Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
Dear Friends of BIEM,
1. I, along with BIEM board member Kevin Gaugler, have returned from Ukraine. Besides attending our Winter Seminary session, we were able to attend two ordinations of our seminary graduates and distribute several generators. We were blessed with answered prayer in that our border crossings went very smoothly. On the way in, we were able to cross in just under two hours even though just days before lines were 8 to 13 hours long. On the trip back, we crossed the border in just under 1 hour! Thank you to the many who prayed specifically about these crossings! Praise God!
2. Two of our Ukrainian church planters who have been involved in distributing humanitarian aid, Vitaly Bilyak and Vitaly Yurchenko, are making plans to travel to the United States in February. The purpose would be to visit supporting churches and to personally present the needs and opportunities at this current time. Please pray that their applications will be approved. Although they both received approval to temporarily leave Ukraine at the end of last year, it is far from certain they will be allowed to exit Ukraine again due to the fears of another Russian invasion from Belarus and the increased conscription efforts mentioned in last week’s update.
3. In recent days, our church planters Sasha Petrenko and Vitaly Bilyak have each made another evangelism/aid trip to the volatile Donbas area in Eastern Ukraine. At risk to their own selves, these men delivered most importantly God’s Word (both in short sermons and printed New Testaments) along with such aid as is currently in great demand—food parcels, loaves of fresh bread, warm socks, gloves, thermal underwear, candles, blankets, and generators. Although the most critical need is the salvation of souls, our men also keep in mind such words as James 2:15-16—“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” May God use such trips to save bodies and souls, and may God be glorified through them.
4. Many have asked how the war is affecting our Russian national missionaries. Obviously, they cannot discuss this in any correspondence or phone conversations, but it is certainly creating difficulties. Next week I will be meeting with some of our Russian national missionaries in a nearby neutral country. Please pray that these meetings would result in obtaining information so we can more effectively pray for them, support them, and encourage them in their challenging ministries during these difficult times.
5. Although countless members of churches in Ukraine have fled the country for the safety of other lands, services are still full. Because of the fears, suffering, and uncertainty caused by the war, people who never attended church before are coming. And even though we never would have prayed for war, God is using it to get people's attention. In this way, many are hearing the Gospel and accepting Christ as Savior! As just one example, in the church in Chervona Sloboda—which has become well known for its outreaches and aid—there's a man named Arkady. He had spent 31 years in prison for murder. Many would've assumed such an individual would be too hardened to express any spiritual interest. But as a result of the war, he began coming to church services and listening. He placed faith in Christ and now regularly wears a smile and is growing in the Lord. Praise God for working in this man's life and in the lives of so many others!
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM