Category: Ukraine

We are in Poland as we sit down to write this recap.  This trip is difficult to capture in words.  We experienced so much and had such a wide range of emotions on this trip.  God was with us and guided us along the way, but we also needed to make a decision to leave earlier than planned which was also hard.  We experienced times of great hope and seeing God working in powerful ways, but we also heard and experienced the great sadness and exhaustion that people are experiencing after almost 5 years of war.  The war continues!  People continue to die.  Hardships and shortages due to the war are increasing.  The non-stop air raids are exhausting.  As people prepare for the upcoming winter, there are fears of how they will survive again without heat, food and water due to the ongoing attacks on infrastructure.

This recap will be broken into three parts – Hopefulness, Sadness and Needs

HOPEFULNESS

The weekend before we left for Ukraine, our church began a message series on I am ______, But God_____ and the first week was on hopelessness.  It talked about how God gives us hope in difficult times.  This message was so true as we arrived in Ukraine. The war causes people to feel hopeless, but GOD is working!  We started out our trip at a Leadership Conference for church leaders from across Ukraine.  The conference had to be moved due to the attacks that had been hitting Kyiv, but there was still 250+ leaders who attended as well as many more who were watching online due to safety and travel concerns.  The conference was attended by a group of leaders from churches in Texas who were beginning a partnership with churches in Ukraine.  Even in the middle of war, they were moved to start now and not wait for the war to end. 

I had an opportunity to share at the conference and one of the highlights for me was to join the President of the Baptist Union and the leader from the Texas churches on stage at the end of the conference for a prayer for Ukraine.  This act was a recognition of the years of partnership we have had with the leadership of the Baptist Union and our commitment to continue supporting Ukraine and the work of Jesus as it continues to share the hope of Jesus with a country filled with hopelessness due to the war.  

We had the privilege to give each participant a copy of my latest book, Building Blocks to Reach your God-Given Dreams and gave out copies of our other books at the end of the conference.

A second sign of hope was the time we were able to spend with pastors from churches in the Kyiv region.  On Sunday we attended URBN church.  

This is a new church in the heart of the city.  The church is reaching young families and is growing continually.  It is less than one year old but has already had to change locations 4 times due to its growth.  I was able to share in the service, and it was fun to connect with the team after the service.

We also had meetings with Kyiv Region pastors on Monday night and Tuesday night.  We learned about their churches and shared with them.  We talked about their challenges to grow their churches and shared some tools to help them find and reach their dreams.  One of the pastors that was in the group shared that they had been working with us the past 2 years and that the things we shared really helped them and that they had implemented all of the suggestions that we had made. The plans are that we will meet with these churches individually and in a group on our next trips.

A third sign of hope was our meeting with a group of pastors from the Cherkasy region.  This was our third time meeting with this group.  We have fallen in love with these pastors and their wives.  

Two stories of hope from this conference – first was the host church in Korsun.  The pastor of this church is Yan.  This church has been growing and is out of space. After challenging this church for the past year, they finally started a second service the Sunday we arrived.  Even though it was hard, the realized the need to open seats to reach more people.  It was so exciting to hear how God was working and how they were taking the steps the needed to do to reach the next person for Jesus.

The second church was a church from Zhaskiv.  The pastor is Oleg. This church started 5 years ago and had outgrown their space.  The found an abandoned government building that had not been used for the past 10 years.  They rented the space and have been working to repair it and make it a space for their church.  They were able to move into this new space a couple of weeks ago.  This new space gives them room to grow and is capable to holding even more as they need it.  We had the privilege to visit this church before we left and were amazed at the transformation of the building from when we saw it in April.

The last sign of hope we wanted to share was with Women’s Ministries.  Nastia, the leader of women’s ministries, has been doing an amazing job in her first year in this role.  Beth had the opportunity to share with 150 women leaders who were attending the kick-off of an Academy of Women’s Ministries.  It is exciting to see this ministry grow!

