Story number 4 for 7 Sep 2001

(El Salvador)–Next, churches will be the driving force behind the rebuilding effort in El Salvador in the wake of two major earthquakes earlier this year. The Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations, or AERDO, met with 100 church leaders last week. Operation Blessing’s Dick Kohl was there. “The Lord just brought everyone together and put his peace upon us. Relationships were healed. The vision that was cast was captured by these 100 attendees to the point that they organized groups by geographic region and began to tackle some of the problems.” They plan to rebuild schools, provide drinking water and more. Kohl says church involvement is strategic. “We believe that the church has a very important role in social activities. Welfare began in the church. The church took care of people that had needs. We’re trying to continue the explosion in evangelism through the churches.”