Frey, Steven and Lisa

Steve and Lisa Frey are ministering to the Albanian people in Kosovo.

Steve was born and raised in Iowa and Lisa in Michigan. They met at Central Michigan University where Steve was doing an internship with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries. After getting married the following summer they directed campus ministry at Ferris State University for two years. Then they moved to Bozeman, Montana to continue in campus ministry for three years. It was there that they felt that the Lord was pulling on their hearts to go overseas. In March 2002 they visited Kosovo and knew this was where God was calling their family. They arrived on the field in August 2004 and are helping plant a church among the Albanians where there has been no evangelical witness.

Kosovo is a small province within Serbia and is bordered by Albania and Macedonia. After 10 years of Milosevic’s rule, the Albanians wanted their freedom which resulted in a civil war. Almost a million Albanians were forced from their homes as the Serbians burned their way across Kosovo, hence coining the term ethnic cleansing. Kosovo gained independence as the Europe’s newest nation in 2008. Ninety-five percent of the population is Albanian and almost all the Albanians are Muslim.

After the war thousands of refugees returned to find their homes destroyed. Because there was such devastation many aid organizations and missions came into Kosovo. The Assemblies of God started by giving humanitarian aid to impoverished families. And through this there were two churches planted. The Freys came to the field to help plant one of these churches and are now discipling future church leaders. Next term they hope to see this church being led by a national pastor! There is a need to set up a national structure for the Assemblies of God, as well as training and discipling believers for the next generation of church leaders for Kosovo!