SADNESS

The first story of sadness came from when we were visiting the church in Zhaskiv.  As we were talking, we heard the sirens and there was a funeral procession going in front of the church for a fallen soldier.  As it drives through the city, the people from the town or city come out and pay their respect to the fallen soldier and line the streets as they go by.  This one experience for us happens daily across cities and towns in Ukraine from soldiers killed protecting their country.

The second story was from our visit to URBN church.  It is in the heart of Kyiv and near Maidan square, which is a memorial from 2014 when the country kicked out the Russian controlled leader and the war began.  It also includes a memorial to the soldiers killed in the war.  There were thousands of flags representing the loss of life.  As you walk through you see many pictures of the fallen heroes and how they represent the young and old of Ukraine.

A third story of sadness was on our last day in Ukraine.  We were meeting a pastor for lunch before catching our train.  Close to where we were eating a drone hit and killed four people.  As we were waiting for our train, we were evacuated from the train station and as we were going to the shelter, a drone hit near us.  We heard the explosion and saw the smoke.  This experience was what the people of Ukraine must deal with daily.  It is sad to see how lives are forever changed due to a drone attack and the destruction that it causes.  

Everyday life is constantly impacted.  During air raids, restaurants like McDonalds are closed.  Gas stations are closed because they are being targeted now.  Food shortages are being felt because Russia is targeting food distribution centers.  Health issues are expanding because drugs are not available because Russia is targeting pharmaceutical factories and distribution plus hitting hospitals and medical facilities.  And children are being impacted because schools are closed during air raids.  Drones have been hitting schools.  Students cannot complete their education because their studies are constantly being interrupted by air raids.

NEEDS

This is the hardest part to capture.  As you spend time with the people you hear about so many needs.  You wish you had all the money possible so that you could help each of them with their needs.  I will share some of the needs we heard about and want to help them with.  This is not all of them, but just some examples to share with you the needs that are being experienced by churches and individuals in Ukraine.

First, the church I mentioned in Zhaskiv.  They have remodeled this old building and have put in water, toilets, carpet, new windows and doors, but they do not have the resources to put in the heating system for winter.  They need $2700 to buy the equipment they need to provide heating to the building.  They have done all the work themselves with their own time and labor, but they need the resources to buy this equipment.  They want to be able to provide a warm place for the people of city during this upcoming winter.

A second need is one we heard from many individuals.  They are concerned about how they will survive the winter.  Most home are heated by gas with water systems.  Without gas and electricity, the water freezes and they are unable to heat their homes.  They are trying to put in wood burning stoves in their homes so that they can heat and cook this winter when they expect to have no utilities again like last winter.  It costs around $500 to install a new woodburning stove in a home.

A third need we heard was helping to pay for gas for cars to do ministry.  Gas is very expensive in Ukraine due to the war and many of the pastors and churches use their vehicles to do ministry in helping transport church attenders to providing support to soldiers and their families.  It can cost over $100 to fill up a tank of gas for a vehicle.  These are added costs to the church and pastor that makes doing ministry difficult.

There were many other requests we received, but this gives you an example of the needs the people of Ukraine are experiencing.

If you would like to help with these needs, you can give through Potential Endeavors.  All donations received will be sent 100% to cover these needs.  Just note Heating, Fireplace or Gas on your donation and we will get it to the churches and pastors that have the needs.

If you would like more information or would like us to share at your church about Ukraine and how God is working there, please let me know.  We would be happy to talk about Ukraine whenever we can.

Please make donations to Potential Endeavors.  You can give through our website at www.potentialendeavors.com/donate, using Venmo to @PotentialEndeavors or by Check sent to Potential Endeavors, 840 Aspen Circle, Little Canada, MN 55109.

You can reach me at Rick.Post@potentialendeavors.com.

We are heading back to Ukraine on April 14.  Our last trip was in September of 2025.  This has been an extremely hard winter in Ukraine.  Russia attacked the infrastructure of Ukraine which resulted in power outages, water issues and heating challenges for the people.  In addition, this was a cold winter.  Fuel shortages meant increased costs for fuel, for transportation and to run generators. These provided some relief from the lack of power and heat.

