Clockwise from the top: open-air preaching in Lviv (2006); a final picture before leaving for the airport (March 17, 2001); the first issue of my newsletter, Ukraine Report.
Today marks exactly 25 years since I arrived in Ukraine to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary. I felt I could not let this day pass without expressing my gratefulness to the Lord and to the many friends and family who have walked with me through this journey.
There is so much I could share, but in this brief post, I’d like to reflect on a few of the milestones God has led me through. I hope that as you read, you will be encouraged to trust Him with your life and to follow Him in faith, no matter what happens. Like so many that have come before me, I can testify from long experience and deep conviction that I have found my Savior to be very, very faithful.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good…” (Psalms 34:8)
Check out my very first newsletter from Ukraine!
Arrival
On March 18th, 2001, I stepped off a plane in Kyiv and into a journey that I could never have imagined. This was not my first visit to Ukraine. Almost four years earlier, I had come as a teenager to take part in a short-term missions project organized by my friend and mentor, Jessie Beal. During the five months I spent in Kyiv in 1997, I fell in love with this land.
In the years that followed, as I worked, studied, and ministered the Gospel in my home state of Texas, my heart remained in Ukraine. When people asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I would tell them I wanted to serve as a missionary in Ukraine.
Now, in the early morning hours of March 19, 2001, after an overnight train trip from Kyiv, I arrived in the city that would be my home for decades to come, the city where I still live with my family today: Lviv.
The Early Years (2001–2006)
2001
During my first two and a half years in Ukraine, I focus primarily on language study and ministry with a small Ukrainian church that I am still a part of today: Greater Grace. I share an apartment with a Ukrainian national named Ruslan — now one of my closest friends — and I immerse myself in the Ukrainian language.
2003
God surprises me by leading me away from Ukraine for seven months to participate in a ministry project in Thailand. During my time there, I meet Nathan Day, who comes back with me to Ukraine in April of 2004. Nathan and his family still serve with us in Lviv today.
2004
After my return from Thailand, Nathan Day, Jessie Beal, and I decide to work together as a team, training young men in missions as we share the Gospel with Ukrainians. In time, we adopt the name Euro Team Outreach.
On September 18th, Kelsie and I are married in Texas, and after a few weeks of preparation, we return to Ukraine together.
2005
Nathan and I make our first scouting trip to the Carpathians to plan a new project: Carpathian Mountain Outreach.
We also organize a Bible camp in the Carpathian Mountains for a small group of Ukrainian young men, including Serhii Chepara. Serhii becomes a close friend and a key ministry ally in the years that follow.
Our first child, Abigail, is born in September.
2006
Carpathian Mountain Outreach launches in May and lasts a full four months. What we envisioned as a one-off project becomes an annual event spanning 17 years that trains over 60 men in hands-on foreign mission work.
The first lessons of our Bible First course are written and distributed to people responding to our summer outreach (CMO 2006).
Our nonprofit, Euro Team Outreach, is incorporated in the State of Texas, with Jessie, Nathan, and me serving as board members.
Expansion: Bible First, CMO, Good and Evil (2007–2019)
During these years, we see our ministry solidify around three primary branches:
- Our Bible First correspondence course
- Our annual CMO projects
- The printing and distribution of the Good and Evil book in Ukrainian
2008
Our second child, Rebekah, is born in January.
The translation of the Good and Evil book into the Ukrainian language is completed. 5,000 copies are delivered in January 2009.
2010
CMO 2010 — our fifth project in a row — is held.
Our third child, Hosanna, is born in November.
2011
For the first time in five years, we take a year off from CMO to focus more heavily on the development and writing of our Bible First lessons.
2012
My brother Jonathan joins us for CMO — his third trip to Ukraine — and films a short promotional video about CMO, which we affectionately call The CMO Movie.
2013
The final two lessons of our Bible First course are complete, bringing the total to twenty. Bible First remains at the core of our ministry today.
2014
The Maidan Revolution begins in Ukraine, followed by russia’s invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea, as well as large portions of the Donbas region.
Our fourth daughter, Kathryn, is born in December.
2015
Development begins on our web-based Bible First platform, enabling students for the first time to progress through our Bible lessons online.
Ben Sargent, who would later join our staff team, travels to Ukraine and attends CMO for the first time.
2016
Our tenth CMO project is completed.
We engage a local software company in Lviv to assist us with the continuing development of Bible First Online.
2017
Our fifth child and first son, David, is born in January.
Once again, we take a break from CMO to focus on the development of our Bible First course.
2018
Working with a professional Ukrainian philologist, we complete a thorough updated translation of Good and Evil in Ukrainian. New donations come in, enabling us to print 5,000 copies — this time in full color.
Ben Sargent joins ETO’s Board of Directors.
2019
After many years of development and field testing, Bible First Online is finally ready. We launch the Bible First Pioneers program, inviting people from the U.S. to test-drive Bible First Online in their own ministries and with English-speaking audiences.
Our sixth child, Mia, is born in July.
War and Perseverance (2020–Present)
2020
The COVID pandemic begins and our lives change dramatically. I become involved in a local initiative called Lviv Angels, where Christian drivers help doctors and nurses get to hospitals every day. This is needful because public transportation has been shut down due to quarantine restrictions.
2022
russia invades Ukraine on February 24. Three days later, our family evacuates to Slovakia, where we stay for 16 months. We become heavily involved in ministering to Ukrainian refugees. We launch a podcast called Journey to Ukraine to share updates and spread awareness about what is happening in Ukraine.
New donations come in for the printing of Good and Evil, and we print 15,000 copies in a special full-color edition. Armed with these new books, we launch our Good and Evil Distributor Network, resulting in the broad distribution of the Good and Evil book all across Ukraine, even in areas hardest hit by the war.
2023
After nearly a year and a half in Slovakia and despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, our family returns to Lviv to continue our lives and ministry here.
In the summer, we host our final CMO project.
2024
Nathan and I, along with Ben Sargent, join up with Ukrainian missionary Oleksandr Ilchenko for our first trip to the southern regions of Ukraine, ministering in villages recently liberated from russian occupation. The things we learn during this project lead to the establishment of a new ministry: Ukraine Gospel Outreach (UGO).
Kelsie and I celebrate 20 years of marriage.
2025
Ukraine Gospel Outreach is formally announced, with our second project taking place in October.
Funding is provided for our fourth full-color printing of Good and Evil, enabling us to continue our Good and Evil Distributor Network.
Conclusion
In publishing this article, what I want most is to give glory to God for His faithfulness, and to urge you, my reader, to trust Him with your own life. Let me lend my voice to the many thousands who have gone before me, echoing the same conclusion: the God of Elijah is alive today, and He calls you to follow Him in faith. He wants to lead you, He wants to bless you in ways you cannot imagine, and He wants to use your voice to call the lost out of darkness and into His light.
Looking back over these 25 years, I realize that I wouldn’t trade them for the world. There’s nowhere else I would rather have been. There’s nothing else I would rather have done than to raise my family in Ukraine and share Jesus Christ with the precious people amongst whom we live.
I can’t know how many more years God will give me on this earth, but my purpose remains the same. Whether in Ukraine or the United States or wherever God will lead me, I am called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have not heard.
To all of you, my friends, my family, my mentors, those in America and those here in Ukraine: thank you for standing with me, for trusting me, for supporting my family and me over all these years. I know I speak for Kelsie and all of our children when I say that we consider ourselves greatly blessed to have the privilege of living and ministering in the beautiful country of Ukraine. We are excited about what the future holds, and we look forward to whatever God has in store for our family in the days, months, and years ahead.
