Kevin White is the deacon at Russellville’s Crittenden Drive Church of Christ charged by the elders to oversee the congregation’s missions efforts. In this article, White and his wfe Annelle talk about a congregation in war-torn Ukraine which Crittenden Drive helped establish over 25 years ago. The accompanying pictures show members of the church, raising questions about how many of the men are now soldiers.

In 1995, Crittenden Drive Church of Christ purchased a building in Shevhenko, Ukraine, to establish a congregation in the area near Donetsk.

Logan Countians Charles Roney (the Crittenden Drive minister at that time) and Pam Jones were among some of the group based out of Memphis that traveled to the region to help establish the congregation. Since that time, Crittenden Drive has been helping support this congregation.

In 2014, church members were tentatively planning a trip to the Ukraine to meet the new minister and to worship with the church members there. However, after Russian aggression escalated that year in the Donbas region and Crimea, it was determined unsafe to travel to the region at that time.

Since then, Crittenden Drive has had regular emails with updates and pictures. However, Crittenden Drive had sent an email Feb. 23 to check on their safety and the conditions in their community. A response did not come until March 1. They reported that they were “praying and relying on the Lord to help through this trial.”

That was the last communication with the Ukrainian church.

Please pray for these and others in Ukraine that are going through untold hardship.