We tried to provide as much help as we could to assist those in need this winter.  Your gifts enabled us to assist several churches with heating needs as well as some individuals who had specific needs for help.

We are excited to return to Ukraine to meet with our friends who continue doing ministry in these challenging times.  We will be doing a pastors/wife conference in Cherkasy region.  Beth will be speaking at a Women’s Conference in the Kyiv region as well as meetings with Baptist Union leaders and church teams.

In addition, I have just finished my third book – Building Blocks to Reach Your God-Given Dreams.  This book captures the materials we have used in our training over the past 7 years.  It explains the four-step process of DREAM, DEFINE, DEVELOP and DO.  This book was written to help church leaders and pastors find their God-given dreams and help them achieve those dreams.

The book is currently being published and will be available in the US soon.  We will be selling at Potential Resources and on Amazon.

In addition, we have translated the book into Ukrainian, and we are in the process of printing 3,000 copies to distribute across Ukraine.  We plan to share the content with leaders while we are in Ukraine.  Our partner in Ukraine, Vasily Furta, wrote several chapters.

 We are praying that God will provide the resources to pay for the translation and printing of this book in Ukraine.  We believe this book will be a great resource for churches and pastors across Ukraine and help them as they lead their churches and plant new churches.

We are trusting God to provide the $10,000 we need for travel expenses, conference costs, printing expenses and support we provide when we are in Ukraine.  We will be sending out a prayer letter and trip schedule closer to our trip.

We thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry in Ukraine.  If you would like to provide resources to help with our expenses, you can give through our website Potential Endeavors, through Venmo to @PotentialEndeavors or by check payable to Potential Endeavors. 

Potential Endeavors 840 Aspen Circle, Little Canada, MN 55109

If you have questions, please feel to reach out to me at Rick.Post@Potentialendeavors.com

All donations are appreciated.  For donations over $100 I will send you a copy of my new book.  Just note “book” on your donation.

Coming back from two weeks in Ukraine is hard to capture!  There were so many experiences and connections that I could write a book, but that would be too much for most of you!  So, I will share a recap of what we did and try to capture the theme that we come home with.

This trip was a time of meeting old friends and making new ones.  We started with a retreat for pastors and wives in the Kyiv region.  We met some pastors who had been in our previous retreats and met many new friends.  The retreat was focused on strengthening marriages and we had an opportunity to share a devotional on peace and a talk about dreams.

Next, we spent time at the Baptist Union offices and had time to meet with leaders of committees (church planting, women’s, youth and children’s) as well as regional senior pastors from across the country as they came for their quarterly council meeting.

That week we also attended the first church planter’s academy hosted by Synergy Ukraine.  This is a church planting ministry of the Baptist Union, We had the opportunity to observe some of the sessions as well as lead one session on the leadership lessons of Jesus. 

Friday and Saturday we attended a Leadership Conference hosted by the Baptist Union.  The theme was Healthy Leader, Healthy Church, Healthy Community.  Over 400 leaders from across Ukraine attended.  We saw many familiar faces that had been at past retreats that we had led.  I had the privilege of leading a workshop with about 100 leaders attending.  I taught on Healthy Leader – lessons from the life of Jesus.

We ended our time with one more retreat for pastors and wives from the Cherkasy region and spent two days teaching and challenging them to multiply their impact in their churches.

Besides retreats and conferences, we also had the opportunity to speak at two churches for their Sunday services.  We spoke at Resurrection church with Pastor Igor Fedorovych in Kyiv and at Open Heart Church in Zolotonosha with Pastor Yura Fedoriuk.  I spoke on Finding Hope in Jesus at each church.  We also had a fun evening with the leaders of Open Heart church talking about dreams and being a “Come and See” church.

We had amazing times talking with pastors and leaders and hearing their dreams and hopes for the future.  We came away from this trip with “Hope for the future” as our phrase to describe this trip.  Even though the war continues, we had daily air raids with drones and missiles and had our car stopped by police several times checking on papers, we came away from this trip with a real sense of hope!  We heard it in the leaders we met with.  We heard about it in their plans for the future.  We heard it in their dreams.

