Providing Hope in Ukraine

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In this episode, host David Nakhla speaks with Elder Mark Agarkov of Kharkiv Presbyterian Church and OPC missionary Heero Hacquebord to get an update on the situation in Ukraine, now three years into the war. Mark shares about the ongoing suffering in the eastern region of Kharkiv—just 20 miles from the front lines—the support they've received from generous U.S. donors, and the deep sense of care they've experienced amid hardship. He also reflects on how many are being drawn to Christ through their suffering, the work that the ministry of the church is doing, and the lasting physical and emotional toll the war is taking. Heero provides updates on his family, his church, and the ongoing work of Crates for Ukraine, an initiative of the Presbyterian Church in America that continues to bring aid to those in need.

Referenced in this episode:

Listeners can find more details and make direct donations on the Kharkiv Presbyterian Church website: https://www.kharkivpresbyterianministry.com. There, you can also subscribe to receive their monthly updates. Alternatively, you can email Mark Agarkov, and he will add you to the list: [e-mail].

Additionally, here is the link to their WhatsApp group where they regularly post photos: https://chat.whatsapp.com/FhrlLtJWtdB4sjbizl3FaA.

Cratesforukraine.com, Heero's (easy) e-mail address [e-mail], and if you would like to get the Hacquebord's prayer letters and read older issues you can do so with this long link:  https://us7.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=49d839383d86ec3614b01b767&id=7be70c1b6a.

Prayer Requests from Mark and Heero

Prayer Requests from Mark Agarkov (Kharkiv Presbyterian Church)

• For stable peace in Ukraine, along with lasting justice, national freedom, and the continued blessing of religious freedom.
• For Ukrainian pastors, elders, and ministry leaders—for courage, endurance, and faithfulness under pressure, as well as for more workers to meet the overwhelming needs of Gospel ministry.
• For prayer for spiritual revival in Ukraine, that the suffering of war would lead many to seek Christ and that the nation would experience a widespread turning to Jesus.
• For prayer for their social ministry, as needs grow while donations have declined. He asks that Ukraine would remain on people's hearts and that God would provide resources to serve both now and in the long recovery ahead.
• For safety, especially for families and children, amid frequent drone attacks and shelling near Kharkiv.
• For their summer trip to the U.S., that doors would open for them to travel legally, that the time would be fruitful, and that th

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people because 90% of people whocame to us, they lost
everything.

David Nakhla (00:09):
Welcome to the Reformed Deacon, a casual
conversation with topicsspecifically designed to help
local Reformed Deacons.
There are nearly a thousanddeacons in the OPC alone, so
let's take this opportunity tolearn from and encourage one
another.
We're so glad you could join us.
Let's jump into our nextepisode.
My name is David Nogla and Iserve as the Administrator of

(00:31):
the Committee on DiagnosticMinistries as well as the
Coordinator for OPC DisasterResponse.
For today's episode, we'regrateful to be joined by two
brothers in Christ from Ukraine,both serving in the midst of
ongoing and difficultcircumstances, both proclaiming
the hope of the gospel where itis desperately needed.
With us today is Mark Agarkov,an elder in training and

(00:53):
coordinator of mercy ministry atKharkiv Presbyterian Church,
and our own, Hiro Hakobord, OPCmissionary to Ukraine.
They both serve congregationsof the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church of Ukraine.
Mark and Hero, thank you somuch for taking the time to be
with us today.
It's now been more than threeyears since the full-scale war

(01:14):
in Ukraine began.
Here in the United States thenews cycle has largely moved on,
but we know the sufferinghasn't.
Millions remain displaced,churches are under strain and
yet the mercy of Christcontinues to shine through his
people.
We wanted to take thisopportunity to hear from both of
you, to get a real human updateon the life and ministry in

(01:35):
Ukraine, so that we can praymore specifically and hear about
how we can be helpful, even insmall ways, Mark welcome.

Mark Agarkov (01:43):
Hello everyone, Thank you for having me.

David Nakhla (01:45):
And Hiro welcome.

Heero Hacquebord (01:47):
Thank you, it's great to be with you.

David Nakhla (01:49):
Mark, I'd like to begin with you.
You and your wife and your twinbaby boys live in Kharkov, a
city just 18 miles from theRussian border.
You've lived through countlessattacks, at least one landing
just half a mile from your home,and Kharkiv is also now home to
an estimated half a millioninternally displaced people.
Maybe you can share with uswhat everyday life looks like

(02:11):
for you and your family.
Are you able to buy groceries,fill your car with gas, go to
work?
We understand that air raidsirens are part of the daily
rhythm.
Is that still the case, and howdoes this ongoing conflict
reshape your daily experienceand what you do when one goes
off?

Mark Agarkov (02:30):
Yes, kharkiv is really very close to the Russian
border, and not only to theRussian border but actually to
the front line.
So only like around 20 milesfrom our church building is
actually front line and battles.
So yeah, it's pretty dangerous,not only from air alert, from

(02:51):
shelling, from drone attacks,from missiles, but also bottles
on the field.
But, praise to God, we do haveopportunity to have access to
groceries to fuel everything isaccessible to have access to
groceries to fuel everything isaccessible.
But of course, it's much moreexpensive because it's much more
to the front line.
Air alert is like our usualdays, so daily reality, I would

(03:16):
say.
So last week was pretty calmbecause it's only like 30 hours
per week air alert.
But, as usual, it might be likehalf of the day and of course
it's very difficult to liveunder this pressure.

