Meet the family of Charles and Elizabeth Kopp, ministers of the Jerusalem Cornerstone Foundation. This story is best told in their own words and with pictures from their website: jerusalemcornerstone.org.

Charles (Chuck) first came to Israel in 1959, but has permanently lived in the Land since 1966. He is the Senior Pastor of Narkis Street Congregation in Jerusalem and the Chairman of the United Christian Council in Israel, an alliance of 29 Protestant evangelical bodies in Israel.

Elizabeth (Liz) has lived in Israel since 1967. She is the head worship-leader of Narkis Street Congregation. Liz has worked with several orphanages in Bethlehem over the last three decades. She and Chuck have seven children: Dalia, Sharona, Danny, Julie, David, Jesse and Annika.

Dalia & Yoni Gerrish	Dalia (Chuck & Liz’s first born) was born and raised in Israel. She holds a degree in English literature and has taught in Israeli and International schools in Jerusalem. She and Yoni have three children, Evan, Eliot and new baby sister, Milana Elizabeth. Jon (Yoni) has lived in Israel much of the time since 1982. He is a licensed Israeli tour guide with a special affinity for wilderness camping trips. He holds an MA from Jerusalem University College in New Testament Backgrounds.
Sharona & Matthew Doll	Sharona (Chuck and liz’s second child) was born and raised in Israel. She holds an MA in Art Education and has taught in Israeli and International schools in Jerusalem as well as in schools in California, Massachusetts, and Michigan. They have two sons, Silas Eames and Ronen Lucas. Matt first lived in Israel 1996-1997. He holds an MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He currently teaches drawing in the Architecture department at Bezalel and design at the Bethlehem Bible College.
Danny & Eva Kopp	Danny (Chuck and Liz’s third child) was born and raised in Israel. He studied Arabic in Amman, Jordan and is a reporter, translator and researcher for the Jerusalem bureau of the Financial Times. He is finishing a BA in Middle Eastern Studies Eva was born in Jerusalem but grew up in the United Arab Emirates. She returned to Israel to complete a double major in sociology and statistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She works with the Narkis Street Congregation and Musalaha reconciliation ministry).
Evangel Paul Kopp	(Chuck’s Father) has ministered in over 70 countries since the 1940’s, praying for healing for the sick and salvation for the lost. He has visited Israel many times, his first trip being in 1954. He currently serves on the pastoral staff of the Hispanic congregation of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, California.   Julie, David, Jesse and Annika Kopp are continuing their studies in Isreal and America.

History:Jerusalem Cornerstone Foundation traces its roots back to 1936 when William L. Hull, a Canadian Pentecostal pastor, formed the Zion Apostolic Mission in the British Mandate of Palestine in order to share the gospel throughout the Land. Hull had a desire to reach both Arab and Jew. Zion Apostolic Mission was later changed to Zion Christian Mission.

From 1966, Charles (Son of Evangel Paul Kopp) and Elizabeth Kopp ministered from the Prophets Street Bookstore (till its closure in 1989) and continue to do the same today from their home on 48 Bethlehem Road in Jerusalem. They have formed connections and nurtured relationships between Israeli Messianic and Arab Congregations. Charles has built many bridges within the Israeli government for religious liberties and awareness about evangelicals and the gospel. He serves as Chairman of the United Christian Council, a body of nearly 30 protestant, evangelical organizations ministering in the land of Israel. Elizabeth has created a network of respect between her Jewish and Arab friends. She ministers at orphanages in Bethlehem and has undertaken various related projects, engendering reconciliation for all the peoples of the Land.

In 2002 with much prayer and discussion, Charles and Elizabeth - along with Cornerstone's core Israeli leadership - approached Larry and Mary Ehrlich about opening a United States branch of Cornerstone. Today, the non-profit Jerusalem Cornerstone Foundation has headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A., and in Jerusalem, Israel.

