Tragedy and Suffering in East Ukraine

News from Ukraine and Russia continues to dominate the news and our prayers. Tragically, two Slavic countries are now at war with each other. The shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 killing almost 300 people, was a tragic peripheral casuality, collateral damage. 

One  of the  pasengers was a Ukrainian pastor currently living in Australia.

Odessa, East Ukraine

Today Pastor Vladimir sent us a report from East Ukraine that the bodies of four young pastors had been found. Vladimir writes: 

“Right now I received one more piece of terrible news.

Yesterday, upon orders of the Ukrainian authorities, a newly discovered grave was opened in which the bodies of the four pastors were found. They were killed by the terrorists in Slovyansk some time ago. 

Nothing was disclosed as to what church  they belonged to. Today, the brethren informed me that these are the bodies of Pentecostal church deacons who were kidnapped and killed by terrorists alleging that they had a link with the United States of America (some of their relatives actually had emigrated to the USA years ago) and they were supposedly American spies.”

These young men had dedicated their lives to preaching the Gospel in East Ukraine. They did not count the cost. They gave all they had to give. They died for the sake of the Gospel. It is now our honor and privilege to bring a powerful evangelistic campaign to East Ukraine, one that they would undoubtedly have wanted to see and to have been a part of. Please pray with us as we continue intensive preparation of local transformation stories and media exposure across the city during the month of September. 

Your prayers are appreciated. There are fresh reports by Ukrainian State Security that another uprising in several East Ukrainian cities is in the works in September, one of which is Odessa.

To underscore that, on the morning of my departure from Odessa, a military installation was destroyed by an explosion on the outskirts of the city.

Odessa Requests Evangelistic Campaign

Events in Ukraine have increased the need to conduct mass media campaigns in the country. We have received repeated requests from Odessa for such a campaign. Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, along with its surrounding region has a population of 2.3 million.

Tragically, Odessa lies inside the danger zone of Russian armed forces massed along the Ukrainian border.

Local pastors report that Odessa (as well as the rest of East Ukraine) is unusually receptive to the Gospel at the moment. This window of opportunity could well be our only chance to aid the churches of Odessa. Only God knows what the future holds.

Our leadership team has visited pastors in Odessa multiple times this spring and early summer and we are now preparing for a city-wide campaign with participating churches of the city this september. Click here to read the PDF report on the Odessa Campaign.

Since similar campaigns were conducted in Kiev in 2007 and in Sevastopol in 2009, the centerpiece of these campaigns—the book that contains the transformation stories and the first steps of a new life in Christ—could be printed quickly.

I want to express our warmest thank-you for your continued support in taking the greatest message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to millions in our generation each week.