Back to Greece

19 – London, Greece, Amsterdam, Florida, California, Hawaii

I moved to London right before my 19th birthday. Trish’s house was a three-story, six-bedroom row house with two rooms and a bathroom on the third floor. I moved into one of those. It was quite a distance from the center of London in the town of Palmers Green. The closest tube stop (which is a lifeline if you want to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time without a vehicle) was a short bus ride away in the suburb of Southgate.

I was only in London for about a week before I was off again. It was time for the appeal trial for my father and the two others in Greece. For my dad and Don, returning to Greece was not a light decision. While they were returning as an act of solidarity with the Protestants in Greece, they were potentially facing prison time.

In the build-up to the trial, the ship ministry had organized a huge international media campaign. They called the three men the Athens 3. Many people had given financially and were praying for the event. The goal was not only to acquit the three but to also strike down the non-proselytism law to give greater freedom to the Protestants in Greece. 

As usual, my dad found a way to put some humor into it. In one of his speaking engagements in Florida, the host church put him up at a Best Western hotel. As he thanked them for his stay at the “Best Western”. He said that in a few months he might be staying in the “Worst Grecian”,

Once again, I took the delightful three-day bus extravaganza from London to Athens. We stayed at a small hotel near the courthouse and enjoyed all the great Greek cuisine again. My sister actually came in from Hong Kong as well to show her support. Don’s whole family was there.

Our team had a personal lawyer from the US who was also in YWAM. He had help from some Greek lawyers and there was also a lawyer representing the European Court. As Greece was part of the European Union, the Greek anti-proselytism law was actually illegal by EU standards. The EU lawyer was there to help get it annulled.

The courtroom was crowded with Greek Christians. This was a potentially historic trial for them. Many of the friends from the ship’s sojourn there came to show their support and of course, members of Costas Macris’s church.

It was hard to know exactly what was going on during the trial. There was no jury, only a panel of three judges. The courtrooms weren’t very big either so they were packed and stuffy and it was all in Greek. My dad and Don had a translator but the rest of us only got snippets of information here and there when a kindly Greek let us know. The judges were very strict about order so they did not allow much superfluous talking.

The trial went on longer than we expected and my bus only went back to London once a week. The verdict was expected that day but if they were acquitted and everyone left, I would be by myself for another week until the bus left again. We did have some YWAM friends in Greece whom I could stay with but they lived in a city some distance away. I decided to go ahead and leave before finding out the result.

As my bus traveled through Belgium on the way back to London, all of a sudden I had the urge to go visit my Procla-Media friends in Amsterdam. I hopped off the bus and caught a train. Russ Martin had been in Greece shooting footage at the trial. I still hadn’t heard the verdict and I just happened to run into him in town.

“Russ, what happened?” 

“You haven’t heard?”

“No, I’ve been on a bus.”

“They were acquitted!”

All charges were dropped for the Athens 3 and although the proselytism law was not changed, this would only help to bring a greater freedom for Protestants in Greece.

I spent a few days in Amsterdam visiting my friends before heading back to London. I found where one of the BBC studios was and went down there to poke around. They were filming some kind of production, which I got to watch and meet a few people. 

Of course, there was a lot of competition to get into the BBC but I turned in my resume and they said to keep in touch. My parents had given me the rest of the money from the gift for my schooling to live on but that was going to run out pretty quickly if I didn’t start earning. I couldn’t just wait for the BBC to call, if they ever did. 

Athens Airport


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