Excerpts from: The Roots of Jerusalem Cornerstone by Gary Alley (1983-2003)

Since the establishment of the mission and till now, Jerusalem Cornerstone, has tried to walk that political tightrope by loving all peoples, Jews and Arabs, and adhering to changing governmental protocols, all the while faithfully sharing the Gospel through biblical teaching and acts of loving kindness….Following Israel’s summer invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the Narkis Street Baptist chapel in Jerusalem was destroyed during Sukkot – the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. This holiday is commemorated by Jewish families by building make-shift wooden structures on their porches, yards, or balconies with palm branch roofs. These observant families for the next seven days eat all their meals outside under this “tabernacle” to commemorate the homeless children of Israel and their vagabond forty-year wandering in the wilderness…Similarly, for the following nine years, the chapel-less congregation at Narkas Street met under the awning of a giant tent in the church parking lot, whether rain or shine, frigid or hot. Only after many long and tenuous years of political, bureaucratic, and prayerful struggles did the doors open on 4 Narkis Street to a new reconstructed facility in 1991…In 1987, Bob Lindsey, the longtime pastor of the Narkis Street Baptist Congregation, retired and returned to his native Oklahoma…Once again the difficulties of the land had a way of extracting and sifting out the true sentiments of a person or ministry, sometimes producing disappointing results…One example of this happened in 1989 when Charles and Elizabeth Kopp were forced to vacate the Zion Bookshop on 33 Prophets Street by city rezoning. This shop had been in the custody of Charles and his father, E. Paul since 1962 and before that, under William Hull. From 1936 to 1962, Hull’s ministry was called Zion Apostolic Mission and E. Paul Kopp changed the name of the work to Zion Christian Mission in 1962…Charles instinctively had already begun to redirect the fifty year-old ministry of Hull and his father E. Paul, renaming it Cornerstone in 1985 and starting to engage the Israeli political bureaucracy on behalf of Christians in the Land. In 1974, Charles and…Cornerstone joined the United Christian Council in Israel (UCCI), a large alliance of Jewish and Arab evangelical ministries working in Israel…Charles became the General Secretary of the UCCI and eventually chairman in 1996…While Charles was honing his skills on the diplomatic level, Elizabeth found an open door into the West Bank orphanages of Bethlehem…She first started visiting with the Holyland Christian Mission, a ministry to crippled children. She also frequented Bet Jamina, a home where the Dutch Christian couple, Peter and Helen Volbehrs cared for extremely handicapped orphans – the children that the local orphanages would not touch. In 1992, Elizabeth began a relationship with the SOS Children’s Village that continues today…

   While erratic stints of terrorism continued after the Oslo accords, for the most part, 1993-2000 was seen as an optimistic era for the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. This same hope and expectation also played out in the birth of new visions among Christian work in the Land. It was at the beginning of this era of hope that Charles Kopp became senior pastor of the Narkis Street Congregation in 1994, following the steps of Bob Lindsey. With Charles serving as both UCCI chairman and Narkis Street’s pastor, the times were right and the pieces almost in place for a renaissance of study and action…On May, 31^st, 1995 Bob Lindsey passed away in Oklahoma, but that summer at Narkis Street Congregation, a bible study began on Shabbat mornings, which echoed what Lindsey had begun decades earlier. Joseph Frankovic, a doctoral student at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York who had also learned from Lindsey during his last years in Oklahoma, began teaching the bible focusing on its early Jewish sources with roots in the Second Temple Period thinking…At least two important methodological roots grew out from Frankovic’s Shabbat Bible study. The first is the assumed oxymoronic idea of examining and testing the Scriptures with scientifically critical eyes of faith…The second methodology is to uncompromisingly live out these age-old tenets of the Bible by the power of the Spirit. Especially emphasized was God’s heart for the poor and broken.

   Another awakening occurred in 1996 with the return of Randall and Margaret Buth to Israel. Having served nearly twenty years with Wycliff Bible Translators and United Bible societies in eastern Africa, Randy moved to Israel in order to develop innovative programs for teaching biblical languages. Due to Randy’s past experiences with the dismal results of biblical language acquisition among Bible translators, he believed there needed to be a revolution in how the global Church’s institutions were disseminating the biblical languages. He sought to transform the manner in which Bible translators, teachers, pastors, and students were learning the source languages of the Bible – Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Randy’s idea was so teach and administer these biblical languages through modern language acquisition methods, essentially, within a vibrant classroom setting of active participation…

