Odessa Mission Updates

03/26/2026

Well, I know many of you have been praying for Anna Prokopova who’s been facing stage 3 cancer. And thanks to your love and generosity we’ve also been able to come alongside her family with some monetary support during this long-fought battle. Never once, in all my interactions with Anna, have I ever sensed her faith waver or her hope wane. Never have I sensed her questioning “Why?” Throughout all the surgeries, rounds of chemo, and radiation, though her body may have shown weakness her spirit exuded remarkable strength and resilience.

Today, we joyfully celebrate the results of her most recent biopsies, which indicate that Anna is finally CANCER FREE 🙏❤️🙌 Many thanks to all of you and thank you Jesus for answering our prayers!

03/10/2026

A number of people from Evangelism Church in Kharkiv have now emigrated to Germany and formed a small church there including former pastor, Vitalii Lakh, who's ministering to them with his family. Others from E.C. are still in active duty on the front lines. The rest are in Kharkiv serving their community.

Dmytro Gritsenko, a deacon at E.C. and founder of Mercy House Rehab Center, is now serving as the interim minister along with his wife Irina. Thanks in part to your generosity four M.H. graduates who were baptized in the past two years are now serving in leadership roles at E.C.

Though circumstances forced us to close down M.H. Dmytro says that conditions have improved such that they're considering re-opening the center. Please keep that in prayer if you would.

Dmytro, with our financial assistance, successfully switched the church vehicle's gas tank to a natural-gas based system instead, which greatly cuts costs and allows them to do considerably more outreach and benevolence within the community. Glory to God!

02/25/2026

Today marks the four-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion but God is good and in Him we hope and place our trust 🙏❤👍 Thank you, God, for everything!

We also thank our faithful supporters who give the Odessa Mission the ability to continue providing temporary relief and lasting hope to Ukrainians affected by the war through our benevolence fund called: "Love for Ukrainians".

"Do everything in love" (1 Corinthians 16:14).

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02/04/2026

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus repeats these words: “Then, your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Mt.6:4, 6, & 18). Some seek the spotlight; others work behind the scenes. Though God loves them both Jesus reminds us that special rewards await the latter group. Denise Flynn served as my first forwarding agent in 1994 when I headed off to Kharkiv. Following my move to Crimea in 1996 Karen Atkins graciously filled that critical role. Then Allen Kunkel took the baton after the Odessa Mission was born in 2003. Bill and Diane Ware gladly assumed the task in 2008 for nearly a decade but theirs was an especially tall order because Iryna and I had just opened a business in Odessa requiring considerable heavy lifting back in the USA. At some point, my Dad, Emmett Murphy, functioned in the interim until Steve and Rhonda Dunham cheerfully answered the call to sacrifice much of their time over the coarse of several years. These are the unsung heroes. Rarely are they ever mentioned. Seldom are they seen. Never do they get the credit they deserve. But God is watching and He promises that their reward will be great! We thank each and every one of them for their innumerable selfless acts, the effects of which only God Himself can measure! Words cannot express the depth of our gratitude for their dedication and for their friendships! In this vein, and without further ado, please join us in extending a warm welcome to our new forwarding agents Glenn and Carol Lewis!

01/31/2026

Please continue praying for our Christian brother, Sergei Lytvynenko, who’s currently stationed in one of Zaporizhia’s hot spots. He’s still in need of some decent protective gear so hopefully we’ll be able to get that to him in the coming days.

A good bulletproof vest costs about $550 and that would be a real blessing. As you may recall, the one we bought for Ivan Yegorchenkov actually wound up saving his life.

As always, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued prayers and support!

01/14/2026

Many of you have prayed for our personal friend, Anna Prokopova, as she's undergone multiple surgeries, four rounds of chemo, and radiation treatment in hopes of being cancer free. Moreover, our compassionate supporters enabled us to donate $1,000 last summer and an additional $300 this month to assist her wonderful Ukrainian family of six in their struggle to persevere as Christian refugees so far from home. The Odessa Mission would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued prayers and selfless support for Anna and people like her. While, at times, the amount of money we're able to give is sufficient for meeting the need at hand, oftentimes it barely even scratches the surface. But I think what's most important for us to keep in mind is that any amount, whether great or small, provides a genuine ray of hope for Ukrainian believers because it's a vivid reminder of the fact that God hasn't abandoned them. Ultimately, that is what your gifts are accomplishing in these people's lives and ultimately that is why the Odessa Mission will continue to exist.

Tomorrow Anna is scheduled for her first biopsy after her comprehensive medical treatment to determine what the next steps will be if any. If you would, please be praying!

