Page 18 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians - Apr-Jun 2023 - 122

Oleg has returned to the war-torn city of Odessa to preach the gospel and minister to the church. Stock photo
wanted to do was see if they could kill three men with one bullet.
I see the springs of grace. Hundreds come to our church to be fed and we can travel to other places to encourage believers.
Learning to be thankful
‘The Ukrainian said that if they killed him, they would be killing his whole family as his wife did not drive so could not get the family away from danger. Referring to the foster children, he said to the soldiers: “Maybe some of them are your children.” One of the soldiers struck him in the ribs with his rifle and said “Remember my mercy and get out of here!” The man got back into the car and lost consciousness.’
‘Just after Kherson was liberated, we brought them food and water and one woman was so grateful she kissed my hands.’
‘Shells were falling all around, even on playgrounds,’ he said. ‘But thanks to your prayers tens of thousands of people stayed alive.’
Sadly he also relayed accounts of young women being raped and a teenage boy being taken away from his mother at a border crossing.
Since the war, he said, he had
been presented with the greatest opportunities to preach the gospel he had ever known. ‘In Kherson we ran out of Christian literature to
give the crowds, which had never happened before. In the past no one was interested but now the Lord has created a great hunger for the gospel.’
His church’s mission now is to feed those caught up in the conflict.
‘We are learning to be thankful to the Lord for what there is and really value things like water and electricity.
Oleg had set up a thriving church for around 250 refugees in a safe country but feeling compelled to return to Ukraine, handed the congregation over to another pastor’s care and headed for Odessa.
Oleg believes there will be a revival, starting from the army. ‘After 2014 [the start of Russia’s initial incursion into Ukraine], we started taking food and other supplies to the soldiers. They said we were crazy because it was so dangerous but we told them that God loved them so much that we had come to see them.’
‘At one village that had been attacked we met a woman who was so happy
- simply because her community had not been shelled or fired on for a day!’
He described the situation there as a ‘time of great tears but also opportunity’.
As a result Oleg and his team were able to pray for the soldiers and their families.
Sergei, who himself had a narrow escape when a missile exploded near his car, added: ‘They have taught me how to be thankful. In Ukraine we are learning to be thankful to the Lord for light and water... and not being shelled!’
‘In the valleys of weeping are the springs. Every day I preach the gospel
During one city battle Pastor Sergei from eastern Ukraine helped to evacuate up to 3,000 people.
Another told him: ‘We have no shops, no chemist, no water, but I praise Jesus that he has protected my house.’
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