(03:36):
So if you have to go to bombshelter.
You have to live in bombshelter actually.
So we have to distinguish whenit's a real threat and we have
to hide, or when it's like newnormality and you have to keep
living.
And yeah, having two boys it'sa big blessing and, of course,
it's a big challenge.
Of course, we are responsiblefor now, not only for our own

(03:59):
lives, but also for our children.
So we are very careful when wehear explosions or something
like that.
So we are trying to hide in theroom without windows and follow
the rules of two walls, so youhave to be like two walls from
the street in order to be safefrom shelling.
But, praise God, we are stillsafe.

(04:21):
We are still doing our ministryand our main focus for now is,
like social ministry, mercyministry.
We keep helping needy peopleand our main focus is refugees.
We call them internallydisplaced people.
As you mentioned, it's really alot of people who moved from

(04:42):
Donetsk region, from Kharkivregion, from Luhansk region, to
Kharkiv city as its secondbiggest city in Ukraine and, of
course, kharkiv for them is muchmore safer than their villages,
which is actually destroyed atall.
So, yeah, and we keep providingfood and hygiene and clothes to

(05:05):
them.
Also, we help disabled peopleand single mothers and so on.
So, praise God, we have thisopportunity to keep doing our
ministry and many, many thanksto all who support us and keep
supporting us.

David Nakhla (05:22):
And can you talk a little bit about life in the
church, maybe even backing up tothere was a church there before
the war and then maybe bring usthrough to today how that has
gone, and then even just peoplecoming to church in the midst of
?
Do you have people comingbecause of the circumstances?

Mark Agarkov (05:40):
Yes, before the war we had a church and we had
around 100 church members.
Okay, and of course, wheninvasion have started, a lot of
people flew out of the city tothe Western Ukraine and abroad,
and our strategy was to evacuateall women and children abroad,

(06:01):
because nobody knows what isgoing to be.
So it was around 20 people whostay in the city, so it was like
all church there, but then somepeople come back and it was
around 30 people.
When we restarted our worshipservice, it was around 100 days
of the war and before that wewere in evacuation in

(06:24):
Ivano-Frankivsk, in the westernpart of Ukraine, and held
worship service there.
But we reopened the church andfor now we have around 60 people
who are regularly visitingworship service, and it's a
great miracle for us becausemany of them are totally new
people, so it's not believersfrom other churches, it's people

(06:47):
who were nominal Orthodox ornon-believers at all, and during
the war they asked difficultquestions about their life,
because when you are livingclose to the war, to the front
line, you are usually askingquestions about the future,
about meaning of life, aboutmeaning of suffering.

(07:09):
So I'd like to share with youone story One senior lady her
name is Olena.
She's from Volchansk city andyou know that Volchansk City
doesn't exist anymore.
It was whipped out of the faceof the earth and she was under
shelling and it was verydifficult and she began praying

(07:34):
and she had New Testament andshe read New Testament five
times Usual person, non-believer, but she had like a New
Testament and five times beforeshe had the opportunity to leave
the city and move to the Harkivcity.
And she met us in our socialcenter when we distributing

(07:57):
humanitarian aid and provide hergospel and tell her we are
church, we are Christian, we arehelping.
And she came to our church andshe understand yes, it's the
hand of God, I'm still alive andI know that it's a miracle.
So she became a Christian andshe is right now a member of our

(08:19):
church and symbol how God ischanging hearts of people during
the war and how sufferinghelping people to search, to
seek, to seek God and to askquestions.
And it's a really big miracleto see how many people right now
in our church who did not knowGod but thanks to war, if we can

(08:41):
say that they joined the churchand found hope in Jesus Christ.

David Nakhla (08:46):
Praise God.
What a great story.
Thank you for sharing thatabout Olena Hiro.
You live and minister in Lviv,on the western side of Ukraine,
closer to the Polish border.
In the past you've described itas safer than much of Ukraine,
although tragedy has struckthere as well.
There was the bombings therelast September that took the
lives of seven members.
We saw that in your newsletter.

(09:07):
Can you give us an update ofthe state of things in Lviv, how
your family is holding up underthis long, uncertain strain and
the state of the congregationin Lviv?

Heero Hacquebord (09:16):
Yeah, sure To compare Lviv to Kharkiv.
The two cities are on the twoextremes of the country and we
really have two extremes almostof the experiences that people
have in Ukraine.
So our experience in Lviv rightnow is very different from
Kharkiv.
Now, if you just walk throughthe city you might almost think
that there's no war going onbecause there are very few signs

(09:37):
of it in the city.
So we have some arrayed sirensonce in a while, but for the
most part, you know we're goingto have days, sometimes even
weeks, where we don't have thosesirens and we have not had any
attacks in our city since thispast September when several
people were killed, as youmentioned.
So you know we have everythingwe need.

