Latest / Centrally Speaking / Latest News from Eastern Ukraine: A Christian Worker's Perspective

Transcript

Latest News from Eastern Ukraine: A Christian Worker's Perspective · Centrally Speaking

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Centrally speaking, is the central strength of the church's public.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: It speaks about issues that would be of interest to our society.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: In particular, it addresses how a Christian worldview intersects with Western secular culture.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: In the spirit of the church's founder, we take the perspective of the middle way, which is in agreement with the historic Christian church.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Dr.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Drake Williams, Minister of Mission and Theology at the Church.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Our website is www.cscfamily.org.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's been over four years since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine that started 24 February 2022.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: At first in the West, there was a lot of interest as to what was taking place between Ukraine and Russia.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Then, as uh attention from the world has been uh drawn to other uh quarters, less attention has been paid uh to Ukraine, especially East Ukraine.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: But today we're very fortunate to have Andrey Knubilchuk from uh Zaporizhia, uh, Ukraine speak to us um and be interviewed by us on some of the latest news uh in Zaporizhia and East Ukraine from a Christian workers' perspective.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, Andre, welcome to Centrally Speaking.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're very glad to have you with us.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh hello, everybody.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps you might uh introduce yourself to those who are listening.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're so blessed to have someone who is from the Zaporizhia area.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, first of all, it's my privilege to be interviewed about Ukraine, Ukrainians, and the minister of the Paris Bible Seminary.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you for letting me share about this.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: My name is Andri Konovalchuk.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: I am the president of the Paris Bible Seminary.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: I have a wife, Svetlana.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: She is with me all the time.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: We have three children and six grandchildren.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: So we moved to Zaporizia in the last century, it was uh 1999.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: This was due to my service in the seminary and to my schooling at Columbia International University, South Carolina.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: So we have been living in Zaporizia for 27 years already.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: In 2001, I finished my master's degree, and since that year I am a faculty member of Zaporizhia Bible Seminary.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: All these years I have been teaching the Old Testament and homeletics.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: In 2021, the previous seminary president was retiring.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: Therefore, I was asked to lead the seminary ministry.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: I prayed about this responsible ministry, I took advice, I thought about this, and finally I agreed to lead this seminary since 2021.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: In parallel with this, since 2007, I have been serving as a pastor for education at the Central Baptist Church of Zaporizhia.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: So this is briefly about myself.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: And before being in Zaporizhia, where uh were you in East Ukraine, uh Andre or Central Ukraine?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was born and I grew up in the small town Melitopol.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's the Zaporizhia region.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: To looking at the map, uh Meletopol uh is located about 100 kilometers, I'm not sure about miles to the south from Zaporizia.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: And Melitopol is uh an occupied area now.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I thought it has also been in the news for this conflict.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what is the uh current situation in uh Zaporizhia as uh we speak today?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um perhaps you might give us uh uh some idea of uh the number of people who are uh still in the city, uh as well as uh the number of internally displaced people uh that have come to Zaporizh from uh from further east.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes somebody asks me, what are you doing in Zaporizia?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: You're foolish people, you must move from Zaporizh.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: But really, what's going on in Zaporizhia?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Zaporizia is in the southeastern part of Ukraine.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: If you look at the map, the closest point from the southern part of Zaporizhia to the front line is about 16 miles in a straight line.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: The city has a population about 700,000 people.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: Of this, about 200,000 are internally displaced persons.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: The majority of the displaced persons are elderly people, women, children.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: Almost all of them have lost their homes, their homes were destroyed by the Russian aggressors.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: There are many soldiers and military vehicles in the city.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: As for our churches, there are 17 Baptist churches in the city, and I mean this is just evangelical churches, seventeen, but we have uh other denominations, Christian denominations.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: It would be safe to say that uh Zaporizh is the largest major city close to the front lines in East Ukraine now.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Is that correct?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's correct.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's correct.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: It it was an industrial uh city, a lot of factories, a lot of everything was going on in Zaporizh.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's why Russian aggressors try to destroy Zaporizha.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: They cannot move Cloder to Zaporizhia, however, they try to destroy what they can.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Right, and there's still a very large uh dam there in uh on the on the Dnieper um on the Dnieper River there at um at Zaporizhia, correct?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, so it's a it's a major uh focus uh for Southeast uh uh Ukraine and uh the the last city before um the Russian uh Russian lines.