One example of this was our meeting with Nastia.  She is the new committee head overseeing women’s ministries.  She shared with us four dreams for the future:  Development of Women’s Teams across Ukraine with a shift to younger women leaders; to unite pastor’s wives to support each other; to help churches to be able to better communicate with families of military heroes, especially those killed in the war; and to become a place of safety for abused women.

Another example was Pastor Zhenia from House of Peace.   Their church is in the middle of an apartment complex with over 5000 people living there.  He has a dream to reach 10% of their community for Jesus through their church.

Our meetings included hearing the vision of Roman from the Youth Committee, Mischa who is the pastor of a new church in Kyiv called Urban Church and the leaders of the Kyiv Region who talked about the need to open new churches to reach all the people who live in Kyiv.  Today there are 37 churches in the city of Kyiv for over 3.1 million people.

Each of these meetings we talked about God-sized dreams for their church or ministry with a hope that this will happen.  We talked with many younger leaders who are stepping up and leading in a big way.

The last thing we want to call out was the way that our book, Building Blocks for Raising Children is being used across Ukraine.  We had many people come up to us to tell us about how they have been using our book in their church and plans they have this fall for more groups to study.  We were asked to do some zoom meetings to share with their group and encourage them.  We are seeing progress of our dream to see this book being used by every church across Ukraine.

This gives you a taste of what we experienced on this trip.  We come home with many requests for assistance and opportunities to partner in ministry. 

If you would like to talk about how you or your church could get involved in supporting the ministries of Ukraine and partnering with them in their hope for the future, please feel free to contact us.  We want to share about how God is working in Ukraine and how you could be involved.

Thank you for your prayers and support for us through this trip. We felt the prayers and knew God was with us each step of the journey.

I can’t believe that we will be returning to Ukraine in a little over 5 weeks. Unfortunately, the war continues!  Since we left the end of May, the missile and drone attacks have intensified, and Russia continues to attack Ukraine and make the lives of the people difficult.

Despite the war, God continues to work.  Churches are having camps for children and teens.  Baptisms are happening and people are finding Jesus.  Since we left in May, the Books, Barbeque and Billboards (BBB) initiative has continued.  After testing the use of the billboards and finding that it did not have much impact on connecting with people, the leaders shifted the strategy to using posters in community centers, schools and parks and worked with churches to invite people directly. 

• This summer we have seen 35 churches sign up to receive books and lead a small group using Building Blocks for Raising Godly children. 
• These churches were provided books, a BBQ grill and resources to buy food to share at the small group. 
• In total, we have distributed 5800 books that are being used across Ukraine. 
• We are in the process of printing 3000 more books, and these will be available for the fall. 

Here are some comments from leaders of the groups:

• By the way, I have already conducted this course at a family camp. People really liked it. I will describe how everything went a little later. Soon we will start a group with parents at our home.
• Thank you! We received everything, and yesterday we held the first meeting to get acquainted. Everything went well, the meeting was pleasant, the meat was delicious – the grill works perfectly.  (No photos yet, so as not to scare anyone on the first try )) The books are very good, I hope we will be able to be effective in learning with their help.
• Glory to our Lord for this wonderful project! It is simply great for communication in small groups and working with specific categories, such as families of servicemen or the servicemen themselves.

Thanks to all who contributed resources for this project.

In September we will return for 2 weeks of meetings.  We will participate in the first session of the Church Planting Academy, a Leadership Conference hosted by the Baptist Union, a pastors leadership group in Cherkasy Region and speak at two churches during our time there plus other meetings with leaders and sharing my book. 

In addition to traveling to Ukraine, we are also providing financial support to help with the costs of these meetings.  We provide resources for:

• Church Planting Academy
• Leadership Conference
• Children Ministries Leaders Conference (held in October)
• Travel and other meetings. 

We are praying that God will provide the $15,000 we need to cover these commitments.