(09:57):
Life goes on, schools are open,you know kids just go to the
basement, one of the air raidsirens goes off, but for us
there is no significant dailystrain I mean for our family, I
should say being here in Lvivexcept for just the
psychological strain of the wargoing on.
I think we all suffer fromsecondhand trauma knowing about

(10:19):
what our brothers and sistersand other people in Ukraine are
experiencing.
As far as the church isconcerned, obviously people in
the church experience the war insome ways more than we do,
because men are able to getcalled up to go fight.
So there's a lot of uncertaintyin families, especially young
families.
We have two families in thechurch have been affected
recently.
Two guys who are actually newseminary students were called up

(10:43):
into the military just the lastfew months One man who's newly
wed, who's been ministering inour student ministry as an
intern, and the second man wascalled up just a few weeks ago.
He's originally from theHarakiv Church and a given
member here.
His wife is pregnant with theirfirst baby and so he's been
called up.
He was leading our teenageministry.

(11:03):
So those things are affectingpeople's mindset.
Obviously there's just a lot ofuncertainty.
It's hard for people to plantheir lives and their future,
but I would say the church onthe whole is doing really well.
It was probably the only churchI don't know, maybe it's the
only church in the Ukraine wherewe could say that, that the
church is very stable.

(11:23):
We continue to accept newmembers, although I know other
churches are growing as well, asMark was saying in Harkiv,
which is wonderful.
But we've really benefited insome ways from people moving
west and so the church has agreat dynamism and I feel like
in many ways it's just runningon all cylinders, so that has
been very encouraging.

David Nakhla (11:43):
That's great, praise God.
On this podcast and in ournewsletters and publications
we've spoken much about theCrates for Ukraine.
Many of our listeners may haveeven participated in those
efforts to purchase and sendspecific requested items to
Ukraine and I know, mark, thatyour church has been blessed to
receive help through Crate'sefforts.
But I also know that, throughyour leadership and that of your

(12:06):
brothers and others, that thecongregation in Kharkiv has had
a vibrant and ongoing diagonalministry to not only church
members but also to many of theelderly, disabled, infirmed,
many of the elderly, disabled,infirmed, and mothers and
children surviving in yourregion, and this is good work.

(12:31):
It has been a great personalsacrifice and risk to yourself
and others serving in thisministry, as I've been
privileged to receive your emailupdates, initially daily,
faithfully sending those formonths initially, and you've
continued that even up until now.
Your service in the Lord hasbeen very encouraging and
inspiring to me.
So thank you and praise theLord for that service, mark, in
the past six months, with theblessing and encouragement of

(12:52):
Hero and others, the OPCCommunion on DAC Ministries have
been privileged to comealongside of these efforts
directly with some financialcontributions.
Most listening will not know ofthe work you've been doing much
closer to the front lines of thewar, and so that was one of the
big reasons why we reallywanted to have you on the
podcast.
Would you mind maybe painting apicture in broad strokes of how

(13:15):
this ministry came to be?
You can even start a little bitwith your own background, mark.
You weren't necessarily adeacon in the church, but what
is your background?
What are your studies Kind ofhow you came and got involved
with this ministry, number ofpeople served, what's the
current focus and maybe, ifthere's again, if there's any
specific stories you'd like totell, feel free to include those

(13:35):
.

Mark Agarkov (13:36):
Yeah, thank you.
I'd like to begin with apre-story that it was not our
main focus like social ministry.
I don't know how it's commonfor Presbyterian churches in the
US, but in Kharkiv it wasn'tour main focus like social
ministry.
Our focus was student ministry,like theological classes and so

(13:57):
on.
But when war had started, weunderstand that the need is huge
and we have to change ourpriorities and to change our
focus.
So first of all, we wanted tohelp our church members, and
when we cover all the needs ofour church members, we
understand that God provide usresources to keep helping.

(14:21):
And actually it's also awonderful story as we had our
little savings at the church inorder to buy a building like a
worship hall, and it was ourdream for 25 years and our dream
was to buy this building likepart of the building, but it was
so unaffordable for us, veryexpensive, and so we decided to

(14:46):
spend all our donations in thebeginning of war in order to
help people with evacuation,with medicine and with opening
hub.
We open in Ivano-Frankivskshelter for people who are
moving to the West as Lvivchurch.
We give opportunity for peopleto stay for several weeks and we

(15:07):
provide medicine, provideclothes, everything they need
help for fuel and so on andafter that God sent a lot of
resources and we understand thatwe want to found a charitable
foundation and in the first yearof the war we found a
charitable foundation, heritageof the reformation, which help

(15:32):
you not only like church members, but also people who are in
great need, because we saw howmany people moved in the
hierarchy of how many refugeesare here and how huge is need
and we decided to provide foodand we're still able to keep
doing that thanks to all donorsand we appreciate it.

(15:54):
We appreciate prayers andespecially financial support,
and we have this opportunity tokeep doing that right now.
So I'm very thankful to OPCDiaconal Committee and all
donors who donate to OPC.
Thank you so much.
So just imagine for us as alittle church, we had

(16:15):
opportunity to help over 150,000people, so it's a huge number
for us.
It's like we even do not dreamabout that, but yeah, that's a
miracle.
So we still keep providingaround 300 families per month.

