David Cheromei (left), a pastor and Athletes in Action® volunteer from Kenya, chats with a father and his two sons from Ethiopia outside the Louvre Museum in Paris. Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes competed against each other in sporting events at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.
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Along a walkway in a Paris suburb, David Cheromei spots a familiar face in a sea of strangers. David — a volunteer with Athletes in Action®, Cru’s sports ministry — unexpectedly finds runner Jackline Chepkoech. He and Jackline, along with a friend, stroll through a land nearly 5,000 miles from their home country of Kenya. Around them, a kaleidoscope of colors swirl, as international visitors converge outside the Olympic Village. It’s summertime in France, and the 2024 Paris Summer Games are underway.
“When I see where the Kenyans are,” David says, “I want to be right there.”
Pastor David Cheromei supports Kenyan Olympic runners through Athletes in Action®, Cru®’s sports ministry. As a child, he ran about 10 miles to school every day, which later led to success in track and field. His past accomplishments in the steeplechase event help him relate to athletes.
David smiles as he and Jackline chat in Swahili. They stride to a fancy hotel lobby, where the sounds of clinking glasses and a French-speaking announcer from a televised swimming event create noise in the background.
Jackline’s time at the Olympics has come to a close with a last-place finish in the steeplechase event. Feeling discouraged and facing negativity from others, she questions God about why this happened. So David encourages her to keep a positive attitude and points her to Scripture.
Jackline listens to David as he leafs through a Bible. He stops at Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon forged against you will prevail” (New International Version).
Later, Jackline and David pray together. After going their separate ways, David reflects on Jackline’s appreciation to receive the Bible and her demeanor.
“You could see a little joy coming in, walking back,” he says.
Jackline Chepkoech, a 22-year-old runner from Kenya, listens as David Cheromei shares words of support in a hotel lobby.
David competed in steeplechase, the same event as Jackline, in the 2008 Olympic trials. He still runs and now volunteers with AIA® in Kenya. God works in the lives of the competitors as AIA staff members and volunteers like David relate to them, helping athletes, coaches and others to follow Christ during pressure-filled times and sharing their faith with others.
“What we really want to do is to reach the whole world through the testimony of these athletes,” says Silas Ngong, AIA leader from Cameroon, during a gathering of AIA staff members and volunteers.
The universal popularity of sports provides a platform for internationally recognized athletes. For example, 71% of Americans consider themselves sports fans, according to a survey by Siena College and St. Bonaventure University.
Cyclists whiz through Paris streets during the men’s road race. The 272-kilometer-long trail set a record for the longest road race in Olympic history, according to NBC News.
French spectators root for cyclists during the men’s road race, with some boisterously cheering, “Allez les Bleus!” (Go Blues!) for their French athletes.
More than 70 AIA staff members and volunteers from 21 countries traveled to Paris for the Olympics July 25-August 11. They stationed themselves outside the Olympic Village and attended Olympic events. Inside the Olympic Village, three chaplains who are staff members with Agape France (Cru, as it’s known in France) and one with Sport et Foi (AIA, as it’s known in France) spent their days in a multifaith center to talk with athletes and pray for them.
David Cheromei preaches a devotional message from 2 Timothy for the Athletes in Action® group. The sports mentors gathered for morning meetings in a retreat center, where German shepherds also trotted in and out alongside their international police owners, who were staying in the same location. The AIA® group spent time in a conference room worshiping and learning from the Bible.
Cru® ministries supported athletes both outside and inside the Olympic Village during the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Chaplains from different religions offered support in the Multi Faith Center within the Olympic Village. This allowed Agapé France (Cru, as it’s known in France) and Sport et Foi (Athletes in Action®, as it’s known in France) staff members to care for athletes as they listened, prayed for them and shared about the good news of Jesus when possible.
