BIEMs of Light: January 2026

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• In December, BIEM’s Field Director for Central Asia reported that one of our workers had a chance to do a presentation on the meaning of Christmas to an Afghani school. Over 400 students, teachers, and administrators heard. Later, three teachers attended a service and trusted Christ!

• From the director of the orphanage in Velike Polovetske, Ukraine: “I’d like to express my great gratitude to our American friends who have been taking care of us for so many years.... Thank you for your charity, for your concern for orphans, children deprived of parental care, as well as children from low-income families. I wish you all earthly blessings. May God always protect you….”

• In December we announced that our War Relief Fund had reached the required amount of $100,000 needed to receive the same amount in matching funds for 2025. Now more good news—another gift of $100,000 was made available to match war relief gifts in 2026. Praise God!

• Church planter Sasha Petrenko has now conducted his first wedding in the church in Smolyn. Sasha included the Gospel as part of the ceremony. For some unbelievers, it was the first wedding reception where they saw no alcohol or fighting! May the Lord use even this ceremony to draw people to Himself.

Prayer – Pray with us!

• In December, our church planter Sergiy Koop made an evangelistic trip to Ukraine’s east. “The most important thing I am taking with me is Bibles. Because Christmas is not just a holiday, it’s a reminder of Christ’s coming into this world....” Please pray for salvation decisions among those he visited.

• Mikhail, the son of our director in Ukraine, reports that pastors there receive many phone calls due to the war. Even strangers call, talk, request prayer, or ask about God or the Bible. He urged us to pray for their pastors who minister to these people.

• Central Asia: Evangelist Ruslan took gifts into a juvenile detention center and was telling the kids the real meaning of Christmas. Several of the detainees asked to know more about Jesus. As Ruslan was sharing the Gospel, police came and arrested him. During questioning, he said, “I wasn’t even telling them yet that Jesus is their only hope of eternal salvation and that they must repent of their sins and trust Jesus as their Savior... The police said, “Stop! He’s trying to evangelize us now.” They fined Ruslan about $1,500 but released him. Please pray the Gospel puts down roots and springs into eternal life.

• The next session of our seminary in Kyiv is in January. Please pray for both the instructors and students, that God will give them a blessed and safe class time.

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Merry Christmas from BIEM! - December 24, 2025

Dear friends of BIEM!

As our staff spends extra time with friends and loved ones during this week from Christmas to New Year’s, we hope that you, too, are able to spend time with your own loved ones. Please accept our sincere wishes for a blessed time of reflecting on God’s awesome plan of sending Jesus to earth to open a way of salvation for all who believe on Him. 

Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM

December Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Below is the link for our December 2025 video.

When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, churches in Ukraine did not shrink back and halt their ministries. To the contrary, Ukrainian believers started up a wide variety of aid and evangelistic outreaches to encourage both civilian and military countrymen with food and the Gospel. Here, Sam Slobodian interprets for Pastor Anatoly Kosyanchuk, whose church uses monetary assistance from BIEM to bless and help fellow citizens, all in the name of the Lord.

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/december-2025

Blessings!
Sam & Amy Slobodian

March Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Although the war in Eastern and Southeastern Ukraine continues to wipe out businesses, homes, and lives, for the March video we want to turn your attention elsewhere, to something more uplifting. Years ago, the mayor of a town in Ukraine visited the church where BIEM’s Anatoly Kosyanchuk preaches. At the conclusion of the service, that mayor approached Anatoly with an unexpected proposal: “If you start another Baptist church on the opposite side of town, I’ll give you the land to build on!” 

In the years following that surprise offer, God has taken the Second Baptist Church in Bilogorodka from a mere idea, to an empty plot of ground, to a construction project, to a thriving congregation. Now the Lord has blessed that growing group of believers with an ordination service—one assistant pastor and four deacons! Two of those deacons are neighbors who live within eyesight of the church. Both were unsaved when the church’s construction began. But through this ministry, God has drawn them and other residents of that neighborhood to Himself!

Our latest issue of our Challenger newsletter features an article about this same special ordination service. But for our March video, we decided to let Pastor Buyko and his new assistant pastor, Roman, tell more about God’s blessing that day. You can view that video here:

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/morehands

Thank you for your prayers!

