This year’s crop of Olympic athletes is a hardy bunch! Braving the triple threat of gangs, sewage and Zika, they have arrived by the thousands to compete in Rio.

But are the medals and the glory worth the risk? Most of the athletes have probably asked themselves that question, weighed the risks, and then made their decision.

There’s one team that’s almost certainly not asking that question: the Olympic Refugee Team. Have you heard of them? Team ROA (Refugee Olympic Athletes) was created by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee, and consists of 10 athletes who are refugees from various countries. “By welcoming the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes to the Olympic Games Rio 2016, we want to send a message of hope for all refugees in our world,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. Read more.

All of these athletes have endured hardships of a magnitude not experienced by most people. Two of them, for example, are runners who have spent almost half of their lives in a Kenyan refugee camp after their escape from war-ravaged Sudan. One of them, now a 21-year-old woman, escaped Sudan at age six and has not seen her parents since.  

Having already been saved from such atrocities in their young lives, Rio’s gangs, mosquitoes and swimming venues probably barely register as a threat to these 10 athletes.

Here’s where the Olympics and missions are similar: When it comes to Jesus’ mandate to take the gospel to the hard places in this world, we need a few more people like these enduring athletes. But unless we understand how thorough our salvation has already been, we probably won’t take the risk of leaving the security of America. 

I think the apostle Paul must have had a hard time understanding why so few people were willing to risk their comforts for the gospel. Comparing gospel ministry to the sacrifices made in athletic competition, he said, “They [athletes] do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25). If the athletes of Rio will do it for fleeting gold and glory, won’t we do it for something far more glorious and enduring?

As you watch Team ROA compete in Rio, would you join me in asking God to give us a few more “spiritual refugees” — men and women who understand that the eternal plight from which they’ve been delivered is far greater than anything they might encounter in taking the gospel to places where others fear to set foot? In the words of the IOC president himself, let’s beg God to raise up a team who will “send a message of hope for all refugees in our world.”

Read more about the Olympic Refugee Team.

Dale Losch joined Crossworld as a disciple-maker in France in 1988, and has served as Crossworld’s president since 2009. He loves to motivate people to use their God-given passions to make disciples wherever life happens. Hear more from Dale.