God is blessing us and helping us to build churches, orphan outreach centers, mission training bases and houses in Ukraine. These are unique because Ukrainian men are building with their indigenous forestry materials rather than traditional bricks and concrete. They were trained by American Christians and are flourishing today on their own.
We call all our projects "Mustard Seed" because they've grown from that small amount of faith that a strong-willed, single, Texas girl and Borkholder Buildings from Indiana started with in the neighboring country of Belarus in 2000. A thousand times I was told it was impossible. I will go to my grave declaring that with God all things are possible! After many years of blood, sweat, and tears, we humbly give glory to God for the fruit we see today:
Missionary Training Center - Youth With A Mission in Kiev, Ukraine.
1st dorm unit for Youth With A Mission in Kiev, Ukraine.
500-700 missionary trainees will go through this base every year when it's completed.
Church in Central Eastern Ukraine.
Residential home for Christian church member in Northeastern Ukraine.
Pine Branch Christian Camp Orphan Lodge, Director's Cottage and Bath House
A year-round camp being built for orphans in Ukraine
Missionaries Andrew & Jenny Kelly: Jeremiah's Hope
Yemelchino Pentecostal Church
Pastor Nikolai & Helen Yarashinko
Apostlov Pentecostal Church
Pastor Pavel Golub
YWAM Missionary House/Ministry Center
Missionaries: Yuri & Tatiana Sokolovsky
Townhouse Model for Foster Care families
built for Christian business man Oleg Moshkovski
Pentecostal Christian Life Church
Pastor Vladimer & Rachel Savchuk
Ministry House built for
Pastor Sergei & Victoria Gardinski
Church of Evangelical Baptists
Pastor Vadim Parfilo
Christian Hope Missionary Church
Pastor Sergei & Irina Muchak
Abundant Life Church
Pastor Vladimer & Nadezhda Shkira
If you feel led to help any of these ministers to finish their buildings, you may click on the online donation button to the right. We'll make sure your gift gets to them.
As the scriptures described the mustard seed trees creating necessary shelter for all kinds of birds, I envisioned that God wanted to create dwelling places for displaced congregations who were being evicted from their rented government-owned facilities.
God was faithful to help us build that first indigenous project using wood rather than traditional brick and concrete. It was difficult all the way through! Pioneer efforts are that way! At the end of it, my mustard seed of faith had been buried in the ground and I had nothing left to give! Exhausted, spent, angry, having had our tools stolen 3 times, truck-loads of land stolen from our 2nd nearby property, and overwhelmingly discouraged, I determined to pack it all up, throw in the towel and call it quits. Pastors, whom I truly with all of my heart had wanted to help, were no more interested in the model house than when I started 4 years earlier by shipping a model rehab center in containers from the USA. Their political battles occupied all their minds and hearts, and they were not embracing wood-frame construction as a viable means to build churches in Belarus.
I packed my 5 boxes and after 8 years of labor, I prepared my heart to leave...for somewhere. God sent 2 pastors, 2 businessmen, and one missionary from Ukraine to see the Mustard Seed. They had heard of this miraculous phenominon built by a crazy Texas woman.
God was faithful to help us build that first indigenous project using wood rather than traditional brick and concrete. It was difficult all the way through! Pioneer efforts are that way! At the end of it, my mustard seed of faith had been buried in the ground and I had nothing left to give! Exhausted, spent, angry, having had our tools stolen 3 times, truck-loads of land stolen from our 2nd nearby property, and overwhelmingly discouraged, I determined to pack it all up, throw in the towel and call it quits. Pastors, whom I truly with all of my heart had wanted to help, were no more interested in the model house than when I started 4 years earlier by shipping a model rehab center in containers from the USA. Their political battles occupied all their minds and hearts, and they were not embracing wood-frame construction as a viable means to build churches in Belarus.
I packed my 5 boxes and after 8 years of labor, I prepared my heart to leave...for somewhere. God sent 2 pastors, 2 businessmen, and one missionary from Ukraine to see the Mustard Seed. They had heard of this miraculous phenominon built by a crazy Texas woman.
I guess it was prophetic that this group was sent by God to touch this house, push on the wood-frame walls, jump up and down on the 2nd floor, and take their coats off in the warm house that was being heated only by a small electric heater. In one 32-hour weekend trip, they were convinced that this kind of unique, unfamiliar method of construction could work in their country to build their churches, ministry centers, and houses.
From a dark fog of uncertainty, I sent 2 of my packed boxes with these godly men back to Ukraine, saying that "by faith, I will come to help you. But only God knows the outcome." I informed this little group that I was not an engineer, nor a builder, nor a business woman. But rather I am a missionary with a unique calling to help build cooperative bridges of relationship between groups and individuals who are called to fulfill the Great Commission.
I promised to introduce one of the pastor's church designs to our dear partner, and it would be up to God to touch their hearts to continue pressing forward to help our Eastern European brothers and sisters.
From a dark fog of uncertainty, I sent 2 of my packed boxes with these godly men back to Ukraine, saying that "by faith, I will come to help you. But only God knows the outcome." I informed this little group that I was not an engineer, nor a builder, nor a business woman. But rather I am a missionary with a unique calling to help build cooperative bridges of relationship between groups and individuals who are called to fulfill the Great Commission.
I promised to introduce one of the pastor's church designs to our dear partner, and it would be up to God to touch their hearts to continue pressing forward to help our Eastern European brothers and sisters.
God did and the results are the above beautiful Ukrainian Mustard Seeds, sprouting up from the roots of that first seed planted next door in Belarus!