(16:36):
It's around like 900,000 peopleper month which receive food,
clothes and some specific needslike medicine and so on.
So our main goal, of course, isto proclaim the gospel of Jesus
Christ and to bring hope tothese people.
But we understand that our maingoal is not only cover their

(17:00):
physical needs but also to covertheir spiritual needs.
So I'm very often mentionedthat it's very important to
bring hope to people, because 90percent of people who came to
us, to our charitable foundation, they lost everything.
They lost their homes, theirsavings, their property, their

(17:22):
property.
So just imagine it's not youngpeople, it's senior people.
They built their life, havetheir savings, built their homes
and they lost everything andfor them it's like the end of
their life, because if materialis the sense of life, lost this
sense of life.

(17:42):
So we try to say war it's awfuland it's a big pity that you
lost everything, but jesus havehope for you and we're trying to
share it with people, andmainly people who visit our
church right now.
I would say that 60 of themcame from our charitable
foundation and mercy ministry.

(18:03):
Also, we're trying to helpchurches in Karlovka and in
Zaporizhia.
It's like small communities.
We have some partnership withthem and helping with
humanitarian aid and so on.
So my focus before the warwasn't social ministry and
diagonal ministry.
Actually, I'm doing a PhD insociology so I'm a little bit

(18:27):
academic and have my smallbusiness.
So we are doing like Christianpublishing house translating
books, publishing books.
But we understand that timesare changing and we have to
change our focus and we see whatGod is doing, so we're just
following Him and praise God foreverything we have.

David Nakhla (18:48):
And can you maybe share who are those who are
working with you?
You were part of a small bandgetting this started.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?

Mark Agarkov (18:56):
Yeah, in the beginning of war, it was just
our church members who said wewant to help, we want to
volunteer, we want to serve.
So people who had thisopportunity to help, they just
gave their full time for thisministry.
And as it was very dangerous tostay in Kharkiv, we had our

(19:16):
warehouse with food andeverything in Ivano-Frankivsk.
So we moved like around 1,000kilometers from Ivano-Frankivsk
to Kharkiv every week to providelike around four or five ton of
food.
So we had six drivers who weredoing this regularly, but then
we moved our warehouse inKharkiv.

(19:37):
We had around 10 people in thebeginning of war and even our
pastor is like sortinghumanitarian food, distributing
humanitarian aid.
Yeah so, but right now we havesmall team it's around three
staff who is full-time andaround six volunteers part-time

(19:57):
when we have distribution, andalso we are involving people who
received help from us and we'reasking do you want to help, Do
you want to volunteer?
And they said, yes, we receivehelp, we want to help others.
So we invite them to ourwarehouse once a month when we
have preparing food bags aroundlike 300 food bags and people

(20:20):
who just received last week thehelp from their coming and
helping to sorting this food,sorting food bags for another
group of refugees.
So it's also how we try toinvolve these refugees in our
ministry.

David Nakhla (20:37):
That's beautiful.
I remember the similartestimony with regards to the
work that was going on in Lviv.
Community members just wantedto participate and help.
Speaking of which here, maybeyou can give us a quick update
on the crates for Ukraine and doyou know if the MTW team
anticipates another round ofthis anytime soon or the future
of crates?

Heero Hacquebord (20:57):
Yeah, that's a good question.
The thinking at this point isnot to announce another wave but
just keep going with the waywe're doing things now, which is
just a much more streamlinedapproach of people being able to
either click and ship, mostlythrough Amazon, with the list we
give, and then we pack itourselves in Dallas our team
members there or people justdonate money and then they take

(21:19):
care of all the packing,ordering, packing and shipping
in Dallas.
That seems just like an easierway to keep this going.
So for crates 4.0, the fourthiteration of this, just some
numbers we have We've receivedabout 204 crates we do a little
more by now 5.8 tons of aid andit's about $650,000 we've gotten

(21:40):
so far, which is smaller thanwhat we've gotten in the
previous ones, but that is stillvery significant and the aid is
making a big difference.
So we remain very, verythankful for everybody in the
United States participating inthat and the aid is saving lives
.

David Nakhla (21:57):
And if we came and did a tour in the warehouse, is
there still product there ormost of it's been deployed?

Heero Hacquebord (22:04):
It has been pretty empty.
We just got another shipmentlast week, but most of it has
been sent.
So it has been, as in the past,a lot of medical care, also
some winter items.
And then there's also been anew donor in the United States,
an acquaintance of our NGW teamleader, doug Shepard, who has
manufactured pancake mix that hedistributes in the United
States.
An acquaintance of our NGW teamleader, doug Shepard, who has
manufactured pancake mix that hedistributes in the United

(22:25):
States.
But he's also sent that to ushere free of charge, a lot of it
, and so we've been able todistribute that along with the
medical aid, and so I meanthousands of families have
already received that.
And it's very easy to add waterand you cook it in a pan or in
the oven.
It actually tastes really goodand that's been a really neat

(22:46):
way for us to be able to sendfood to people as well, as
they're in different situationsand oftentimes not able to cook
in any normal way.

David Nakhla (22:53):
Oh cool.
So after three years we canonly imagine how weary Simpsons
has become and that burnout canbe real for the churches,
volunteers and aid workers.
Yet we know that your strengthcomes from the Lord.
Can you share a story or two,some tangible ways you've seen
this aid make a difference for,especially the most?