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, so I know that uh Zaporizhia has withstood many attacks in the last number of um number of months, and those uh attacks have become more frequent.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: How often are Russian drones uh flying over the city and attacking the city?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, the attacks have become much more frequent and violent.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: Russia has really intensified its terror against the frontline cities.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and Zaporizhia is one of them.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: For us who live in Zaporizhia, air raids, serents and are part of our everyday life.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: We hear them every day and every night.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: Combat drones regularly strike civilian targets.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: It could be a family home, a postal warehouse, a gas station, or a passenger train traveling to or from the Paris.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: That's why on this day the latest news said that Ucker Zaleznia decided to stop, let their trains traveling to the Paris or from, directly from the Paris because it's a dangerous thing.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: From time to time, FPV drones, FPV you know, first person view, small drones, also make it into the city.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: By the way, as I mentioned before our interview, we helped our youngest son to move to the Ternopol oblast.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: And in that then, when we leave Zaporisha, in that day, if I'm not mistaken, about four FPV drones attack our area where Lily live.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: They attacked store, attack marketplace, some people were injured, so it's terrible, terrible things.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Those drones, FPV drones, are controlled by Russian operators who attack anything they see: a public bus, a private car, group of people, an apartment building, or a local government building.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: And on the top of that, every day Russian military aircrafts drop guided bombs on the city.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: And usually it's two to four bombs regularly, twice a day.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: So that the danger is very real.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: The sound of explosions, destroyed homes, dead and injured people are something we have learned to live with.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: But even in the middle of that, the churches continue serving.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned, 17 Baptist churches are in the city.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: The seminary continues preparing leaders because the need for the gospel hasn't become smaller.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: It has become even greater.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we're in Zaporizh.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: So aside from the drones, you mentioned guided bombs, uh also missiles uh striking uh Zaporizhia too?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: Missiles uh not often.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Not often.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: It time to time, but mostly Kyiv is attacked by missiles.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: But Zaporizh, Russian try to destroy Zaporizh by guided bombs, and now FPV drones.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: And when the sirens uh go off in Zaporizh, uh what is everybody supposed to do?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's supposed to go to the hiding places where they where they be hided from these bombs and everything.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, it's um I don't know how to say it more correctly, but I see this paradox because in the beginning in 2022, when we heard Air Syrians, everybody try to escape from the city, from the streets, from everything.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: But now I don't say that people just learn how to live with this, it's it's not possible to live with this danger.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: But some people some people go to these hiding places.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Some people uh do what they usually do.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: You can see car on the streets, you can see stores work.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: Life is is a victor over death.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's why people in Zaparissa try to live, try to work, try to enjoy their life and and and do what they can do in this situation.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: But emotionally it's it's hard when you uh hear this error Syrians.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: So most most people try to look at their phones, where danger is, what's going on, and especially during night time.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: Is power out in the city?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: Electric is electrical power out?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: Praise the Lord that our electricity, who is responsible for electricity, they try to do their best.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why cities with electricity.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: It was before we experienced breakouts before, so time to time.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, I as I said, praise the Lord that He blesses our government, our major in our city, and different districts of his work.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so we have electricity, we have water, we have everything we need for life.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: How is the morale or the spirit of people in the city right now?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned some fear, uh, but uh you also mentioned uh that that life triumphs.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: How do you feel the general spirit is of people in the city?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: General spirit, people believe that Ukraine will stop uh this Russian aggressor.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: This is a general, but really there are death, there endure people, there are some questions, there are a lot of going on here.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: But a general, general people going ahead and looking optimistic to the end of this war.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it seems that uh there is a resilient spirit that we are still seeing in and hearing about uh in the West.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's good to hear that even right close to the fighting, that there's still that uh spirit that life will triumph.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: In the West, we've heard about the Zaporizhia nuclear facility.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: We know it's a very large nuclear facility.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: Who controls that facility now and how safe is it?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located in the part of the Parisia region that is currently under Russian occupation.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: So today it's under the control of Russian personnel, along with Russian military and security services, what I know.