit to taking part in reaching the unreached. Those who filled out the response cards were asked to return the commitments to the Eurasia exhibit.
Moments after his Journey Around the World, Thomas Carpenter from Benton, Arkansas, reflected upon the eye-opening presentation.
“I was very moved by the experience,” he shared, “especially the part where they brought out the girls to sell. As a father of young girls, it really makes you think. It’s overwhelming — pretty tough to handle. I’m challenged to pray more for our missionaries.”
Fifteen-year-old Sarah Cook, from Springfield, Missouri, feels called to serve as a missionary and she savored the opportunity to get a glimpse of life in another area of the world.
“It opened my eyes to what Eurasia’s all about,” Cook said. “It gave you the real experience — like you were really there.”
The Eurasia Experience, located in OCCC South Hall B, will also be open today from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tickets for the event need to be picked up in advance from the Eurasia exhibit in the Exhibit Hall.