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August 20, 2025

“Yes” to God’s Calling

This summer, 40 of us—including myself—became summer missionaries in Central and Eastern Europe. Pretty amazing, right? Each of us said “yes” to God’s call to serve.

I am from Ukraine, and for the past three years, I’ve been living, working, and serving in the Czech Republic, in the city of Ústí nad Labem. This year, I’m serving as a Josiah Venture intern. Before the internship began, I was really nervous. I kept wondering how I would communicate with Americans and people from other European countries—it’s a whole mix of different cultures.

About a week before departure, I kept telling myself, “Nika, why are you doing this? Wouldn’t it be better to just keep working at your coffee shop and enjoy the summer in your hometown?” I was afraid that maybe this internship wasn’t what God wanted from me, but I was so wrong.

As soon as intern training started and I met so many young people with the same heart as mine —to serve youth and follow the same God—I didn’t feel invisible or alone anymore. It was a priceless feeling to worship God together, study His Word, listen to powerful testimonies, and be inspired by how beautiful our Lord truly is. For a long time, I struggled with the thought: “Why did God choose me for this mission?” I was overwhelmed by doubts. I wondered if I was wise enough, interesting enough, outgoing enough, spiritual enough, etc. My thoughts were full of me, me, me. But during intern training, I received a word from God: “Nika, this isn’t about you. It’s about what I want to do through you and how I want to show my power through your life.” God doesn’t look at how “cool” we are or how many Bible verses we can recite. He looks at hearts that are ready to serve him.

Among the interns at training, there was one more Ukrainian —Emily. This summer, she is serving with the Fusion International team. It was such a comforting feeling to know I wasn’t the only one from my home country. One of the most powerful moments for me was when the intern teams gathered to pray for and bless one another for the summer ahead. Sadly, due to the war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian intern team couldn’t join us in person. So when it came time to pray for Ukraine, Emily and I stepped into the center of the circle.

Everyone began to pray for us, for Ukraine, for the ongoing war. At that moment, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I cried tears of gratitude to God for the unity of his people, for the deep sense that we are not alone in this war. It was a family moment. It was a moment that reminded me again that Christians are not just people who believe in the same God, but are a true family. They’re a family that walks through both joy and pain together—a family that supports and prays for one another.

Would you join me in praying for a generation that cries together, rejoices together, and says “yes” to God’s call to serve youth, right where we are?

Nika Buratova

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Discipleship, Events, Help Ukraine

Dawn Is Coming. All Is Well; I Will Rejoice.

