Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. Pastor Anatoly Kosyanchuk of the church in Shevchenkove, Ukraine, has sent us an interesting testimony. With aid from BIEM, members of this church regularly purchase food supplies and prepare meals for military units. They’ve been doing this ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition to the meals, Pastor Kosyanchuk says, “The main thing we do is distribute New Testaments. So, out of respect, many soldiers have come to the church at least to thank us. Some soldiers have even started reading the New Testament and ask for explanations and request that we pray for them.” But recently a particular military unit presented the congregation with a special thank you—a Ukrainian flag bearing the signatures of the soldiers in it. “They said that if it weren’t for our help and prayers—which they emphasized—they all would’ve died by now. ‘We are on the Ukrainian front, and you are on the spiritual front. It feels like God is helping.’” Those soldiers’ main request was not for more food; it was for more prayers.
2. Here’s a story from “House of Prayer” Baptist Church in Bilogorodka, Ukraine: Their pastor also serves as a military chaplain who travels to the east to minister to soldiers. This outreach inspired the ladies of that church. These women decided to prepare dernuli for the soldiers. Dernuli are traditional Ukrainian potato pancakes. Preparing them required much work—peeling, grinding, laying them out, frying them, cooling them, freezing them, and then packing them for transport. Seven women undertook this job, including the pastor’s wife Sofia, her daughter-in-law, and one lady who has not yet accepted Christ. These women worked all day and made nearly 600 dernuli. When they were finished, Chaplain Vitaly from another church arrived and drove them to the front that weekend. As they toiled, these Christian women talked, prayed, and shared their salvation testimonies with the unbelieving woman. Since then, that woman has been attending church and listening. (Because her husband and son-in-law are in the army, the church’s efforts to bless the military are especially meaningful to her.) The ladies’ conclusion was, “It’s very important that we not only helped the military but also witnessed to people who go to church but have not yet accepted Christ. We thank God for this!”
3. On May 4, 2025, explosive Shahed drones from Russia slammed into the Kyiv neighborhood where BIEM’s director for Ukraine Eugene Buyko lives with his family. In this week’s video, he and two bombing victims show close-up views of these ladies’ destroyed homes. Praise the Lord, in this particular bombing 11 were injured but survived. Thanks to donations to BIEM’s War Relief fund, Eugene was able to listen to these victims, hear their stories, pray with them, and give them some funds to help them through the difficult days ahead. You can watch the video here:
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/hithome
4. Last week the Spring session of our Kyiv seminary was held with 51 students. This is a record for us and quite remarkable that so many would attend during a time of war, especially during a week when hostilities were at a high. Praise God, everyone was safe. We had students from locations near the war front that are constantly under attack. These are areas where we have channeled war relief through our partnering churches there. It was a blessing to hear these students’ firsthand reports on how this aid from BIEM is meeting needs and lifting the testimony of churches doing the distributions, which always involve sharing the Gospel. This session of the Seminary also gave us an opportunity to courier more war-relief finances to those churches as the students returned home.In Christ,
Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM