{"id":49243,"date":"2024-03-05T14:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=49243"},"modified":"2024-03-05T13:25:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T04:25:47","slug":"vomk-report-293","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2024\/03\/05\/vomk-report-293\/","title":{"rendered":"UKRAINE: ROCKET STRIKE DESTROYS PARSONAGE; CHURCH INTACT, PASTOR THANKFUL"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49232″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”The house of a pastor in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine was destroyed by a February 15 rocket strike, but the church building attached to the house remained intact and the pastor and his family are safe and eager to continue their ministry, reports Voice of the Martyrs Korea.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49235″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span> Hyun Sook Foley, the home of <\/span>the <\/span>pastor of the ECB (Registered Baptist) church in <\/span>Selidovo<\/span>, Vladimir Semenov, was destroyed <\/span>o<\/span>n the night of February 15 <\/span>as a result of<\/span> a rocket attack by the Russian Armed Forces<\/span>. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Pastor Semenov and his family were spending<\/span> the night away from home that night, so they <\/span>were unharmed,<\/span> though they lost all of their worldly goods,<\/span>\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>T<\/span>he church building\u2014or house of prayer, as they call it\u2014which is <\/span>separated <\/span>from the pastor\u2019s home <\/span>by a long<\/span>, thick<\/span> brick wall<\/span>, <\/span>remained intact<\/span> except for a few <\/span>broken<\/span> windows<\/span> and a burned-out electrical meter and wiring<\/span>.<\/span> Th<\/span>e windows were <\/span>covered <\/span>with boards <\/span>by members of the congregation, and the church\u2019s meetings <\/span>have <\/span>continued on<\/span> as normal.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cFebruary 15 is my next birthday,\u201d <\/span>Pastor Semenov told the ECB Telegram Channel. \u201c<\/span>I thought of staying in the house, the whole family went to the <\/span>[daughter\u2019s] <\/span>apartment. But my grandson, 4 years old, came up and said: <\/span>\u2018<\/span>Grandfather, I won\u2019t go without you.<\/span>\u2019<\/span> Well, looking at him I said: <\/span>\u2018<\/span>I\u2019ll go with you.<\/span>\u2019<\/span> At night we heard explosions. Then at 2 am they called me and said that our home was hit by a shell<\/span>,<\/span> and it was burning. I quickly arrived. <\/span>Our concrete house, <\/span>150 square meters<\/span>, was <\/span>completely destroyed<\/span>.<\/span> If we had been there, <\/span>no<\/span> chance <\/span>to survive<\/span>.<\/span>“<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49238″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”The remains of the home of Vladimir Semenov, pastor of the Registered Baptist Church in Selidovo. The home was destroyed by a rocket strike on February 15. (Credit: ECB Telegram Channel.)” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Pastor Semenov and his brother remained in <\/span>their home region, <\/span>the <\/span>Pokrovsk<\/span> district of the Donetsk region where <\/span>Selidovo<\/span> is <\/span>located<\/span>, <\/span>despite the outbreak of hostilities<\/span> there<\/span>.<\/span> After <\/span>relocating<\/span> for <\/span>a <\/span>brief time to <\/span><\/span>the Chernivtsi <\/span>region<\/span><\/span> last year to stay with relatives, Pastor Semenov and his family returned<\/span> to the <\/span>Pokrovsk<\/span> distric<\/span>t<\/span> <\/span>to resume their ministry there<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span> “The city administration warned us that we were also ‘marked’<\/span>,\u201d Pastor Semenov told the ECB Telegram Channel<\/span>. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>We lived under such fear that one day a shell could fly<\/span>.<\/span>”\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Despite being warned by the <\/span>city administration that <\/span>they <\/span>were <\/span>target<\/span>ed<\/span>,<\/span><\/span> t<\/span>hey <\/span>have <\/span>continue<\/span>d<\/span> to <\/span>serve in the front-line zone<\/span>\u2014leading the church, doing a rehabilitation center, visiting places where small groups of Christians gather, evangelizing, delivering humanitarian aid, and generally serving wherever needed,\u201d says Representative Foley, whose Voice of the Martyrs Korea ministry support<\/span>s<\/span> Semenov with funds <\/span>for <\/span>fuel and <\/span>repairs. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>They have to drive on broken roads strewn with shell fragments.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49240″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”The building of the Registered Baptist Church in Selidovo. The adjacent parsonage was destroyed by a rocket strike on February 15, but the church building remained intact. (Credit: ECB Telegram Channel.) ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Now Voice of the Martyrs is sending funds to help Pastor Semenov\u2019s family to recover <\/span>from the <\/span>rocket that hit their own home<\/span> and for Pastor Semenov to continue with his outreach ministry. \u201cAll their clothes and household belongings were destroyed in the fire, so all Pastor Semenov has is the track suit he was wearing when he spent the night outside of his home,\u201d says <\/span>Representative Foley<\/span>. She says the church does not intend to do major repairs because of the ongoing war, though <\/span>funds <\/span>are needed to replace the electrical box and some of the wiring, as well as the windows.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Pastor Semenov <\/span>and his wife <\/span>are now staying with their <\/span>daughter<\/span>, with no <\/span>plans to leave <\/span>Selidovo<\/span> or to curtail their ministry<\/span>, according to Representative Foley<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I am not a large-scale person, I do not see the whole world<\/span>,\u201d Pastor Semenov told the ECB Telegram channel<\/span>. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>But I see the patch that Christ gave me. This is <\/span>Selidovo<\/span>. Today, our main task is not to lose a single day <\/span>in order to<\/span> preach the <\/span>g<\/span>ospel.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49242″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Vladimir Semenov (Credit: ECB Telegram Channel.)” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Those who are interested in helping Pastor Semenov and other Christians in Ukraine who are continuing their gospel ministries despite the war can donate to Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s Ukraine emergency fund at <\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/donation<\/a><\/span> or via electronic transfer to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\uad6d\ubbfc\uc740\ud589<\/span> (KB Bank) 463501-01-243303<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\uc608\uae08\uc8fc<\/span> (Account Holder): (<\/span>\uc0ac<\/span>)<\/span>\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please include the word \u201cUkraine\u201d with the donation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49232″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”The house of a pastor in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine was destroyed by a February 15 rocket strike, but the church building attached to the …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":49233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49243"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49251,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49243\/revisions\/49251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}