It’s 2:51 am on March 7th when I wake to the sound of an air-raid siren via the “Air Alert!” app on my phone. For these last four-plus years serving in Ukraine, this is far from unusual, except that this time, it’s during the final night of our Josiah Venture Ukraine team’s 3-day Springfest event. The 530 participants—most of them teenagers—are under our watch and care. Since rebooting this annual fest in 2023, a year after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, there hadn’t been a single siren during the event itself. This year was different. When a siren sounds in Ukraine, it does not necessarily mean that danger is imminent. With modern technology, we can check our phones to understand the threat to which the siren warns. As I begin to scan my screen, I remind myself that our team had picked a facility for Springfest deep in the Carpathian mountains, so surely there is no reason for concern. I read that cruise missiles and attack drones are heading southwest towards a city with a name I don’t recognize. I copy it into Google Maps and quickly realize that this city is in the same region, or county, in which our event is being held. I hold my breath as I tap the “directions” button and feel a tinge of relief in my gut when I realize the city is over 200km (±125 miles) to the east. But what if the missiles aren’t targeting that city? What if they and the drones keep heading west? This is but a small taste of the thoughts and emotions that flooded my heart and head during the 1 hour and 21 minutes of tracking this particular attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the middle of the night. Russia attacks Ukraine every single day without exception. Of course, the scale varies. But not a night goes by without a siren sounding somewhere in the country. By the grace of God, there were no casualties from this specific attack in the region we were in, and the threat did not escalate to the point of needing to wake Springfest attendees to seek shelter. Our team was sleep-deprived, but as darkness turned to dawn, we could turn our attention back to the heart of our event. Our JV Ukraine team started Springfest in 2011 (back then, it was Winterfest!) to provide a touch point for churches between summer camps. The event has grown from a few dozen attendees to 530 this year, in partnership with 32 Ukrainian churches from all across the country. The current mission of Springfest is to provide a platform for Ukrainian youth leaders to build deeper relationships with their young people, both believers and non-believers. Amidst all the fun of meeting new people, playing sports or board games, creating through crafts, learning in master classes, having a blast at a themed night-party, or just hanging out with friends, we work to provide a safe environment for non-Christians to hear the gospel from the stage and have open discussion with their peers and leaders during small groups. We pray that Springfest is a spark for non-believers to have gospel conversations with their leaders that lead to repentance and belief in Jesus, while also providing a space for believers to grow in their relationship with Christ. One of the best parts of Springfest is getting messages from leaders in the days following the event and hearing stories of how God moved in the hearts of young people. For example, a leader named Anton, who, along with 3 other leaders, brought 16 non-believing teenagers with him to the event, said that Springfest was “the last hammer hit” for one of his guys to repent and follow Jesus. Another leader, Yevhen, said he was up till 3 am one night with his small group of guys, having deep conversations about questions they had about Christianity. “All such meetings gradually bring a young person closer to God,” Yevhen told us. “This festival, in my opinion, raised everyone to a new level of relationship with God.” Pray with us that these types of gospel conversations and professions of faith continue in the coming weeks! Stories of God moving in the hearts of youth and using faithful leaders to embody his Kingdom on earth always encourage us and provide endurance amidst the challenges that the war brings to daily life and ministry. I wouldn’t wish on anyone the task of creating contingency plans for cruise missiles while organizing an event where young people can simply be. It’s a place where they can step away from the terrible normal numbness of getting used to living in war and receive the love of God through his loving church. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus remains our morning star in the darkest nights. We will continue to look to him in all things, as we, with grateful hearts, have the privilege of partnering with him and his movement in Ukraine. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
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4 Years of War

