Testimony

 

Naomi and I were both saved at the age of seven, having been raised in Bible-believing churches and hearing teaching and preaching from a young age. After seeing the Lord leading in my life to missions and work among Russian-speaking  people, I surrendered to His will at age 17. I began ministering and later preaching in a Russian-language Baptist church in Knoxville, Tennessee on Sunday afternoons while attending Bible college, community college on weekdays, and working secular jobs. I kept correspondence with Naomi’s father, missionary Perry Demopoulos, to learn about Bible-believing work in the former Soviet Union, and their project to translate the King James Bible into Russian. I attended evening Bible institute courses, as well as taking correspondence courses through Charity Baptist Bible Institute in Dayton, OH, and graduated in 2015. 

 

Naomi surrendered to the Lord’s will in her life, and had a desire to remain among the Ukrainian people and serve in the ministry. Her father has been serving in Ukraine since 1992, and her mother has helped immeasurable in the ministry there. Naomi’s own desire was to remain in the country to be a help to her parents and the people of Ukraine. 

 

After seeing that God was leading us both in the same direction, and praying about a future together, we became engaged in 2015, upon my graduation from Bible institute. After a brief deputation, I moved to Kyiv, Ukraine, and was married to Naomi in 2016, and we began serving the Lord as a couple. Our son, Philip, was born in 2019. We are expecting our second child in late summer of 2022. 

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We are sent out of Anchor Baptist Missions under Anchor Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio and Pastor Mike Elliott. Anchor Baptist begin in a garage in 2005 with a handful of members,  and has seen the Lord bless in many ways in just a few short years.