They organized times of worship and gave away New Testaments and Bibles as gifts. One AIA® staff member helped during the ministry’s training for chaplains. Anne Schweitzer, Agape staff member directing the Protestant Evangelical chaplaincy, describes the environment as peaceful after quite some trials. The chaplains prayed that people would feel God’s Spirit and several athletes testified they felt a special peace there. “This place is like the power room of the whole Village because of your prayers,” an athlete told her.
AIA sports mentors journeyed to the Olympics to support athletes they already knew and served.
“These AIA staff members and volunteers are already in relationship with athletes, coaches and officials and have gained their trust,” says Dave Deal, AIA’s Global Events Team Director. “Their presence here says, ‘I’m committed to you and to helping build spiritual movements.’”
“Spiritual movements” refers to Christians who are helping others to know Jesus. David and other AIA staff members and volunteers want to cultivate relationships and mentor athletes after the Olympics. So it’s not just a one-time event.
David Cheromei offers a Bible to Sam Muwonge (right), president of the Uganda Cycling Association. They speak Swahili and English to one another. Even in his 70s, Sam still enjoys mountain biking.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi (left) runs for Kenya in a race alongside men from Spain, the Netherlands and Armenia. He won gold in the men’s 800-meter race.
Viewers in the crowd wave British flags at an event. Athletes in Action® staff members and volunteers have attended the Olympics to mentor athletes, coaches and others since the Munich Olympics in 1972.
While they’re at the Olympics and afterward, athletes face trials of not only physical strength and stamina but also internal battles.
“I see most athletes struggle with depression,” David says, “and a lot of people — a lot of coaches — don’t know what it is.”
David comforts and uplifts athletes like Jackline, who experience both the highs and lows of high-performance sports. He draws upon what he learned in a master’s degree program and his past work in the mental health field. Along with tending to athletes’ emotional and spiritual needs, David recognizes the crucial role of prayer, calling it “one of the key things that I feel like God called me to do.”
Runners compete in an event at the Stade de France. The stadium was built in advance of the 1998 FIFA World Cup and can hold 80,000 fans, according to its website. David Cheromei has a front-row seat in the friends and family section.
Outside an Olympic practice track, David joyfully crosses the road to join a group of Kenyan men. He slaps their hands in greeting, and they walk together to the track where elite athletes prepare for races.
Before the athletes disperse, David gathers them into a huddle and prays.
Afterward, David returns to the same spot to wait for the men to finish practice so he can eat dinner with them.
Approximately 10,500 athletes from 203 nations competed in the 2024 Olympics, according to the official website. Athletes in Action® Singapore staff members support both badminton players and their families during stressful competitions.
The following week, artistic gymnasts from Spain step soberly toward a crowd outside the Olympic Village who are waving flags and shouting, “España!” People embrace the women as they shed tears after returning without medals. Emotionally moved, David crosses the street to talk with the father of one of the athletes and offer a hug.
“What the athletic culture trains people to do, even unconsciously, is to constantly compare and compete,” David Johns, an AIA staff member from Canada, told a group of sports mentors.
David experienced his own difficulties from a young age. He grew up in a family with an abusive father. His family didn’t have food at times, and he started drinking alcohol at age 5 because it was more available than water. In seventh grade, David met Jesus after a missionary spoke at his school. He began to know God more, even as his environment remained the same.
Now, most of David’s family follows Jesus.
Fans from China and India cheer on athletes at a badminton game. Spectators bought nearly 9.5 million tickets for Olympic events, according to the official website.
David comes from a family of elite runners. He says his sister, Lydia, inspired him in his journey. Lydia ran in four Olympic Games. In 1992, she returned from competing at the Olympics with a More Than Gold Bible, created by AIA to include testimonies of athletes. David then envisioned running in college. At a university in the U.S., he got involved in AIA. He became a coach and competed in Olympic trials, along with earning 10 national titles and three championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
David connects with Kenyan runners through his own story of training for the Olympics and his passion for running.
