BIEMs of Light: December 2025

Praises – Rejoice with us!

• Throughout November, Vitaly and Olena Yurchenko have been in the USA and speaking in churches across multiple states. On weekdays, they’ve accomplished much work in BIEM’s warehouse for our next container. They leave us on December 4 for Atlanta, where they will spend a few days with relatives before returning to Ukraine. We praise God they could be with us!

• Praise God, the first church building that BIEM financed in Russia is now too small for its congregation. On their own, the believers bought a neighboring property, demolished the dilapidated house on it, and have poured the concrete foundation for a new, bigger church building. (This will be the second addition since the original building.) May God draw even more souls to Christ there!

• BIEM personnel in the Republic of Georgia often have opportunities to share the Gospel with college-age young people. They report that they recently baptized 4 new believers. Praise the Lord!

• In Lutsk, Ukraine, the Baptist church celebrated the 24th year since they established their Tabitha Foundation, a ministry in which BIEM has long had a part. It’s an evangelistic outreach to disadvantaged kids but also feeds needy adults, particularly war refugees. May God be praised!

Prayer – Pray with us!

• From BIEM’s Director for Central Asia: “Praising God, we had a family of four Afghanis trust Jesus as Savior today! Please continue to pray as our men and women continue in personal evangelism.”

• In Turkey, BIEM missionaries held special events—a public baptism, which turned into evangelism as vacationers watched and asked questions. They also organized 2 Thanksgiving events, where 60 people heard praises lifted to God Almighty. Please pray for more Turks to put their faith in Christ!

• In Ukraine, our Sergiy Koop shared how he had spent several days with a brother in Christ who was home on leave. That war-weary soldier needed a change from the horrific warfront. Sergiy says, “God used this time to support him, to give him strength and hope, which are so lacking after years of war. Thank you to everyone who prays for our defenders. They need it more than we imagine.”

• This month of December, especially the Christmas season brings a wonderful opportunity for evangelism.  With BIEM's help our churches are all planning special Christmas outreaches which bring in many from the community at large.  Children's Christmas programs, musical concerts as well as meetings for elderly and widows are all being planned all with a focus on the Gospel.  Please pray that God will bless these efforts with a harvest of souls.

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Thanksgiving Greetings from BIEM

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

Dear friends of BIEM!

Because the Thanksgiving week is already a busy week for so many, and since BIEM will be closed for November 27-28, in lieu of posting our usual War Relief Updates, please accept our sincere wishes for a blessed time of giving thanks to our wonderful Lord. 

Sam Slobodian and all of us at 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

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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