As we get closer to leaving, we will provide a detailed schedule and prayer guide.  We appreciate your prayers!  If you would like to contribute to our needs for Ukraine, you can donate at Potentialendeavors.com/donate or through Venmo to @PotentialEndeavors.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Rick.Post@potentialendeavors.com

It is hard to believe that 2024 is coming to an end and we are beginning to plan for 2025.  Our ministry year has been amazing.  We have been able to travel to Ukraine twice this year and we have been able to see God working there through the challenges of the war.  We have had amazing gatherings with pastors and leaders from across Ukraine and been able to spend time with them to encourage, listen and invest in their leadership and marriages.  One of the highlights of this past year was being able to translate and publish my book, Building Blocks for Raising Godly Children, in Ukrainian and share it with people across Ukraine.  Seeing pictures of groups using my book for small group discussions has been a heartwarming feeling.

As we began to dream and pray about our plans for 2025 and talk with our partners in Ukraine, we are excited to see how God is bringing together some exciting opportunities for this next year.  We are once again planning to travel to Ukraine twice next year with trips in May and October.  We are excited about our partnership with our Ukrainian partners to assist with an outreach initiative to reach unchurched people across Ukraine.  Here is what they are doing:

They are creating billboards that will be placed in larger cities across Ukraine showing my book with a slogan that says: Gift of Wisdom for Parents – Get a book as a Gift.  It will include a number to call to request the book.  When they call, my book Building Blocks for Raising Godly Children will be sent to them and then the contact information will be sent to a church in that city.  The church will then connect with those individuals and try to build relationships and invite them to their church.  In addition, for each church that agrees to be part of the project, our partners will send them a BBQ Grill and money to buy meat in order to invite the people who they have connected with to a outdoor cook out where they can meet and connect.

For our trip in May, we will be doing a retreat for the regional leaders of church planting from across Ukraine and their spouses and then do some visits to cities where the book was highly requested and do some meet the author gatherings with the churches.  In the fall we are planning to do a gathering for all church planters from across Ukraine as well as other smaller meetings.

Here is where we need your help!  We need to raise the support to help with this initiative. 

Purchasing books to give away.  Goal is to give at least 3000 books – $3000

Gifting a church a BBQ and Food – 100 churches – $50,000

Church Planting Retreat – 50 couples –      $10,000

Would you pray about helping in any of the following ways:

• Pay for 100 books                           $100
• Sponsor a church BBQ                   $500
• Sponsor a Church Planter couple to attend retreat        $200

You could do one or multiples of any of these things.  All money raised will go to pay for our Ukraine ministry expenses.  You can donate at our website, https://potentialendeavors.com/donate or through Venmo at @PotentialEndeavors or by check.

If you would be interested in establishing a relationship with a church in Ukraine and get updates on how these projects are going, please contact me at rick.post@potentialendeavors.com.

Also if you would like a copy of my book in English to use in your small groups, they are available at https://bandrpostresources.com or on Amazon.  We are also available for parenting conferences based on the book if you are interested.  Just contact me at my email above.

We are home from Ukraine!  So much happened in the two weeks we were there.  We had a time of connecting with old friends and hearing about their ministries, meeting new leaders and learning about their work and time spent investing in pastors and leaders in the church.  When I think about this trip, there are three words that capture best what this trip was all about.  Those words are trauma, encouragement, and impact.

TRAUMA

Visting Ukraine, you see the impact of 10+ years of war and the escalation that has happened in the last two years.  You experience the air raids, and you get a taste of what the people have to live with every day.  You drive through the villages and cities, and you see the cemeteries filled with Ukrainian flags honoring the graves of fallen heroes.  The people are tired of war and the impact on their lives.  They have lost so many family members and friends, and they don’t know when the hostilities will end.

We had the privilege on this trip to learn more about the Chaplin ministries of the Baptist Union.  We learned about the work being done to support the soldiers and their families and the ministry work of caring for the families of the fallen heroes.  We attended a church service where there were 100 women who had lost a husband, father, or son. 

The church provides a place where these families can come together, grieve, and process the impacts on their lives.  They provide needed assistance and help in dealing with the trauma that has impacted their lives.  They share their stories together and help each other keep the memories of their heroes alive.