Heero Hacquebord (23:13):
vulnerable.
Yeah, as far as the numbers areconcerned, one number that has
really hit me is that over thecourse of three months,
basically the three wintermonths, our aid was documented
to have saved about 1,100 lives.
Well, just in three months,that's pretty amazing.

(23:37):
I've spoken to Ruslan, who runsour aid center and all the
shipping, and he recently madecontact with some medics in the
city of Pokrovsk, which youmight have heard about, it's
been in the news.
It's in the Donetsk region inthe east and it's a city that
has been on the very front lines.
Russians have been trying totake it for months now.
So there's a group of medics ina city and they're mostly guys
from the city.
They're, I don't know forwhatever reason.
They're poorly supplied, and soRuslan, our aid manager, made

(24:00):
contact with them throughanother medic whom he has known
for a while, and was able tosupply these guys with some of
our crates, some of our firstaid supplies.
They were very surprised by thequality of it, very thankful.
And then the commander recentlylet Ruslan know that because of
the verse on the box, a quotefrom Isaiah, the guys there

(24:21):
started reading the book ofIsaiah together, which made me
think maybe we should put aquote from the gospel of John on
there.
People can start by reading thegospel of John, but that was
very encouraging to hear that,in addition to the age-saving
lives, the gospel is still goingout through it as well.

David Nakhla (24:35):
Can you remind us of the verse from Isaiah Sure
David?

Heero Hacquebord (24:39):
It's Isaiah 41 , verse 10, which says Fear not,
for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am yourGod.
I will strengthen you, I willhelp you, I will uphold you with
my righteous right hand.

David Nakhla (24:51):
Wonderful, thank you.
We know that money can meetmany physical needs, but it
can't undo trauma.
There's so much emotional andmental toll this war has taken
on children, parents and evenpastors.
How do you see the impact ofyour churches in Ukraine as they
care for souls burdened bygrief, fear and prolonged

(25:13):
uncertainty?

Heero Hacquebord (25:14):
In talking with other pastors.
All of our churches obviouslyare involved with this in
different ways.
Probably the church has beenthe hardest hit is our church in
the city of kherson, where therussians are literally across
the river from them and wherethere are first person view
drones flying over the citypretty much around the clock

(25:36):
kamikaze drones, one-way dronesjust hunting for victims people
on cars, vans, publictransportation, even people on
bicycle or on foot, um, and ourchurch building there is in the
red zone, which means the mostdangerous zone of the city.
But on sundays guys from thatchurch who have a van, they

(25:57):
drive around the city, collectpeople and drive into the church
building for the service someolder people as well, but people
from the very neighborhoodaround the church building have
been attending services as well,even though it is dangerous for
them to go outside, so thatchurch continues to serve that
community and has been growingin these circumstances.

(26:17):
Many people left the pastor andhis family, small kids also left
at the beginning of the war orbefore the war started, the
full-scale war.
But they still have about 40people in attendance on Sundays
and they are looking out to opentheir basement for a day center
for kids because the schools inKherson do not function.
It's just too dangerous and toocomplicated, I guess.

(26:38):
But they want to open thebasement of the church to give
kids a place where they can goduring the day and give them
safety, give them food and givethem some kind of interaction
and activities.
So that's been very difficultto hear about but very
encouraging at the same time.
And then all of our churcheshave been you know, taking care
of internally displaced people,feeding them.

(26:58):
Many of our churches haveincreased attendance because of
those people attending.
In our cities of Cherkasy andKarlivka, which Mark already
mentioned, closer to them in theeast of the country, those two
cities have been able to buychurch buildings recently.
Wonderful, that's going forward.
And then in a city in the south, close to Odessa, Bilgrid

(27:19):
Nistrovsky, they are working ongetting a psychological
education for refugees, tryingto get refugees educated and in
a position where they can helpothers as well who are dealing
with the trauma of the war.
So many different efforts inour churches as they're in very
different circumstances, avariety of circumstances.

Mark Agarkov (27:41):
I would share with you one story of Elena.
She is also one of the refugeeswho came to our church and
before she visited us she feltpanic attack very often because
she is from the Dnetsk regionand also her home was occupied
and right now unfortunatelyunder the occupation occupied

(28:04):
and right now unfortunatelyunder the occupation, and she
was afraid to go outside to thestreet because she felt that it
might be very dangerous, even inKharkiv.
But also she received help fromour mercy ministry and we
invited her to the church andshe said that for her it was
very relaxing and calming afterthe church service.

(28:24):
It's what.
I was very surprised to hearthis, but she said I will come
again because I feel safe here.
So for me it was like very goodnews and she actually very
often visit in our church and weactually hire her as a
babysitter to our children, soshe's part of our family right

(28:46):
now.
And I agree with Hiro that wecould say trauma in every age
category and I would sayeveryone is traumatized, but
many of us do not recognize it.
Many of us do not recognize itand maybe after war we will feel
it, but right now we arefocused on how we can help

(29:13):
people who are not second-handtraumatized but first-hand.
And in our church we started asmall trauma healing group for
mothers, because mothers areespecially overwhelmed with
anxiety and they are afraidabout the future.
They're afraid for theirhusbands, who can call up to the
army, they're afraid about thefuture for their children.
So we decided to start thisgroup.

