Eugene church helps Kosovo rebuild

By RICHARD KOE

EUGENE -- A work team of 23 volunteers returned June 27 from a 10-day “venture” to Kosovo where they helped rebuild and upgrade a war-damaged community school in the small town of LaPushnik, population 3,000.

The team, ranging from ages 18 to 55, are all part of the 120-member Calvary Chapel in Eugene led by Pastor Marc Knutson. They climaxed their 10-day rebuilding task with a Hope Festival on their last day in Kosovo, where they invited citizens of LaPushnik, mostly of Albanian ancestry, to view the Jesus film and to receive tracts and Bibles.

Vicki Croft, church secretary, said the success of the venture will not be measured by the amount of physical labor, but in the depth of understanding by the children to find a place of new hope to replace the hate. “We wanted them to understand that peace could push aside insecurity, and that they can rebuild their lives with a new-found trust in their fellow man.”

The “Kosovo Kids” project began last Christmas when Pastor Knutson and two other men from Calvary Chapel of Eugene visited the elementary and middle school in Lapushnik and decided to bring back a message of hope and love by helping them in their plight.

Knutson and his team watched as students passed bullet-marred walls on their way to class. These were ever-present reminders of the recent past with its frightful sounds of ratchet-ing high-caliber machine guns and bullets replacing the playful schoolyard voices.

Last spring, the church decided to help change conditions in Kosovo. With the support of Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Oregon), Calvary Chapel Eugene announced at a press conference on April 17 that a team, which began with 27 “servants of the Lord” and later grew to 32, would be sent to assist in the rebuilding process once the total support was raised.

Besides raising sup-port, the team proceeded to pack and send the largest suitcase of their lives --51,240 pounds of largely donated materials in a 40-foot shipping container to Kosovo. “Besides packing the container, we also packed our hearts with rays of hope for Kosovo,” Croft added.

Before the team left for Kosovo on Father's Day, June 18, they heard from Sammy Tanagho, who discussed how to witness to Islamic Albanians. While passing through the airport in Washington, D.C., they were interviewed by K-LOVE Radio network The network broadcast a series of reports nationally about the Eugene team and their “Kosovo Kids” project during their 10-day trip.

A full report of the missions trip is expected later this summer. For information, call Calvary Chapel Eugene, (541) 484-3050.