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U.S. Students, Faculty Assist Balkan Churches
in Summer Outreach

By Scott Harrup

The world’s attention was focused on Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, during the 1984 Olympics. Sixteen years later in June 2000, two Assemblies of God leaders visited the site of that international celebration of peace and viewed the ravages of war.

European Pentecostal scholar, missionary and educator Peter Kuzmic and U.S. Assemblies of God General Secretary George O. Wood were on a visit to the churches in the Balkan Republics, including the churches in Sarajevo, which now is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “While in Sarajevo, we visited a practice field in the Olympic complex,” Wood says. “Now it is a cemetery.”

The grounds are filled with the ravages of the war in Bosnia that took place in the early 1990s. During the heavy shelling of Sarajevo, families could not reach traditional cemeteries to bury their dead, Wood says. Instead, they took the bodies of loved ones to the Olympics grounds as a temporary measure. Now there are rows of headstones where throngs once loudly cheered.

The churches in the Balkan nations have suffered greatly from war, but in the aftermath of conflict believers are reaching new levels of evangelism. Wood and Kuzmic visited another Bosnian town where a Christian couple had planted a church.

“The husband was missing all of his teeth from the malnutrition he endured during the war,” Wood says. “But he and his wife were so happy. In nine months, they already had a church of 80 people, all of whom they had led to the Lord.”

The experiences of Wood’s visit, he says, sensitized him to the voice of God’s Spirit. “I suddenly felt impressed of the Holy Spirit, and I said to Peter, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get some students from our U.S. Assemblies of God Bible schools over here to spend a summer internship? They need to catch the fire of your church planters.’ ”

In June 2001, Wood’s dream came true. The U.S. Assemblies of God World Missions Europe Region affirmed this and the Board of Administration concurred with the vision and authorized funding. With full sponsorship, 47 U.S. college students and eight faculty sponsors from Evangel University, Central Bible College and Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Mo., spent more than two months ministering alongside Balkan pastors and congregations. The Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia — founded by Kuzmic — hosted the team.

Dayton Kingsriter, director of the Assemblies of God’s Christian Higher Education Department, headed the ministry team.

“We arrived in Croatia and had a week’s orientation at the seminary in Osijek,” Kingsriter says. Daytime sessions at the seminary oriented the team to the region and culture. Team members were involved in ministry each evening.

“We then dispersed to 10 ministry sites, four in Bosnia and Herzegovina and six in Croatia,” Kingsriter says. “Our teams were involved in street ministry, children’s ministry, leading worship services, handing out literature, and cleaning and repairing buildings.”

“My life was really changed through my contact with the people,” says AGTS student Cheryl Adcock. “One man told me, ‘As a father, I’m going to ask you not to come back because it’s really hard here. But as a Christian, recognizing the need, I beg you to come.’ It was really an inspiring moment.”

John Taylor, a senior at Evangel University, saw the power of the gospel demonstrated in life-changing ways. “God’s Word,” Taylor says, “as simple as it can be, is powerful. When people were faced with the reality of God and the gospel and with the power of the Holy Spirit, it made an impact on them. God says He will send His Word, and it will not return void.”

“The Lord broadened my view and understanding of ministry and Christians in the world,” says Kathryn Adamson of Central Bible College. “To be there and see Croatians worshiping and raising their hands, praising the same God we praise, really strengthened my understanding of how much Christianity is not just some religion or just something I believe in, but a worldwide belief in Almighty God.”

According to Kingsriter, after the teams returned to Osijek for their debriefing, four students expressed their belief that God had called them to full-time ministry in the region.

“We were able to do a lot of ministry because we were there longer than most missions groups, staying at our ministry sites for about seven weeks,” Kingsriter says. “Relationship-building and encouraging pastors were our main objectives, and we felt like the Lord helped us accomplish both of those.”

Originally printed in Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, November 4, 2001.