“The athletes and coaches not only respect him but trust him, and that is critical in ministry,” says Tim Pitcher, David’s mentor and InSport associate director within AIA.
Mary Morra (left), from Kenya, chats with David Cheromei outside the Olympic Village. Mary takes two Bibles, one for herself and one for a friend. She attracts attention from fans after earning a bronze medal in the women’s 800-meter race.
Loved ones comfort an artistic gymnast from Spain outside the Olympic Village after the team’s loss.
In addition to volunteering with AIA, David serves as a church pastor and also started an orphanage and school.
He and his wife, Laurel, are raising three biological children, along with others in their care. As often as he can, David makes time to run with local athletes, even praying for them even while running.
“It’s not like I’m pushing it,” David says. Volunteering with athletes comes naturally for him. And God uses relationships among sports mentors and athletes to reveal his love.
During a devotional time with AIA staff members and volunteers in France, David preaches a message.
“When you are there, [athletes] feel the presence of the Lord, because that’s the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit is there, it’s peace.”
“I want that genuine heart,” David later says, while in Paris, “that when I pour into these athletes, they see the presence of the Lord in me. Because I have the opportunity to open my heart for him [God] today.”
Outside the Olympic Village (left to right), Athletes in Action® Guatemala leader Cristobal Chamale prays with David Cheromei and Alberto Gonzalez, a marathon runner from Guatemala. Cristobal had gifted Alberto with running shoes.
David Cheromei holds a Bible while meeting a fan from the Philippines. While in Paris to mentor athletes and coaches, David sought to have spiritual conversations with competitors, fans and workers.
David greets global athletes at the Olympics with ease. He wears Kenya’s signature red athletic clothing from head to toe, attracting attention from fans because he looks like an athlete. When he sees one American athlete he knows, he extends his arm around the athlete’s shoulder and walks with him. He takes a Bible out of his backpack to give to anyone who will accept it, including a bronze medalist who wants a Bible to give to someone else.
David makes friends easily. “Uganda! Congratulations!” he shouts to Sam Muwonge, president of the Uganda Cycling Association.
David quickly learns that Sam is a Christian and wants to give Bibles to the cycling team. So Sam shares his contact information to reconnect with David again.
David Cheromei strolls along the edge of a barrier to Olympic Village housing, a location with high security and limited access. The buildings display country names and flags, such as Hungary.
A few days later, David trudges down narrow French streets. He lugs a rickety metal cart supporting a suitcase full of Bibles, transporting them from the retreat center to the subway station, nearly a half mile away. He stops to fix the contraption.
The subway offers an air-conditioned reprieve for his hour-long journey to the Olympic Village. There, he reunites with Sam and rolls the cart into the Olympic Village, where the Uganda cycling team will receive the Bibles. David deals with the constant challenge of not having regular access to the Olympic Village to meet with athletes. So this encounter with Sam is an unexpected chance to share God’s Word with athletes in person.
David leaves France with memories of the “God moments,” as he calls them: the opportunities for conversations that God made happen.
David Cheromei talks about the good news of Jesus with a young boy who speaks French. They use Google Translate to communicate. The boy wants Olympic pins, such as those David collects on his lanyard. Pin trading is a common connecting point at the Olympics, which helps David and others start conversations.
At another event, David Cheromei swaps flags for a selfie with children.
After the Olympics, David keeps in touch with Kenyan athletes through messages while they travel. He hopes for athletes to have good support at the next Summer Olympic Games, in 2028. So he also keeps in touch with members of the Olympic Committee in Kenya.
In the meantime, he’s planning an AIA training at his church in 2025. David wants to invite athletes who are interested in ministering to other athletes and coaches. His desire is for 50 participants to attend the training.
David recognizes the far-reaching value of supporting athletes, saying, “When they succeed, they take Christ all over the world.”
The Summer Olympics returned to Paris, the city of lights, after a century had passed. The last one took place in summer 1924.
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