(29:35):
It's non-believers, ladies, butthey have three and more
children.
So we started something likeChristianity Basics Group, when
one lady from our church sharingactually gospel, but from
different sides, about God,about creation and so on, and
we're trying to also help themwith their feelings and with

(29:59):
their physical needs.
So some of the women visit inour church but some of them just
non-believers and just visit inthis group and for them it's
like therapy.
And one lady who invitedanother lady there to the
non-believing but she said thisgroup it's like a psychologist
or how do you call them, so youcan visit and you feel yourself

(30:22):
better.
So, but I think that after warwe will see many, many problems
with mental health, and rightnow we can see many panic
attacks all around, and as achurch we have to be prepared
for such wave of problem withmental health in near future.

David Nakhla (30:43):
It's interesting what came to my mind as you were
speaking specifically aboutthat, especially about the lady
who had a sense of the ministryof the word and the impact that
had on her.
Our pastor just last nightpreached on Psalm 56.
When I am afraid, I will trustin you, In God, whose word I
praise.

(31:03):
In God, I trust I will not beafraid.
What can mortal man do to me?
And one of the things he talkedabout was that even just
worship and praising God andjust as Paul and Silas were
doing in prison after beingbeaten, how that ministry and
praising God is part of thedealing with the fear and
anxiety.
So that's really wonderful tohear.

Mark Agarkov (31:24):
Yeah, and I want to add that several months ago
we had a conference in ourchurch for our church members
Lamentation in the Bible and Ithink it's a very important
topic how to do it rightly, howto came to Christ in your
lamentation, because we all feelgrief or sadness and it's

(31:45):
important to understand how tocome to God and to tell Him
everything you feel.
But come to Him, not to closeyour feeling, not to go from Him
.
And it was a very wonderfulconference.
It was a pastor from PCA,jonathan Kuchamba, who came to
Ukraine, to Kharkiv.

(32:05):
We appreciated so much hisbravery with his wonderful wife,
kat.
They came to us and held thiswonderful conference and I feel
that it was like fresh air forour church to talk about
difficult topics, becauselamentation is difficult and for
many people in post-SovietUnion it's very hard to express

(32:27):
your feelings and especiallyhard to express anxiety,
overwhelming sadness, grief theydon't know how to behave and
even church members.
So it's very important when welook at lamentation, we see this
book in the Bible and thatgives us as a tool to understand
how we can use Lamentation tocome closer to Him.

David Nakhla (32:57):
Thank you about the relationship between the
churches and how the EvangelicalPresbyterian Church in Ukraine
began and to just even tietogether Kherson, kharkiv, lviv
and others.

Heero Hacquebord (33:12):
Sure, yeah.
So the Evangelical PresbyterianChurch of Ukraine is what the
denomination is called, EPCU.
At this point we have 12congregations.
It started with missionariescoming under an umbrella
organization called Co-Mission.
In the early 90s, just as theSoviet Union fell apart, there

(33:34):
was a movement to coming toschools and to work with
educators, teach a Christianworld and life view.
It was an amazing opportunity.
Many organizations joinedtogether that's why it was
called Co-Mission and Mission tothe World was one of those and
organizations were assigneddifferent parts of the Soviet
Union.
Basically they cut it all upand most organizations came in

(33:55):
and just did that part in theschools.
But MTW came with a vision forchurch planting right away.
We were assigned the south ofUkraine, which is why our
churches began there in thesouth.
So we have six churches in thesouth of Ukraine.
So if we go from west to east,we have from the south Izmayil,
bilgeret, nistrovsky, and thenwe have two in Odessa, one of

(34:19):
which we have this historicchurch building of a Swiss
Reformed Church from the 19thcentury we were able to get from
the government and repair.
Then there's a church inMykolayiv, or Mykolayiv as it's
called in Russian, where Iserved for about four years.
And then, east of that, in oureast, is the city of Kherson,
the one I spoke about, that'sright across from the Russian
forces, on the other side of theDnipro River, and then moving

(34:41):
up in the north, we were able toget eventually to work with a
church in Kiev as well.
That became part of ourdenomination, and at one point
we had three churches in Kiev.
Now, because of the war, there'sonly one left, one main one.
The other one exists more insmall groups, bible study groups
the city of Cherkasy, close tothere as well, and then in the
city of Cherkasy, close to thereas well, and then in the east,

(35:02):
of course, kharkiv major churchout there, and then another
church in the city of Katlivkathat we've mentioned, a smaller
church, and in the city ofZaporizhia, which is in the
southeast Ukraine, a major city.
There there's a small groupmeeting, and then we have our
church in Lviv.
We are the only church inwestern Ukraine, so we're spread
out across the country.
It's a big country about thesize of Texas, and there's a lot

(35:25):
of work still to be done here.
There's a few major cities thatdo not have any Presbyterian
churches at all.

David Nakhla (35:32):
And how many ordained ministers in the EPCU?

Heero Hacquebord (35:36):
I think it would be about 12, 13.
So yeah, low teams.

David Nakhla (35:41):
Yep and your role has been to serve as a church
planter in Lviv the pastorthat's correct.