We heard about the trips to the frontlines to provide food, care, and encouragement to the troops as well as the work in visiting hospitals to provide aid and care to the soldiers recovering from wounds caused by the war. 

This picture is a craft completed by a wounded soldier to provide activities to help them as they recover and adjust to their new reality.

We learned about groups that are providing trauma care training to leaders and families impacted by this war.  The need for this training and assistance is great now and will only grow as the war continues and as people work to try and rebuild their lives when the war is over.

ENCOURAGEMENT

One of the biggest impacts we make with our visits is to be an encouragement to those we interact with.  Ukrainians are so thankful for all the help and support that have been given to them and they are so encouraged when we come and visit with a war going on.  Our visits let them know that they are not forgotten and that they are important to us.  Much of our time is spent listening to their stories and hearing how the war has impacted them.   We listen to their needs and challenges and try to find words to comfort, support and encourage them to stay strong in the face of all the challenges they are going through.  But in spite of the difficulties and how tired they are, they have a burning desire to see their country be victorious and to fight for the freedoms and opportunities that have. 

At one of our lunches, we heard the story of one of the pastors who had lived in Bakhmut before the war and had to leave as the Russians attacked the city. 

They showed us pictures of their newly constructed home that had been destroyed by a tank and they lost everything they owned.  They shared how as a displaced person they struggled to find a place to fit in and that now they are starting a church that is reaching young adults who want to learn English and technical skills.  While loving this ministry, their heart still beats to one day return to their hometown and help rebuild their city and home and create a church to help their fellow displaced people re-establish their lives.

IMPACT

When we started our ministry seven years ago, we had a mission to help pastors and churches develop their potential and to help them reach their communities for Jesus.  Over the years we have worked with many pastors and churches, and we have had the privilege of going back year after year and seeing the impact these pastors are making in their communities.  While who we work with has changed over the years, our focus has not changed.  We continue to teach three basic concepts: 

• To dream God-sized dreams
• To develop teams to help in their ministry
• To create churches that are “Come and See” places where people and see Jesus and learn what it means to have a relationship with him. 

On this trip we were able to continue the training that we are doing with church planters, and we were able to hear some of the stories of how our training has made an impact.  Here are some of the stories we heard:

• Over the last seven years, one church has had three meeting places.  They keep growing and need more space to welcome all those that want to attend. Thanks to gifts from our partners, they were able to finish their newest meeting space just before Easter and it was full their first Sunday.  Now they are talking about what they are going to do to make more room.

• Last October, we met with a church and spent two days working with them on how to help them reach more people for Jesus.  After our visit they worked on making changes.  We met with them on this trip, and they shared all the things they have done and that since making changes, which included counting attendance at every gathering, they have seen a 33% growth in attenders over the last six months.

• In our church planter training, each pastor shared what has been happening at their churches since our last meeting.  We heard stories of baptisms, new believers and new attenders.  There are still many challenges, but they are seeing some impact.  We heard one story about a Muslim student who started visited their church.  He had lots of questions and they tried to answer his questions and make him feel welcome.  After a few months, he started a relationship with Jesus and was baptized.  Now he is bringing his Muslim friends to the church.

These are just a few of the stories we heard.  I could fill up more pages, but this gives you a feel for what we experienced.  We are thankful for the prayers and support of so many as we traveled and worked in Ukraine.  If you have questions about our trip or our ministry, we would be happy to set up a time to talk or meet.  We are blessed to be able to travel and do ministry in Ukraine, but we could not do it without our partners.

If you would like to learn more about how you could be one of our partners and help pastors in Ukraine as they plant new churches and reach their communities for Jesus, we would love to talk with you.  You can connect with me at rick.post@potentialendeavors.com .

If you would like to donate, you can make a donation by clicking this link https://potentialendeavors.com/donate which will take you to our website or you can give through Venmo. Our Venmo ID is @PotentialEndeavors.

You can also send checks to:

Potential Endeavors

840 Aspen Circle

Little Canada, MN 55109