War Relief Updates - November 14, 2025

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

1. BIEM’s Sasha Petrenko sent us the following message:

Right now there’s a lot of tension around Goncharovsk — constant stress. But God is faithful. He is with us—helps, blesses, and guides.

“I want to tell you an interesting story. I was planning to go to Goncharovsk to see an electrician named Serhiy about connecting a generator. He was expecting me. I was about to leave when a friend from Desnyanska called. We talked about seven minutes.

My friend said, “Maybe it’s not worth going right now. The situation is tense.”

I replied, “We’re used to it. We still need to get this done.”

After our conversation, I got in the car and set out. When I was nearly to my destination, I saw smoke rising just a few meters from where I was supposed to go. It turned out that a “shahed” drone had just struck there.

The electrician’s son Oleksiy showed me where shrapnel had flown right past his heart. It had sliced through his jacket, sweater, and tee-shirt, but it didn’t even touch his body. Not a single scratch! He said, “This is the second time this has happened.”

When I arrived, the electrician Serhiy was in shock. He showed me his hand: A fragment had slightly wounded him, but he had wrapped it up, and we went to connect the generator anyway.

These are the true miracles of God. A third miracle is that I always drive along the same road the shahed had followed. But this time, God had stopped me with that telephone conversation — and saved my life.

Praise God!

We often don’t even realize the Lord is protecting us, but when something like this happens, you realize how completely dependent we are on Him.

Once again, thank you very much for your prayers!

2. The Buyko family has returned safely to Ukraine. This week, we welcomed Vitaly and Olena Yurchenko, who look forward to updating American congregations in Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Alabama. Please pray for these meetings and that God would use their firsthand reports to encourage many to pray for and give toward our War Relief efforts, which continue to reap a harvest of souls.

3. In the Obolon district of Kyiv, Ukraine, BIEM is helping Awakening Baptist Church to organize and distribute war relief through a warehouse they call “The Hub.” From this building, supplies travel outward in various directions to meet different kinds of needs. Of course, the Gospel accompanies each gift. Operated by Olya and Andrei, The Hub is a true blessing. We invite you to watch the brief video to learn more!

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/hub

4. Today I was able to Facetime with Vitaly Bilyak. He is in good spirits and keeps busy since the Army commander continues to assign him to drive officers who need transportation into town to do military business as well as taking injured soldiers to and from the hospital. This duty gives Vitaly excellent opportunities to share the Gospel. His court case filed to request a reversal of his conscription has now been assigned a case number. Vitaly believes this development shows progress in what can be a long process. Vitaly Facetimed me from a coffee shop in town where he and another soldier had stopped for tea. (He commented that they had also stopped just to look at people. On their forest base, all they have to look at are trees!) Vitaly requests special prayer for Sasha, a member of his church who is serving with a unit that must withdraw from an area which they can no longer defend against the Russian forces. Withdrawing is highly dangerous, since it exposes men to heavy fire. Please pray for Sasha.

Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM

November Video Update

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Below is the link for our November 2025 video.

When youth pastor Sergiy Koop and his wife Karina felt God's leading to plant a church in the Druzhba district of Ternopil, Ukraine, they had no resources or location. They applied to become missionaries under BIEM, and were accepted! In this brief update video, Sergiy shares his enthusiasm along with just a few of God's blessings in this new church-planting endeavor!

Because we know that you, too, are interested in enlarging the Kingdom of God, we invite you to watch the video and to praise the Lord for using His people to establish yet another lighthouse for the Gospel. No doubt, Choose Life Baptist Church is far from a giant megachurch. Yet, if you trace each church back to its beginnings, you can see that basically all churches had to grow through this modest size. In fact, some churches have needed more years before they reached the size and quality meeting place of this young congregation. We hope you will watch and say a prayer for God’s continuing blessing on this new church plant:

https://vimeo.com/user37287229/november25

Blessings!
Sam & Amy Slobodian

BIEMs of Light: October 2025

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• If all goes as planned, on October 2 we expect to receive the Buyko family at our BIEM headquarters. They will spend a month with us—speaking and singing in churches, helping to process the donated clothing and other goods in our warehouse, then assisting with the paperwork.

• In September, 46 students attended our Seminary session in Ukraine. This good number is encouraging, considering numerous recent aerial attacks. Praise God, although the air-raid sirens blared in nearby Kyiv, our seminary classes in Bilogorodka were undisturbed.

• After almost a year in Armenia, our church planters there rejoice in God’s working: “We host an international Bible study. Some nights you hear Armenian, Russian, Iranian, Filipino, and English flying around all at once. Google Translate gets quite a workout! But it feels like a glimpse of heaven—people from every tribe and tongue worshiping together…. One Armenian woman shared, “I never used to talk with people from other nationalities. But now I’m learning how to love them.”

• BIEM’s calendars for 2026 are now printed and look great! Praise the Lord for friends with expertise in design and printing who make these possible. This month, friends on our mailing list should receive one in the mail. (If you’re not on our mailing list but want to be, please let us know!)

Prayer – Pray with us!

• October 18 is our next container-loading day. Please pray for donations of much-needed items such as lightly used clothes & shoes, walkers, wheelchairs, canes, and household items, plus funds to ship them. Also, pray for volunteers as we load these items to bless Ukrainians in the name of Christ!

• Update on Vitaly Bilyak: We requested prayer for our missionary-church planter Vitaly, who was conscripted into the Ukrainian military. Legal efforts to reverse his conscription have not yet yielded results. Meanwhile, Vitaly has had wonderful opportunities to give spiritual counsel to evangelize and even to conduct services in a tent! Please uphold him in prayer.

• Please pray for BIEM’s new missionary, Dana Keller, who continues to raise support to minister among orphans in Ukraine. (Due to the war, there are a lot!) To contact her write to danakellerru@gmail.com.

• Please pray for Aygerim, a girl in Central Asia who trusted Christ at camp 8 years ago as a 12 year old. She has endured much persecution. Her mother asked her to come visit. When she did, her mom had an imam waiting to force her back into Islam. Details are unclear, but she has not slept for a week, was not eating, and is a wreck. She’s in the hospital now. Pray that she will recover in all ways.

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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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