01/06/2026

Here's Sergei Lytvynenko with his wife, Elena, and their teenage son, hosting friends of ours, Pasha and Anna Trepevskoye, for dinner in our kitchen of all places. Sergei's family was displaced from their home in the east by advancing Russian forces but thankfully they were able to move into our vacant apartment and start serving at Odessa's Christian Life Center (i.e. CLC), which desperately needed a preacher at the time. Over the past several months they've even been able to use our flat to host a small group Bible study on Thursday evenings. And they're also involved in various forms of benevolent outreach including caring for an elderly handicapped woman with no remaining relatives. Tatyana, unable to walk, on prescribed painkillers, in need of hip surgery, and solely reliant upon her meager government pension, rapidly felt hope slipping away until CLC knocked on her door for the first time. Since then God has opened another door for sharing the Gospel with her, showing her the love of Jesus, and tending to her needs. In fact, we were recently privileged to help Tatyana by sending over some much-needed funds to help fill some of her medical prescriptions and supply her with some adult diapers. As always, we are eternally grateful to our supporters for making things like this possible!

If you would, please remember Tatyana and CLC in your prayers. Please also be praying for Sergei and his family because he was unexpectedly conscripted into the Ukrainian army and sent into active duty just a few days ago.

Want to donate and have 100% of those funds help Ukrainians in need? Consider giving to “The Odessa Mission: Love for Ukrainians Fund” at:

Venmo or Zelle – [email protected]
PayPal – [email protected]

12/20/2025

I recently received a letter from Dmytro with whom we started Mercy House Rehab Center in Kharkiv and I've included it below. As you may recall, because of the war we had to close down the rehab center but God continues working in northern Ukraine and we are privileged to be able to support what He is doing through the few who remain there. Please remember them in your prayers!

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Dear Brother John,

We thank God for everything we are going through. The Lord is refining us and purifying us from unnecessary impurities. Today my family and I are safe but what will happen tomorrow we don't know. Our country is undergoing so much. As you know, some people from our church have fled to Germany. Pastor Vitalii, who formerly served in the army, is now safe in Germany. Only twelve of us remain here in Ukraine. Unfortunately, my family does not have the opportunity to leave.

Our church gathers regularly. We continue meeting in the same house. We have small groups and youth meetings. We've also begun praying about the prospect of resuming ministry for those battling addictions to drugs and alcohol. Five men are serving the congregation in various ways. The city is very dangerous. It's becoming more and more difficult. All of us at least have part-time work, which covers our basic necessities like housing and food. This is enough for life and godliness.

All the brothers who were baptized at Mercy House Rehab Center remain in Christ and serve with us here at Evangelism Church. None of them have gone back to the world. We rejoice in that and thank God! We pray constantly that we will all survive this war and be able to devote our lives toward serving addicts and teenagers. These would be our two areas of ministry at present.

For teenagers, we've started computer classes that Maxim and Diana are teaching but we need a new projector lamp because the one we now have is weak making any projected images difficult to see during daylight hours. If you could possibly help us obtain a new lamp then we would be very grateful indeed. As always, thank you for your continued friendship and partnership for the sake of the Gospel. Grace and peace to you from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your Brother, Dmytro Gritsenko
Deacon at Evangelism Church
Kharkiv, Ukraine

10/16/2025

Kirill and Lyudmyla Bondarenko minister to Grace Church in Odessa and are friends of ours. A while back we learned that Lyudmyla desperately needed to have major surgery but she couldn't due to insufficient funds. Although we could not cover all of the necessary expenses we were able to contribute a significant portion nonetheless. Yesterday, Lyudmyla left us a very emotional voice message expressing the true depth of her gratitude. She also explained that while the operation was successful it also turned out to be considerably more invasive than what was originally anticipated. As always, thank you for helping to make this possible. For years Kirill and Lyudmyla have given selflessly to so many people in need and it's indeed a privilege to serve folks like them.

Want to have 100% of your donation help people like Lyudmyla? Just give to our benevolence fund called: "Love for Ukrainians" -

PayPal: [email protected]
Zelle or Venmo: [email protected]

09/27/2025

Here are three men from Ivan Yegorchenko's unit after having received the ponchos and antennae that we recently sent them. In this video they reveal their unit's number, mention me by name, and express their gratitude not only for these gifts but also for our support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And, last but not least, this brave soldier concludes by giving glory and honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Please keep them all in your prayers 🙏

09/21/2025

In 2023 we bought a high-quality bulletproof vest for Ivan Yegorchenkov because all he had then was a low-grade vest, which is typically what the Ukrainian government offers its soldiers. Upgrading one's gear is usually an option albeit at one's own expense. Given advancements in drone-warfare technology Ivan contacted us because modern drones now use heat-sensors capable of seeing through his unit's low-grade camouflage material making them sitting ducks. So, we purchased seven anti-thermal imaging ponchos for his team because word on the street is that they're saving many lives nowadays. We also bought five Spider Antennae allowing Ivan's unit to effectively communicate amongst themselves and with commanding officers while avoiding detection by enemy forces. Even better was the fact that the total combined cost was less than $600.

If you would like to contribute to causes like these then please know that 100% of your donation to our "Love for Ukrainians" benevolence fund goes toward helping Ukrainians in need.

Some ways to give are:

PayPal - [email protected]
Zelle or Venmo - [email protected]

"Let everything you do be done in love" (1 Corinthians 16:14).