   In the late 90’s, Charles Kopp and Joseph Frankovic first met Jonathan Miles, an American who was living with his family in the refugee camp of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Jonathan, his wife Michelle, and their six children moved into Rafah in 1997 and were helping to bring local Arab Muslim babies to Israeli hospitals for life saving operations…The Miles moved to Jerusalem in 2001 to establish a central base for Light to the Nations. In 2002, Light to the Nations was renamed Shevet Achim…(brother’s dwelling together)…The same year brought upheaval as Jonathan’s family was forced to leave Israel because of a governmental bureaucratic decision which was laced with anti-Christian sentiment. To continue the Miles work, Philip and Martha Berg and family moved into the Shevet Achim house in Jerusalem’s Prophet Street (next door to where the Zion Bookshop had formerly ministered). By 2003, two additional families joined the Bergs at Prophet Street, Elia and Gerdi Zweverink and Brian and Shoshi Kvasnica to bolster Shevet Achim’s sacrificial labor.

   From 1999-2001, two Good News for the Poor Conferences were conducted in Jerusalem with three main speakers, Father Rick Thomas, a Jesuit priest of El Paso, Texas, Rev. Jeyanesan, a clergyman from Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, and Jonathan Miles of Rafah…Father Thomas was well known for his association with the Charismatic Renewal within the Catholic Church and his work among the downtrodden who lived at the Juarez, Mexico dump…Rev. Jeyanesan, a parish priest in the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India had directed programs focused on aiding the Tamil refugees, orphans and widows that had resulted from the civil war shredding Sri Lanka…Father Thomas closed his February 10^th , 2001 Shabbat sermon in a powerful way by reading Luke 14:12-14 in which Jesus commands his followers when they host a dinner, not to invite their friends, family, or rich neighbors, but instead to invite the outcast of society.

…May 2000…all Israeli troops officially pulled out of southern Lebanon. As the Israeli army returned across the border, thousands of Lebanese Christians …also fled into Israel to escape reprisal attacks by the Islamic extremist power, Hizbollah. With over 6,000 Lebanese refugees on her northern border, Israel was…seeking help from the local indigenous churches but found little help…When Narkis Street was contacted, church member Christine Sakakibara, began organizing trips to visit and minister to the refugees…With Israel’s surprising withdrawal from southern Levanon in the summer of 2000, Yassir Arafat’s rejection of the Camp David accords, and Ariel Sharon’s later visit to the Temple Mount in September, Palestinian unrest and political designs were primed to usher in a new wave of violence. The al-Aksa Intifada, a much more bloody affair than its 80’s predecessor, has ravaged the Land the last three years with hordes of suicide bombers and multitudes of terrorist attacks and severe Israeli retaliatory measures endangering civilians on both sides.

   Also near the turn of this millennium, Cornerstone Ministries was reevaluating and sharpening its purposes and goals to the ever-changing Israeli landscape…Today the vision of Jerusalem Cornerstone is about promoting acts of charity and educational opportunities with an eye towards restoration and reconciliation…

 Please contact Jerusalem Cornerstone Foundation for a complete copy of this article

By Phyllis Scorza Hansen-Taylor

While the move to Texas was miraculous and proved interesting, the climate in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area turned out to be very hot. The year 1979 was a year that I will not forget, because I made the change from the worst winter in recorded history in Chicago to the longest heat wave in recorded history in Texas. That summer we were experiencing unprecedented heat. It was 113 degrees for about 20 days. Soon, tee-shirt venders were selling shirts with this saying: I survived the summer of 79.

     Every morning I got out of bed at 3:30 AM to go to my job at Continental Airlines. I would open the ticket counter for the arrival of the 5:30 AM flight. Part of my route home was on a major interstate highway, which went from the south Dallas, Texas area to the north Denton, Texas area where our new home was located. To the west of the highway was the airport including the tower.

