Visit the Photo Place

View the Spotsylvania County community page

Local churches offer support for orphans

Local churches offer financial and spiritual support for Romanian orphans

By JESSICA ALLEN

Date published: 4/17/2004

The Rev. Bill Jessup's world changed two years ago.

At the time, the senior pastor at Stafford Baptist Church was expecting a group of British musicians to perform at one of the church's gatherings.

But they got something better.

The performers told the 350-member congregation that night about a group of disabled orphans in Romania who needed help.

Church members have been financially and spiritually supporting the children ever since.

"They shared with us the work they've been doing with those children in the orphanage," he said. "It captured our hearts."

Stafford Baptist Church, near Stafford Courthouse, is one of the many local churches that are supporting an organization called Cry in the Dark. The Christian-based group has been working with disabled orphans in Romania since 1998.

British musician Dave Robson and fellow performers Abby Harris and Zoe Allen--who first visited Stafford Baptist two years ago--spent this week singing at Fredericksburg-area churches to spread awareness of their ministry.

Tomorrow, the musicians will visit Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Spotsylvania County and Bowling Green Baptist Church in Caroline County. They return to Europe Monday.

"We've led worship, talked about our work and explained how this is what Jesus calls us to do," said Steve Cooper, founder and project coordinator of Cry in the Dark.

The organization was founded in February 1998 after Cooper and friends visited Romania and saw the orphans living in state-run orphanages. Many of the children suffered from mental and physical disabilities, HIV and hepatitis.

Communist-run Romania disregarded the children, Cooper said.

"When we entered the orphanage, it was pitch black; there were blankets against the windows," Cooper said. "Afterward, we held a prayer session and someone said: 'Father, these children just cry in the dark and nobody heard their cries except for you.' That's when we decided to do something."

Cooper, who at the time was working for the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse, and his friends immediately formed Cry in the Dark.

The group, which included Robson, purchased a house in a Romanian town called Comanesti in February 1999. They gathered donations, renovated the house to suit the orphans' needs and named it Casa Lumina--"House of Light."

Follow us on

Date published: 4/17/2004