Blessings to you!

Sam & Amy Slobodian

BIEMs of Light: September 2022

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• Our new missionaries in Ukraine, the Koops, operated a 3-day children’s camp in Druzhba, which they have targeted for a new church. The first day, 65 attended; the 2nd day up to 85, and the third day over 100 participated, including about 20 mothers who were asking, “Where is the church?” When those moms heard that church services will be starting soon, some replied they will come.

• Praise God, attacks from Russia on Ukraine’s Independence Day were not as bad as some feared. Although Russian rockets and missiles hit 58 cities and communities on that day, the next day there was only one. Since then, it seems things have died down.

• In Ukraine, the Slobodians report a wonderful baptism at the new church in Bilogorodka. Nine adults were baptized. Praise God for souls being accepting Christ in this time of war. Previously, the Russian army had come within a few miles of Bilogorodka, which is in the Bucha area.

• Praise God for a fruitful trip Vitaly Bilyak took to the military front in Donbas area with a trailer full of aid. He and those with him helped civilians, wounded ones in a hospital, plus soldier friends for whom he brought much-needed supplies and requested items. Vitaly plans two more such trips in September. Pray for safety. His videos from the front include sounds of artillery and explosions.

Prayer - Pray with us!

• Sources predict that the next week will be an especially dangerous time for the military cities of Desna and Goncharovsk, where BIEM missionaries have planted two churches. Both towns have already suffered attacks by missiles, rockets, and planes. More attacks are expected. Please pray for our missionaries, the churches, and the community, that lives would be spared.

• Pasha Usach conducted a special one-day event for mothers and wives who had lost sons and husbands in the war. Over 50 attended. The event was a huge blessing and provided a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel, so much so that Pavel is planning another such an event. Pray that God will use these outreaches to draw souls to Christ, the source of the greatest comfort.

• Plans are underway to bring the Buyko family to the United States, where they will visit churches for one month. Sophia and the three girls have already received visas; now we are working on getting the special permission needed for Eugene to temporarily exit Ukraine during wartime. Please pray that this permission will be granted, just as it was for Vitaly Yurchenko.

• Some of our contacts are witnessing of Christ to Muslims in Afghanistan. Please pray for God to open eyes and illumine hearts with the Gospel.

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BIEMs of Light: August 2022

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• Praise God, our personnel in Ukraine have received another 40-ft. container of humanitarian aid from us here in the United States! This is the 7th container our dedicated Ukrainians are distributing to needy places. This one went to the city administration of a region that contains several settlements that were occupied by Russian forces, so these goods will reach some of the neediest recipients.

• BIEM president Sam Slobodian heads back to Ukraine on August 2. The main focus of this trip will be humanitarian aid, but praise the Lord, he will also participate in a baptism and an ordination!

• Today BIEM personnel drove another 5 tons of food from Poland into Ukraine, this time for the Kharkiv region. We praise God for thoughtful donors and for those driving and distributing.

• So far, we are receiving reports of young people coming to Christ in BIEM-sponsored camps in Estonia, Ukraine, and Russia. Although the Lord touches hearts in a special way through such camps every summer, we never take that blessing for granted. To God be the glory!

Prayer - Pray with us!

• Despite the war in Ukraine, one of our seminary graduates is deeply burdened for a particular district in a large city in Western Ukraine that has been flooded with refugees. Many of them plan to stay. This brother has recruited others to help start a new church, and they are praying and fasting every Friday for God’s direction and provision for that goal. Please join them in praying.

• A pastor named Aleksander emailed us today from the Intensive Care section of a hospital in central Russia. He has a weak heart, and their summer camps and other ministries may have taxed him too much. Let’s uphold this worthy servant of the Lord with our prayers.

• In Central Asia, the manager of our Christian shelter for hurting women is named Julie. She is a big blessing—talented, yet with a servant’s heart and love for Jesus. She devotes herself to running the shelter and ministering to these women and their children. It’s a big job. Please pray for her.

• In another nation of Central Asia, one church recently baptized 9 former Muslims who had put their faith in Christ. Please pray that more hearts in those regions will soften and consider their need of the Savior.

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