April 14, 1999
Texans, others rushing to aid refugees
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--Texas Baptist Men is sending a dozen relief volunteers to Albania to purify water, distribute food and provide medical aid for refugees fleeing the conflict in Kosovo.
___A representative from Campus Crusade who is coordinating refugee response for the Albanian Evangelical Association asked the Texans to set up refugee camps in Korce and Peshkopia, Albania.
___Working in cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, the Texas Baptistvolunteers will help Albanian Christians set up the camps, including systems of sanitation, medical care and food and water distribution.
FRENCH SOLDIERS and humanitarian workers unload aid brought to the region by a French military helicopter in the town of Kukes, northern Albania. Baptist relief workers are assessing needs and preparing to join the relief effort in Europe's greatest humanitarian disaster since World War II. (RNS/Reuters)
___"Our mission is to assist Albanian Christians as they provide assistance to the refugees from Kosovo," said Jim Furgerson, executive director of Texas Baptist Men. "We will help them develop ministry centers and equip them to maintain the ministry indefinitely."
___The team expects to leave Dallas April 14 and will spend two weeks in Albania, Furgerson said.
___Estimates of the number of refugees fleeing Kosovo ranged from 360,000 to nearly 1 million.
___The Texas Baptist relief teams include three volunteers who worked in the Kurdish refugee camps of Turkey and Iran after Operation Desert Storm. They are team leader Larry Blanchard from First Baptist Church of Lindale and physicians Robert Mann of Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington and Dick Hurst of First Baptist Church in Tyler.
___Four others helped operate base camps in Albania for Campus Crusade and Baptist Student Ministry volunteers who took the "Jesus" film to remote villages. They are Gary Smith of Midway Road Baptist Church in Dallas, Dan Hogan of Calvary Baptist Church of Texas City, David Carpenter, formerly an Albania-based representative for Cooperative Services International, now with All Peoples in Waco, and his son, T.J.
___Other Texas Baptists joining the relief effort in Albania are Cotton Bridges from First Baptist Church of Plano; John Bullock, state director of children and youth missions and ministries; Joe Ragan, a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth; Dick Jenkins from Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano; and Brad Mann from Fielder Road Baptist Church of Arlington.
___Texas Baptist Men leaders responded to the invitation from the Albanian Evangelical Association as a "faith mission," Furgerson said. At the time, the organization lacked any official request from Albanian officials, so the volunteers' visa status was uncertain.
___However, once Texas Baptist Men committed itself to the mission, Dallas-area media picked up on the story. Faymir Medu, a high-ranking official in one of Albania's political parties, saw one of the television reports.
___When he learned about the Baptist relief effort, he called to pledge his support. He promised the group would have clear entry into the country and truck transportation for their supplies upon arrival.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!