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: From time to time we hear or read in the local news about different technical or operational concerns on the plant.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: The International Atomic Energy Agency continues to monitor the situation and has people there, in fact.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: But in reality, its ability to influence what happens on the ground is very limited.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: One of the biggest concerns is that Russia has effectively turned the station premises into a military base, with military equipments as well as training base for drone operators, and probably those drone operators attack Zaporizia.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: I am not sure, but probably.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: They understand that Ukraine will not strike the plant because the risk of a nuclear disaster will be enormous, not only for Ukraine, but for much of Europe.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: The question is, is the plant completely safe?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think anyone living in our region will say that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: As long as a nuclear facility is located in the active war zone and controlled by the occupying army, there will be always serious concerns.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we churches, we continue to pray that the plant will remain secure and that this danger will one day be removed for everyone.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the Zaporizhia power plant is in Russian-occupied territory.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: How many kilometers is the power plant from the center of the city of Zaporizha?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: Looking at the map to the straight line, it's about 100-120 kilometers.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's a fair ways south, though, of the city of Zaporizhia, even though it's called the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's correct.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Let's return now to uh the seminary.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: And you had mentioned that uh there are drones that are flying over the city.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: How about the seminary?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Are there drones and bombs that have affected uh the seminary at all during this time?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: Praise the Lord, no.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: The seminary equipment, seminary building is safe, and praise the Lord, we pray every time about them.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: But uh we need to have in mind everything what I said before.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: I would say in this way, that I will never say that war is something good.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: It has brought terrible suffering to our people.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: Some have lost their loved ones, others have lost loved ones in the war, homes have been destroyed, families torn apart, uncertainly, the future is unknown.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: But even in this darkness, I have seen the hand of God since 2022.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, all the time, but especially 2022.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: I have seen his protection, his guidance, and his faithfulness.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: Somehow in the middle of this chaos, God continues opening new doors for the ministry of Zaporizh Bible Seminary.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: What I mean?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean that we resumed our training process on the ZBS campus in Zaporizia in the fall of 2022.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: The total number of students has increased.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: In response to current challenges, we have launched several new programs in 2022.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: The primary goal is to equip students to serve in their churches, communities, and among people suffering as a result of the war.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Additionally, we never imagined it.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: But over the course of these four years, the Bridge Bible Seminary launched branches in Dnipro, in Kremenets, Ternopol Oblast, where we are now, in Bilefeld, Germany, in Norway.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: Furthermore, we're in the process to open more branches in the western part of Ukraine, Finland, Germany, and Poland.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: These training locations exist to equip Ukrainians, churches across Europe.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: Second, to help scattered Ukrainian believers remain rooted in their faith and ministry, and third to have an impact with the gospel on their communities where they live.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: Right now, around 60 students are training on the seminary main campus in Zaporizhia.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: Then across our branch locations, about 150 students are enrolled in various programs.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, sometimes I ask myself how all this is still possible.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: The only answer I have is God's grace.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's why the seminary continues its services.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great story about God's grace that in the middle of all this danger, that the gospel work still continues and in some ways even prospers.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Listeners may not be aware of the size of the facility at the seminary.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's about three or four stories tall, correct?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: And uh right next to it is is a church building, South Church.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a sizable, a sizable facility.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: So praise the Lord that it hasn't been hit by drones or missiles or bombs.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this is a this is a wonderful thing.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh your facility has also allowed internally displaced people to find housing too.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, in 2022, when we when we put on poles our schooling process, so we have a lot of these displaced persons from the eastern part of Ukraine, from from villages, from cities like Mariupol, Berdansk, Melitopol.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: They stopped in the facility of our seminary and on the facility or of church.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: They spent maybe one night, two or three nights, and then they moved further to the west or to Europe and even farther.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: As the seminary functions as a center for Christian, not only education, but also protections.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's quite a story.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm wondering if you might help some of us in the West to think through maybe a passage or two of the Bible that can give comfort and hope as you've lived through this great conflict over these last four years.