     One beautiful morning in early fall, I was happily driving home, listening to music on the radio while heading north on Highway I-35. It dawned on me that I had the highway all to myself and the landscape looked like open space for miles. Suddenly, I saw what looked like a dust cloud over to the left of the highway. As I got nearer, it looked like a pillar swirling around from the earth to the sky. It occurred to me that the pillar was traveling east and would eventually cross the highway near me. I asked myself if this was a tornado. I had never seen a tornado but if this were in fact a tornado why hadn’t the airport seen it and reported it on the radio. As I was processing all of these things in my mind, I wondered what I should do. I remembered hearing somewhere that you should go to the right of the tornado to avoid it. I began to think I could not get off the road and or turn around and go back. The exits were spaced far apart and by the time I got to an exit the storm would have hit me. There were no other cars on the road in either direction; it was so quiet and eerie. The sky soon turned from sunny to green; so, I began to pray for wisdom and safety.

     I began to think reasonably that I could not beat the tornado and it was not possible for me to go to its right; so, I should slow my speed and let it pass in front of me. As I slowed down to a crawl, I thought about turning around and going south in the northbound lane. After all, I appeared to be the only one on the highway.

     Finally, I heard an emergency notice on the radio warning that the airport tower had spotted a tornado heading east, crossing I-35. They confirmed what I already knew. Take cover they advised.

     Next, the day became like dusk, very dark, most likely from the dust. I had almost stopped on the highway when the tornado passed in front of me about the distance of a block. I was amazed at the quiet because I had expected the sound of a loud train. Then, a terrible rain storm came down upon my car. I continued to move slowly at a crawl because I was still not sure of what to do. All I could think was that I wanted to go home where I could feel safe. I kept moving and passed through the storm and into a normal rain. Then the rain stopped. When I reached my town and my neighborhood; it was completely dry.

     I drove into my garage but my hands were still glued to the steering wheel. I slumped my head, cried and began to thank God! He had seen me through it all. I began to think about the word of God and how He promises to “never us or forsake us.” I knew He was with me throughout this experience.

     When I was through crying and thanking God for his protection, I went into the kitchen. My family could tell that I was shaken and I told them that I had just driven through a tornado. They were surprised because it had not rained there at all. Later, the tornado was reported on the television news and my family rejoiced with me for God’s gracious protection during the storms of 1979.

by: Anton Scorza

During the latter part of the nineteenth century around 1890, the Kingdom of Italy was beginning to form. Before this time the peninsula that we now call Italy was just a loose federation of regions under the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman church was angry because they had just lost control of Rome and much of their land and they did not want to recognize an Italian republic.

The northern regions of Italy were becoming industrialized and wealthier than the agricultural southern regions. Nevertheless, all of Italy was suffering from high taxes and poverty. It was during this period, that Dominico Vincenzo Scorza and his brother-in-law, Tomaso Levato; decided to sail to America to find enough work to provide for their growing families who lived in the most southern part of Italy – Calabria.

While her husband was in the United States, Dominico’s wife, Giuseppina, was left to care for their three sons; Antonio, Nicola and Giuseppe for six long years. She was becoming exasperated with the long wait when she went to the local priest for comfort. She sent her oldest son, Anton, to the priest to become an altar boy. Anton was only eleven years old and he was impressed with a Latin chant that stated, “Lord, I thank thee for the light of the Gospel.” When he asked the priest where the gospel was, the priest told Anton that it was in the New Testament; but, he was not allowed to read it.

Some years later after the turn of the century around 1902, Anton’s father Dominico took him to the United States on a subsequent journey. He set out again to find enough work to provide for his family who had grown by four; although their first daughter, Maria, died within one year. It was Dominico’s dream to bring all of his family to the United States and he gave this vision to his three oldest sons. Although Anton worked along side his father in the United States wherever they could find employment, when Dominico returned to Italy, he left Anton in Chicago with his uncle Tomaso Levato.

One day Anton met a man named Rosario Procopio on State and Madison Streets in Chicago. Rosario gave Anton a ten cent copy of a New Testament and invited him to a Bible study at his home where Anton was taught to memorize the Scriptures. Here Anton remembered his desire to know the “Light of the Gospel” and he remembered the priest in his village chanting the song in Latin. Anton became overwhelmed with this new knowledge and he wanted everyone in his village in San Pietro to have the New Testament Scriptures and to know the “Light of the Gospel.” He began to save his money from the candy factory where he worked, to return to Italy and bring copies of the New Testament to everyone in his village.