Heero Hacquebord (35:48):
Yeah, yes, so we now have a Ukrainian pastor
as well.
He has been an intern and thatis Mark's brother Vasil, who is
doing a great job, and he wouldlike to plant another church in
the future in Western Ukraine.
So our church planting planshere have been on hold because
of the war, but we would like tokeep going with that again,
perhaps in our city or inanother city in western Ukraine.

David Nakhla (36:09):
I'll just say it was my privilege to visit Odessa
during the war a few years agonow I can't believe it's been a
few years, but I think it wastwo years ago and to be speaking
with the pastor and others downthere who are now the pastors,
but reflecting on how they cameto the Lord now the pastors, but
reflecting on how they came tothe Lord and it was actually

(36:32):
through you, hero, your witnessand John Ides, who we were
traveling with their directwitness to these brothers like
way in the early days, and nowthese men are pastors of
churches and leaders in thechurch, and just see the fruit
that the Lord has bore overseveral decades and then to
really see it.
To me it's been just delightfulto see how this church and a lot
of your work, mark, really takehold of the ministry of mercy

(36:56):
in such a timely manner, in atimely way realizing that shift,
the need to pivot a little bitduring this time and focus so
significantly on the ministry ofmercy, but to just see the
vibrancy and the maturity reallyof the church from again.
A couple decades ago startedfrom ground zero, so praise God
for that.

Heero Hacquebord (37:15):
Yeah, for sure it's good to get your
perspective on it as well,because when you're in it
sometimes you don't always seethe changes yourself.

David Nakhla (37:22):
Yeah, well, you should be very encouraged.
I was also going to mention toyou, mark, that the May episode
of the Reformed Deacon podcastis on ministering to those with
mental health issues, and youmight find that the content
there from John and LindsayFickert to be very helpful to
you, brothers, in your ministry,to many who are suffering all

(37:42):
sorts of anxieties anddepressions and fears.
So we do continue to pray forpeace and, most of all, for the
lost to be drawn to Christ.
But for those listening to thispodcast, families gathering at
dinner tables or churchesremembering you in corporate
prayer, what are three specificways that they can be praying
for you and the situation inUkraine today?

(38:05):
Right now, we can start withyou, mark.

Mark Agarkov (38:07):
Yeah, thank you so much for your prayers.
It's very important and veryvital for us.
I would say first need, ofcourse, is peace.
It's stable peace, it's justiceand freedom, religious freedom
that we have and pray that wekeep this religious freedom and
freedom as a country.
And, of course, first prayerrequest is stable peace.

(38:32):
Second, it's about ourministers, about our pastors,
about our churches.
Courage and endurance forUkrainian pastors and ministers
and deacons, elders, everyonewho is involved in ministry.
We really feel that we lack ofhands.
We want to do more, but we donot have enough hands, enough

(38:52):
time.
We want to proclaim gospel asmuch as we can, but we see how
limited we are in our resources,and I mean like human resources
.
So please pray for our pastors,for our elders, for their
families and as they stayfaithful under the pressure and
keep serving for the flock.

(39:13):
And third one please pray forspiritual revival for Ukraine.
This is our dream.
We believe that this war willturn people to Christ, so we
pray about that.
We pray that in these difficultcircumstances they start to ask
questions and to seek.

(39:33):
So please pray for the revivaland for many turn to Christ
Jesus and we hope that after war, ukraine will see great revival
in our churches for our nation.

David Nakhla (39:46):
Thank you, those are great.

Heero Hacquebord (39:48):
Well, I will go to more specific requests.
Mark mentioned some greatrequests there for the country.
As far as our church here inLviv or our family is concerned,
please pray for our Englishcamp.
We have it every year but it'sbeen such a great outreach for
our church, with collegestudents going to the Carpathian
Mountains for a week studyingEnglish.
We have that at the beginningof July this year and in recent

(40:11):
years we have seen especiallystudents from other parts of
Ukraine who have moved to Lvivbeing very open to the gospel.
Lviv students grow up in thechurch.
They're not always as open, buta lot of these students from
other parts of the country we'veseen some great change in their
lives in the student ministryin our church as well.
So that's very importantoutreach for us.

(40:32):
Then, continue to pray forelders and deacons for our
church.
We do see candidates for thefuture and I know it's a concern
for our Flaggiff Church as well, but, yeah, for the whole
country.
But yeah, we need good eldersand deacons.
And.
I think the Lord is raisingthose up right now through the
war, and then just for ourfamily.
We would appreciate prayers forAnya's parents, as Anya cares

(40:56):
for them.
We are very happy that they arein an apartment building next
to ours because they moved upfrom the city of Mykolayiv,
where they're from, because ofthe war and we can care for them
here.
But there's just more needswith their physical care and
that will make our furlough inthe united states the summer
more difficult and and complexas well.
So we should prayer for thatprocess of caring for them I can

(41:20):
add some specific yeah this.

Mark Agarkov (41:23):
pray for our social ministry.
As it is more than three yearsof war, we see a decrease in
donations.
Of course, it's difficult forpeople to keep Ukraine in their
mind and keep donating.
So we still have thisopportunity, but we do not know
how long it will take.
Maybe we're going to haveanother year of war and the need

(41:45):
is huge now and it might bemuch bigger after war.
So please pray about our socialministry and about the nation
for that.
Second, please pray for safety,especially for our families, for
our children, because it's veryoften the risk of close hitting
and drone attacks.