February 24, 2022, radically and forever changed every Ukrainian. Each of us missionaries on the Josiah Venture Ukraine team have seen significant differences in our daily realities, both in life and in ministry. Russia’s aggression has brought immense tragedy, pain, tears, death, destruction, uncertainty, and despair. It’s hard to believe that we have been living in this reality for four years now. Many friends from different countries ask what is happening in Ukraine today, since our war has almost completely disappeared from their news feeds. We are especially grateful to those who ask rather than assume or forget. No matter how propaganda tries to shape the narrative, the war is not over. In fact, it is becoming more brutal and more personal for each of us. We are losing more friends. Churches are losing ministers. Families are losing their loved ones. Ukraine continues to pay a high price in the fight for its freedom and in holding back evil that could easily spill into other European countries. The war has come very close to our JV Ukraine team. Three of our colleagues (Andriy Polonnikov, Vlad Tsupik, and Serhiy Bielov) were mobilized into the army. As Christians, they continue to live out their mission in dangerous places, risking their lives every day. We are proud of them and ask you to join us as we lift them in prayer. Military commanders often commend believing soldiers because they consistently stand out among the rest. In November 2025, Serhiy was seriously wounded and survived by a miracle from God. His testimony gives chills to everyone who hears it. Though his body now faces challenges, his spirit remains strong and unbroken. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation after several surgeries. On the morning of February 12, a bomb exploded near the house where Andriy was staying, close to the front line. In an instant, the blast destroyed his home, all his belongings, his computer, and his car—the very car he had been using as a military psychologist and chaplain to visit soldiers. It happened early in the morning while he was asleep. Again, God performed a great miracle and spared his life. The place where Andriy’s head had been resting was covered with shattered glass, yet he did not receive a single scratch. The Lord is incredible, mighty to save and to protect. Vlad and his wife are raising their two-year-old daughter while expecting their second child, living 900 kilometers apart. He keeps a joyful spirit and often writes to the team, even though he frequently has to sleep in his car to avoid shelling and strikes on residential buildings near their deployment area. At the same time, all of us continue to live and serve under the constant threat of explosions, new types of missiles, and the risk of suddenly losing people we love. This winter has brought additional challenges. Through massive missile attacks, Russia has severely damaged Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions without electricity, heat, or water during temperatures as low as -20°C (-4 °F). At present, we often have electricity for only 5-7 hours a day. It is physically and emotionally exhausting, making both daily life and ministry much more difficult. We also see young people losing hope. More and more of them are leaving Ukraine, and churches are losing young leaders. This places an urgent responsibility on us to train and equip new leaders faster than ever and to be messengers of hope to a traumatized and confused generation. Yet, we continue to proclaim: there is another side to this war. The fourth year of war has been filled with remarkable miracles and powerful evidence that God’s movement cannot be stopped. This summer was our most fruitful yet: we held 38 partnership camps with Ukrainian churches, and 217 young people made decisions to follow Christ. Our leadership training program NEXT has its largest cohort ever: 21 youth and teen teams, representing 130 young leaders learning to build a youth ministry modeled after Jesus Christ. Many of them are very young, yet they boldly step into the needs of their churches and take initiative. Mentoring and equipping them fills us with hope and joy, knowing they will be the generation that rebuilds the country. This fall, we celebrated the launch of a new Fusion choir, the first one since COVID. The Fusion team shared that they have not seen so many teenagers come to rehearsals from the very first meeting in a long time. Soon we will host the largest teen conference of the year—Springfest. Although the event is still a month away, we already have 470 registrations filled out of 500 available spots. The Gospel will be proclaimed boldly from the stage, and our main goal is to help leaders build deeper relationships with their teenagers. This brings great joy and inspiration to our team. All of this testifies that God is alive and sovereign. He continues his work in Ukraine. As the JV Ukraine team, we see his hand, his care, and his power at work among us. And we can say together with the Apostle Paul: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4). I ask all of you, our friends and the wider JV family, to keep us in your prayers. We feel their power here in ways that are hard to put into words: when someone wakes up alive after an explosion, when a record number of people register for an event, and when members of our team are given supernatural strength and resilience not only to survive, but to keep building God’s Kingdom. I also invite you to encourage us through warm words of support: a message, an email, or a call. We deeply need to know that we are not alone in the hardest season of our lives and of our country’s history. You cannot imagine how much that means to each of us.
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The Unseen War

Three years of conflict and still no peace. The war in Ukraine has returned to the forefront of the news as world leaders clash in a spin cycle of opinions. Those in the country feel the weight of years of exhausting conflict, with no clear end in sight. But behind the scenes, another battle is raging for the spiritual soul of the nation.  Amidst pain, hardship, and struggle, God is still at work and our JV team of 27 staff are pressing forward to take ground in the fight. During the last weekend of February, they gathered 450 young people from local churches across Ukraine for an innovative “Spring Fest.” Good Bible teaching, powerful worship, and personal testimonies were woven together to point people to the resources they have in Christ. He is the only firm anchor for our souls in the midst of a raging storm. The storm is particularly fierce for these young people. Some of the youth groups meet close enough to the front lines to hear the sound of bombing all day and live with the constant threat of evacuation and displacement.   One youth group from Kharkiv, en route to the fest, had their main youth leader forcefully conscripted into the military. Can you imagine if that happened to a youth group from your church?  Yet, our sovereign God is always working to accomplish his purposes despite the evil and failures of man. In fact, he often uses these unwelcome trials to accelerate his work. Our team is experiencing an unprecedented response to the gospel and a passionate hunger in young people to grow deep in their walks with God. With the exodus of leaders out of the country or into the military, there is a huge need to equip a new generation of leaders, and our training events are packed. Other JV countries are using the crisis to mobilize their young people into mission. Recently, our JV team in Slovakia held a series of events for 250 youth leaders called “Glow and Go.” Their goal was to inspire, mobilize, and energize young leaders into personal transformation and bold outreach.  As a result, 12 Slovaks traveled into war-torn Ukraine to serve at the Spring Fest.  They led worship, organized eight workshops, and served in numerous practical ways. But most of all, they told these young people that they were not forgotten and not alone. More teams from Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be assisting with evangelistic camps. When under pressure from the enemy, the best strategy is forward motion. Thank you for joining us in the spiritual battle for Ukraine.