Ukraine partner launches new building construction: “Thank you for caring about our part of the world”

This summer, OC partner Zaporozhye Bible College and Seminary (ZBCS) in Ukraine left the site that they called home for 14 years and moved into a four-story building on the grounds of one of Zaporozhye’s oldest Baptist churches. “We have enjoyed an almost seamless transition to our new site,” says ZBCS President Vladimir Degtyaryov. “Classes are running, students are buzzing and we already feel quite at home here. Thank God for His abundant grace and mercy.”

Next to the school is a lot purchased for the construction of a new administration and dormitory building. Recently, faculty, students, local pastors and guests gathered on the empty lot to dedicate the site and officially launch the construction. Words of testimony and well wishes were given by school leadership and Mark Mackey, ZBCS’ missionary founder and Board chairman. All the gathered pastors lifted their hands together in a prayer of dedication, after which Mark symbolically broke the ground with a golden shovel. ZBCS says a spirit of deep gratitude and expectation filled the air during this unique and historic service. Until construction is complete, ZBCS will tightly house classrooms, offices, a few apartments and the dining hall in its current building.

ZBCS graduates continue to serve in Ukraine and other countries as pastors, teachers, music ministers and missionaries. One recent graduate, Victor Lapanik, serves in Kazakhstan and desires to be a missionary in Afghanistan, the country where he once fought as a Soviet soldier. Lapanik said he would have had to study independently for 30 years to learn as much as he did in three years at ZBCS.

“Thank you for thinking of us, for praying and for caring about our part of the world and God’s purposes here,” Degtyaryov says. “We earnestly desire to fulfill those purposes, for God’s glory, through Christ our Lord.”