BEIJING Christian groups who flouted a Chinese ban on foreign missionaries are calling their underground evangelizing during the Olympic Games a success.

Drawn to a nation of 1.3 billion people under atheist rule, the groups prepared years for what Southern Baptists once called “a spiritual harvest unlike any other.”

“We did see some conversions,” said Christian missionary Mark Taylor of Pensacola, Fla.

For Taylor, 27, planning began four years ago with a lunch at the Athens Games among his Florida-based Awaken Generation ministry and ministries from other countries. In the years since, they came to China as tourists, making contacts among local Chinese.

Taylor – who leaves China today – said 115 people from 12 countries gathered in Thailand for orientation before scattering throughout China, from Tibet through the far northeast. Two groups worked in Beijing, he said, though he would not give details.

Larger efforts were carried out by the U.S.-based Southern Baptist Convention and the international ministry Youth With A Mission, Christian groups told The Associated Press. Neither ministry could say how many people were sent.

China tried to keep out foreign missionaries before the Olympics. It ousted more than 100 suspected missionaries last summer, according to a U.S. monitoring group, the China Aid Association. China's intelligence services made lists of potentially troublesome evangelical Christians, and authorities tightened visa measures ahead of the Olympics.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the evangelist Billy Graham, said on a visit to China this year he did not support illegal missionary work during the Olympics.

Taylor and other groups knew the risks.

“It's very difficult,” said Taylor, who on Wednesday explored the Olympic Green with six other group members, one as young as 15, after finishing their mission. “It's got to be through relationships. Handing out (religious) tracts would not go over well at all. That would be like me walking around with a ‘Free Tibet' flag.”

Instead, the Christians came in on tourist visas and said they were involved in sports or cultural activities, which China allows. Taylor's group renovated a school in Yunnan province. Members then reached out to Chinese in one-on-one conversations.

“If foreigners do such things in China, they violate the law, and local religious departments and other departments should stop them,” a statement from China's religious affairs office said Thursday. It did not say how many foreigners had been caught doing missionary work during the Olympics.

Olympics efforts among Christian groups were coordinated in 2006, when major ministries held a conference in Thailand, said the Rev. Johnny Li, minister-at-large for Open Doors, an advocacy group for persecuted Christians. He said a DVD was distributed urging cooperation.

One group of Thai Christians went to Yunnan province this month and danced to Thai-language Christian music in coffee shops and restaurants.

“They looked for opportunities to talk to the locals and share about their faith,” said Sam Sarvis, Youth With A Mission's national director in Thailand.

After the first week, authorities told the group there was a ban on performances by foreigners, so the Thais went to nearby villages and met people one-on-one.

“Our goal was wanting to communicate the love of God to people, not be overt,” Sarvis said.