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps you might suggest a Bible verse or two that has been meaningful and could be meaningful to those here in the West.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I will start from this point that when this great war was started by Russian aggressor in 2022, when everything was in chaos, a lot of people and many questions and so on and so on.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, I'm a man too.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: I have feelings, I have emotions, and I had questions to the Lord.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe you you will ask me, did I read the scripture in that year?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: On that time?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I I did.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: I did, and especially I read the book of Psalms.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because the book of Psalms it's about us, it's for us people.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this last month uh I preached in my church, the central church, on the book of Psalms, and especially I like Psalm 110.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's about the Lord says to my Lord, sit on my right hand, and so on, and so on.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: This so this psalm reminds us that Jesus Christ is on the throne.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's important thing because some people, Putin can think that he is on the throne, but this psalm says that no, no nobody.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: Just Jesus sits on his throne.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: He is the one who rules over history.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: We only see a small part of the whole picture.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: We see today's pain, today's losses, today's uncertainty.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: But God sees the whole story from the very beginning to the very end.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: Psalm 110 reminds us, reminds me, reminds us that Christ is reigning, even when the world seemed out of control.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: It also reminds me, reminds us that one day He will establish perfect justice.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_03: Evil will be punished.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: There will be a day when wickedness is judged and righteousness is fully established.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: Right now the people of Ukraine and the Church of Christ in Ukraine are walking through a very difficult season.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: We don't always understand why everything is happening the way it is, but we do know this.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: The Lord is leading us.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: He has not abandoned his people, he is present with us, he is Strengthening us, and he will accomplish his purposes.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: And that gives me hope.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: That gives our church in Ukraine hope, even in the middle of this terrible war.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: So we try to the we trust to the Lord to his reign.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's a very good word.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Psalm 110.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: I usually think of related to Christ's ascension.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: And of course it is, but to think of it also in wartime that Christ is still on the throne.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's a very, very good word for us.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anything else that you would like to share with brothers and sisters in the West or any prayer requests that we might be able to pray for you?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I just would like to share with prayer requests.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's important, and I am very thankful to the Church of America, to different churches I mean in America, to different people, believers in America who prays for us, who support us.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: Please, first of all, pray for the end of this cruel unjustice war and pray for just peace for Ukraine.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: Second, please pray for the safety of Zaporizh Bible Seminary staff and students.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: Thirdly, please pray for those who lost their loved ones in this war.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: Fourth, please pray for those who defend Ukraine.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: And especially this is what we see frontline city.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned, we see many soldiers, many vehicles.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: So please pray for those who defend our city, who defend Ukraine.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: Please pray also about finances for the Paris Bible Seminary.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: Then pray for students who have started their studies at the Paris Bible Seminary in different locations.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: And finally, please pray for the ministry of our alumni in this time of war.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: We have many alumni in Zapisia, Zapisia region, eastern part, western part of Ukraine.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Please pray for them also.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: Certainly we can do that.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: And uh perhaps you'd allow me to uh pray for you as we uh bring this podcast to a conclusion.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, Father in heaven, thank you for Andrei Kanuvlchuk and his wife Svetlana and their family.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: We thank you for their faithful ministry with uh the Zaparizia Bible Seminary.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we pray, Lord, that you would bring a just peace in Ukraine and that it would come soon.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, please bring peace to this land.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: And as we wait, Lord, please bring safety to staff and students at the seminary, comfort for those who have lost loved ones, and also strength to the defenders of Ukraine.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, help them and be their rock and be their protection.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then, Lord, we continue to pray that the ministry would go on through alumni and for students who are training, and that you would provide uh all the resources that are necessary so that this good work can continue.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: We look to you and look to you as our protection and trust in you that you are still on the throne, even when life throws uh circumstances at us, like a war or other problems, too, Lord.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for hearing us.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: In Christ's name we pray.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Andre, for uh being willing to be interviewed uh today.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we wish you uh God's uh blessing at this difficult time.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's my privilege to be with you, to be interviewed.