Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, congregations and families,
I will start my September-October newsletter with the sad news. On October 13th our brother, the Minister of Brovary Church of Christ and Bear Valley Bible Institute in Ukraine Instructor Andrew Zhuravlev passed away. He had been one of the first students in the program in the end of 1990s, later he completed the Masters' program and had been educating our students for over 20 years. He was my close friend. His son Iliya graduated from the program this year and now serves as a youth minister in that congregation. On the one hand, it was a tremendous loss for the Church in Ukraine, on the other hand, he is in the house of our Heavenly Father. The official records stated that the cause of death was coronavirus that damaged his lungs in a couple of weeks. We believe that the doctors did everything they could have but God had His own plans. We ask you to pray for Andrew's family, his wife Veronica and his son, as well as the congregation in Brovary.
The school year at the Institute started in September. I will briefly remind you that we have 4 students. All of them are quite young and as we hope will become the future of the Church. The first course was Homiletics, taught by our Instructor Stanislav Kuropyatnikov. Later we enjoyed the visit of Terry Harmon, the Bear Valley Ukraine coordinator. He taught Christian Evidences. In the end of the month Jim Sherman arrived and taught two courses - Family Life and the Plan of Salvation.
In the end of September, we had a very nice gathering of the Bible Institute graduates. It was splendid, with about 30 guests from all parts of Ukraine. We had great lessons on the Church's Growth, a lot of fellowship and encouragement. During the most recent years the world's changed noticeably and this kind of event was extremely needed as we have not had any meetings for quite a while.
Currently the active covid cases are on the rise in Ukraine. Some regions have been declared red zones again. It means that the certain restrictions will be implemented. So the visits of our American Instructors were very timely. Both Terry and Jim made it home safely and are getting ready to come back next year.
There is a very uplifting news from our Instructor Stanislav Kuropyatnikov who just had a newborn son. Stanislav is a very faithful brother who ministers in the city of Lviv and helps us too in many ways. His family is a blessing for us all and we request prayers on their behalf.
May God bless you! Thank you for your support and continuous prayers. The Church in Ukraine needs leaders trained in the sound doctrine. We all work towards the strengthening and growth of the Church.
Your brother in Christ,
Dennis Sopelnik