The local priest in San Pietro burned all but three of the New Testament Bibles that Anton brought back with him. However, the message had been delivered and many were eager to know about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ instead of the rituals that did not satisfy their souls.

When Anton returned to Chicago, he began studying at Moody Bible Institute and soon became able to minister and evangelize. His heart was to reach Italian immigrants In the Chicago area. He established a church in Chicago Heights, Illinois and there he met his wife, Emilia Gardella. Under the direction of the Moody group, an Italian mission effort was also established in downtown Chicago with evangelistic meetings, written pamphlets and radio broadcasts; all in the Italian language. Although the mission suffered much vandalism and hatred from some of the violent people in the neighborhood, the chief of police commended them. He said they were responsible for reducing crime that had been so prevalent in that area through the preaching of the Gospel.

Although Anton, Nicola and Joseph (Giuseppe) were able to immigrate to the United States, Dominico was not able to bring his wife and his other five children to the United States because of the First and Second World Wars. However, the brothers were able to establish a small mission group in San Pietro through the work of Anton’s brother Joseph. Joseph returned to Italy after the First World War with his new bride, Helena Kopp Scorza, a farm girl from Kansas of German decent. Joseph was able to pastor in a Methodist church in Naples, Italy and do other evangelistic work for ten years between the First and Second World Wars. Joseph had to leave Italy when Mussolini came into power. The Scorza family members who remained in Italy suffered great privations during both World Wars. The three brothers helped the family survive during those difficult times.

Later, Anton widened his ministry to evangelize in many European countries; but, his heart was for the Italian people. In 1941, he established the Italian Gospel Association and from there he ministered to many Italian POW’s who were in the United States after World War II.

When the Second World War ended, the side of the Scorza family who had remained in Italy and others in their village were extremely grateful when the Allies came into Catanzaro and liberated them. However, when the Allies demanded that the mission groups point out their enemies; they stated that they could not because they were commanded to love their enemies. This act of faith led to many more conversions to the little mission groups.

Finally in 1947, Anton’s desire to return to Italy was realized and he was able to evangelize in his home town in San Pietro and many other places in Italy. In the province of Catanzaro, near his families’ village, many came to hear his message. At that time there was an insurgence of communists in Italy who were trying to change the government. However, many communists who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ stated that they preferred the pure Gospel to the communist doctrine. A revival occurred with the establishment of new evangelical congregations all over Italy. The Italian government accused the evangelicals of collaborating with the communists and tried to confiscate their property. Although the Catholic Church in Italy was bitterly opposed to the evangelicals, some priests converted to the evangelical faith and helped with the establishment of many congregations.

The work was now flourishing in Italy and several of Anton’s brothers, the ones who had remained in Italy with their father, Ernest, Peter, Frank and brother-in-law Stefano Parrotta, continued to minister and evangelize. They brought the New Testament, the whole Bible and other literature in the Italian language to the common people which was forbidden by the Catholic Church. They endured persecution from many and were imprisoned and threatened unless they recanted their faith.

The Scorza brothers and others have been successful bringing the Gospel to the Italian people. The brothers’ desire was to bring salvation to their family and in doing so they were sowing seeds in many places. This effort has proved fruitful through several generations.

by Rachel Harkins

Rachael Harkins and Lodema Hale

Talking to God, my Heavenly Father; about anything, anytime, anywhere

And knowing that He will listen; for me He promised to care

No prayer that He will not answer; no burden too big or too small

No time that He will not hear me; no place that I cannot call

Thanking God for His love and mercy; that’s what prayer is to me

For His goodness and abundant blessings; to me and my family

Lying in bed in the quietness of night; bringing loved ones before the Lord

That’s what prayer is to me; ‘tis a blessing I could never afford

When receiving an urgent phone call; what is prayer to me?

Gathering the children together; to pray on bended knee

Sharing each others burdens; just knowing that others care

At church in the ladies’ prayer room; to me that is prayer

To me, prayer is a privilege; often neglected, I’m afraid

“When all else fails, just pray;” a motto many Christians have made

Lord, daily may I first remember; in prayer to go to You

Thanking You for what You’ve done; and what You’re about to do