(42:06):
So please pray about this.
And third one, please prayabout our trip to USA.
If God's, if Lord, opened thedoors this summer, we Westpacers
gonna have three weeks trip toUSA, as we had the invitation to
conference and we want tocombine it with some

(42:27):
presentations and meeting allaround the East Coast.
And please pray for our abilityto travel, because at first we
have to leave the country and,as far as you know, it's
forbidden for men to leave thecountry.
And second, about our trip andabout the church.
While our brothers would preach, while we're going to be in USA

(42:50):
for several weeks, please prayfor the church here in Kharkiv
and safety of our families hereand our trip to United States.

David Nakhla (43:00):
Mark and Hiro, thank you for taking the time to
share with us.
We're grateful for yourfaithfulness and that of your
churches and your willingness tobe the hands and feet of Christ
in a broken world and how.
That's a wonderful witness tous.
May the Lord continue to blessyou and keep you.
And to our listeners pleasedon't let these stories fade

(43:21):
into the background.
Pray continually for the churchin Ukraine.
Remember that our God is notdistant from suffering.
He brings resurrection, hope,even in the midst of war.
And for those of you who wereparticularly moved by what you
heard and desire to financiallycontribute towards this ministry
of mercy in Ukraine, know thatthe OPC's Ukraine Crisis Fund

(43:45):
remains open for donations.
Much of it will be used tosupport the work of the
congregations of the EvangelicalPresbyterian Church in Ukraine,
where both Mark and Hero serve.
Details on contributing to thisfund can be found at opcdmorg,
hit the Donate tab or look belowin the show notes.

(44:06):
Finally, I'd like to add mythanks to our producer, trish
Dugan, who contributed so muchto the scripting and technical
producing of this episode.
This podcast would not bepossible without her excellent
efforts.
So thank you, trish.
And before I let you guys go,I'd like to pray for you, sure,
so let's lift these things upbefore the Lord, heavenly Father

(44:26):
.
Lord, we're so thankful that weserve the God of all creation
and that you know each of ourneeds.
You even know our sorrows, evenas Psalm 56 talks about.
You know our tossing andturnings.
You have captured our tears ina bottle.
And, lord, as we had thisopportunity to hear from these

(44:51):
beloved brothers and theirministry in the midst of war,
we're so encouraged, and yet ourhearts are heavy for them, for
what they have suffered andcontinue to suffer, and much of
that seeking to be faithful forthe name of Christ.
We thank you for their ministry, for their witness, the witness

(45:12):
of these churches.
We thank you for these reportsof unbelievers coming to faith
through the midst of thesedifficult circumstances, and so
we pray, lord, that you wouldcontinue to be near them.
Lord, we pray, with Mark andHero for stable peace and for
freedom.

(45:32):
We pray, lord, that the worldleaders would work hard to bring
about peace, and Lord, that youwould do what sometimes seems
impossible from our perspective.
And so we pray, lord, that youchange the hearts of men, of the
king, towards a posture ofpeace and love and kindness

(45:53):
towards one another.
We pray for the pastors and theministers involved in this
important ministry.
As Mark was saying, there's somuch work to do and not enough
time and energy to do it, and sowe just pray, lord, that you
would build them up, strengthenthem for this good work.
We do pray for that continuedspiritual revival that you would
use these awful circumstancesfor your good, as we've seen

(46:18):
historically you do With Hero.
We pray for the English camp,lord.
We're thankful that thiswonderful ministry continues on
and how it's even a little bitof a haven from what many are
suffering on a regular basis.
And we thank you for theopenness to the gospel that's
been reported.
And we pray, lord, for goodfruit from this English camp

(46:40):
this year.
Bless those who go to serve andcause it to be effective and
fruitful.
We do pray that you would raiseup more elders and deacons in
the churches, in all thechurches, lord, men who are
faithful, men who have a heartfor you and for the sheep that
they would serve.
Well, pray especially for theHaka birds, with this travel

(47:01):
coming up as they travel to theStates.
Be especially with Anya'sparents, as they've been so
involved in their care and praythat they would have wisdom even
in those preparations.
We pray with Mark, lord, thatthis ministry of mercy would be
able to continue, that the fundswould continue to come in, lord
, that you'd even use thisepisode of the podcast to bring

(47:22):
in much-needed funds to carry onthis important work that
they're doing.
We pray that you'd continue toprovide safety for them.
Watch over the Agarco familyand others, lord.
The attacks on civilians is sodisturbing to hear, especially
these drone attacks that aretargeting civilians.
We plead with you for continuedsafety.
We thank you for the safetythat's been had over these years

(47:45):
and pray for that that wouldcontinue and bless Mark's
upcoming trip to the US.
We pray that you'd work out allthe details enable him to be
able to make that trip, that youwould even use that as a means
of encouragement to him and ameans to continue the work.
So we thank you, lord, that wecan come to you, that you hear
our prayers and we lift them upin the name of our Savior, jesus

(48:05):
Christ.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen,amen.
Thank you, brothers, thank youvery much.
Thank you.
So much.
Thanks for joining us.
Go to our website,thereformedeaconorg.
There you will find all ourepisodes, program notes and
other helpful resources, andplease make plans to join us
again for another episode of theReformed Deacon Podcast.