Testimony From a Ukrainian Pastor: Sasha Grebenyuk

I was born (into a) common orthodox (church) family back then. The thoughts about God came usually only in Christmas and Easter days. I have nothing special to say about childhood, it was normal, except for the fact that I was raised without my father. 

At pretty young age I already knew what is like hanging out with people, drinking, going to the parties, etc. 

At first it seemed to be much fun, but later on I felt bored and all of that didn’t bring me any pleasure. My careless days seemed to be gone and I couldn’t find peace at my heart. For no reason, I became to feel uneasy.  

My dear friends turned out to be fake ones and I was disappointed. One thing led to another and then I clearly knew I need changes in my life, but I had no idea where to start from. 

All these tough life moments made me not to give up and go all lengths no matter what. But deep down I was unhappy and felt alone. 

Nothing brought me joy. 

Once I remember I called out to God: “If you exist, then change my life, show me you’re real!” And changes did came but not the way I expected that. 

My friend got into a car accident and needed some donors. Me and some friends of mine went to give a blood sample to try to help him. A few months later I got to know I was sick with hepatitis. Being already at hospital I was informed I had some serious type of virus and    a month of treatment gave no results. Later came a reanimation period and understanding that I have no control over my life. 

Thoughts about death didn’t get out of my head. 

When I started to feel a bit better, one person asked me two questions one day. First one was where did I want to be after my death. My answer was obvious – in heaven. 

Then he asked again: “ Why God should take you there? “ And I had no answer, as I understood I was way “no good for heaven”. Then first time in my life I heard about Jesus Christ and what he came on earth for. Then she just presented me Bible. 

After so-called recovery I was told to go to hospital twice a year to take pills and keep my body balanced as the virus was still in me. 

Being at home I opened the Bible out of curiosity and read all stories from New Testament with great interest. 

Reading Mark I really took notice of these words  “…the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” Mark 1:1. I got that there is a great news, but I wanted to understand what it means and how it relates to me. 

For me “Jesus” was always just a name and “Christ” was like surname. Trying hard to figure out “the great news thing”, I finally got that what Jesus did for everyone was indeed a great news! 

My sin was paid in full! I would not remember how my prayer looked like but I frankly believed in that great news from Jesus! Right after the prayer I felt special like never before and peace was in my heart.  In five months Ι was baptized. 

After I had the blood test at hospital repeatedly doctors didn’t find any virus, it was gone…

Since I believed, my desire to share gospel to everyone and everywhere was endless. God used me in different ways and in lots of situations. Thus, by God’s grace, my friends became Christians and a few young people I recently introduced Jesus to were also with Christ. 

God blessed me with a great wife! She’s of a real help and also is eager to share great news about Christ with people around.  God gave us an amazing daughter, who we adopted when she was 14. Thanks to her, God teaches me and my wife even more how to love, serve people and look at them by his eyes! 

Later, my church decided that I’ll be in charge of Evangelism. I was chosen as evangelist and a bit later I was accepted to be a pastor at the same time. 

God constantly taught our family to trust just him in many moments so to change our hearts and look only at Him in this life. I always look for a chance to tell people about Christ. I see in that my key mission. 

One evening I talked to my wife about the opportunity to reach out to people through English school. God’s response didn’t make itself to wait long. 

Back in 2014 the Michael Gott International (MGI) team arrived at our town to teach people some English and tell them about Jesus. During two weeks almost 1,000 people visited evangelic church and many of them did it first time in their whole life. During the sermon where people heard of God, hundreds claimed that they want to repent their sins and come to Jesus. 

Next few years later we managed to do several big school seasons together with MGI. Also PES (Practical English School) club was open, where about 100 people attend English classes on a regular basis. Thanks God, the number of visitors constantly grow, because more and more people get to know that PES exists.

When we started this ministry, I didn’t speak English at all! And that made me trust God even more. During this time of English schools and camps we notice that people are becoming more open to us and to God particularly. 

Starting with first English school, God gave me new idea and made me desire about another church, which we really needed since then. Later me and my wife started to pray for English speaking missionaries who could help us make this happen. 

God didn’t take time to respond us and that’s how our friendship with Larry and Tammy Wood began. We’re all together driven by creating a new church in a visible location (where lots of people usually hang out) so more and more citizens of our town could hear the ospel. 

Thanks God, we have a big team ready to work hard toward our common goal. I believe that it’s only the tip of the iceberg of what God prepared for Lutsk (our town) and Ukraine. 

And we want to be part of that great God’s plan.