War Relief Updates - September 11, 2026

Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People

1. This coming week we have two Ukrainians coming to our headquarters, where they will be with us for about a month. They will be sharing updates, giving reports, and speaking in churches. As they travel, please pray that they would have smooth border crossings and that God would grant them journeying mercies.

2. Also, this coming week we will receive a 40-foot, high-cube shipping container that we will be packing for Ukraine. This requires an army of volunteers as well as dealing with a massive amount of bureaucratic paperwork. Please pray that God will enable and bless these efforts. If you are in our area, 5:30 pm on September 18 is when we need volunteers to help load boxes and other items. This shipment will include 150 auditorium chairs donated by a church in Wisconsin that will be used in one of our church building projects.

3. In this week’s video update, Andrii Sovenko interprets as Pastor Yura Levtseniuk from Lviv, Ukraine, shares an update about changes in his ministry in light of the recent increase in Russian bombings all over Ukraine. For the title of this video, we’ve selected an especially poignant comment that Yura made: “We feel the bombings, but we feel the prayers even more.”

Here’s the link: https://vimeo.com/user37287229/yura

4. When a Ukrainian church in the Elkhart, Indiana, learned that the teams we send out to distribute aid and share the Gospel occasionally travel to Dobropillia, they took action. Knowing how difficult things are in that area, which is constantly under bombardment, they collected 80 boxes of humanitarian goods, which they brought to our headquarters when we were loading a container. They requested that these items go to Dobropillia. Now the delivery of that container has taken place. We sent a team to the Dobropillia area, and they were able to distribute these 80 boxes along with other needed goods. Even better, they were able to share the Gospel with needy souls.

Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM

September 2026 Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Continuing our monthly video series, in this video for September we are pleased to share with you an interview with Sasha Kapshuk. Not only does Sasha pastor the church in Desna, Ukraine, but he oversees the church’s rehabilitation center. As with several other rehab centers operated by BIEM church plants, the Desna Rehab Center has glorified God and redeemed souls of men who were once addicted to drugs and alcohol. Does every person who enters the program in Desna trust Christ and experience new life in Him? Unfortunately, no. There are always some who get cleaned but then return to their old ways in the world. But God continues to give spiritual fruit to this ministry! Each time that He does is a new reason to sing His praises. We pray that He continues to use this center to break the chains of addictions and transform lives.

Here’s the video: https://vimeo.com/user37287229/rehab-update

Blessings to you!
Sam & Amy Slobodian

BIEMs of Light: September 2026

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• Praise God for a wonderful camp season. What a blessing to receive reports of unexpectedly high attendance and many youth giving their lives to Christ. We are also grateful for God’s hand of protection over the Slobodians—during their second night near Kyiv, two Russian missile explosions in the vicinity shook them awake.

• We announced Vitaly Bilyak’s need to upgrade his phone and some unexpected expenses. Within hours, two different friends of BIEM called and met most of that need!

• Last Friday our coworker Andrii Sovenko joined several Ukrainian pastors in heartfelt thanks for the war relief on our most recent container. It is a joy to hear that these goods are now serving those in need. Here’s a video: https://vimeo.com/user37287229/received

• Last month’s BIEMs of Light requested prayer that our missionary Vitaly Bilyak, who is now serving as a military chaplain, be able to leave his post to attend his son’s wedding in Seattle. It is rare that a man in military service in Ukraine is allowed to exit the country. Praise God, Vitaly was able to attend the wedding. Thanks for prayers!

Prayer – Pray with us!

• In September we will have some of our missionaries in the U.S. to speak in churches on their ministries. Pasha Usach from Ukraine will be with us as well as Sasha, who serves in a restricted nation. Please pray that God will give them traveling mercies and protect their families while they are gone and bless the meetings in churches.

• We plan to send another container of aid and church-planting supplies to Ukraine the third week of this month. This requires coordinating with shipping companies in the U.S. and in Ukraine, a massive amount of paperwork, and assembling volunteers to help load the container. Please pray for God’s enablement and blessing on each step of this project.

• Russia has increased its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, especially on Kyiv. Such attacks are causing considerable damage, injuries, and loss of life. Since Russia is increasing its attacks, let’s increase our prayers for Ukraine, especially asking God to shield our people and churches.

• A family with 5 children in our church in Lviv has now adopted 10 orphans! This family’s old van broke down and is unrepairable. Forced to use public transportation, they don’t miss a church service! They badly need a bus. A decent 20 passenger bus would cost $40,000. Please pray that that God would supply this need.

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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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