Pastor Sergii and his church have been meeting each Sunday for approximately 9 years in the local Music School Auditorium in Ivankiv, Ukraine, and more recently in the City Cultural Center due to the renovation of the Music School Auditorium. However, that will soon change because of the construction of their new church building.

On our arrival in Ivankiv, on September 8, 2006, the concrete foundation was in place and ready for the wood frame to be built. Pastor Sergii informed us that a group of four American men were scheduled to arrive on September 16th to participate in the building project. On September 18th, construction of the building frame began with the four American men and approximately 30 Ukrainian men. Approximately 10 women prepared three meals a day and cleaned up around the construction site in between.

It is important to note that most of the men who participated in the building project took a week of unpaid vacation from work to participate in the building project. Some wives actually filled in for their husbands at their jobs so that the husbands could work on the church building.

Over 20 of the Ukrainian men traveled from at least seven other regions of Ukraine to learn how to build using a wooden post frame building system with trusses. These Ukrainian men hoped to take the knowledge they gained while assisting with the construction of this church in Ivankiv to aid in the construction of churches in their own villages.

To begin the project, a frame was constructed on the concrete slab to build the 24 trusses that were needed for the roof. Once the trusses were completed and stacked on the concrete slab, the lumber posts were constructed and stood into place. The posts were then braced and had strips placed across them banding them together completing the 4 walls which were then ready for trusses. This process took 3 days followed by 2 days of setting trusses, bracing the trusses, and stripping the top for the metal roof.

It was humbling to see these Godly men and women work in harmony so hard to reach the goal of having the frame in place in just five days. And of course God was faithful to provide as each day these men and women gave Him the praise for their progress.

Over the following two weeks, Sergii and three to six men and women continued to work diligently and completed the installation of the metal roof. By the time this article is printed, the metal will have been installed on the four walls.

As I write this article, I recall so many committed Christian people that I could include but that would take up this entire newsletter so I will only mention a few. First there is Pop. Pop is 75 years old and was an inspiration to everyone as he came out every day to work on the church building. Pop would scale walls 20' in the air to nail a board in place or carry boards and supplies to those who needed assistance. No job was too large or small for him.

Next there are Anatoli and another man who worked on the church each day then worked their regular jobs in the evenings. Vitalik and Andre are another couple of men who are not currently employed elsewhere and worked all day every day on the Church.

Then finally, the leader and pastor of the church, Sergii. Pastor Sergii is a genuine servant of Jesus Christ. A leader that is truly committed to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ; a man who gives so unselfishly to others in need. It was encouraging to see Pastor Sergii face adversity each day in the construction of the church, yet selflessly stop everything that he was doing to sincerely listen to individual concerns, or minister to members of his church and people in the community. Pastor Sergeii is a self-employed builder in Kiev and took leave of his own job to see that the church building was constructed to a certain point before the hard winter sets in.

When the church is completed, it will seat approximately 300 people. Future projects hope to add an education and recreation building. It is the desire of Sergeii that when the church is completed, teenagers will have a Christian environment to "hang out" instead of roaming the streets of Ivankiv.