Sergiy and his wife Vika live in Blagodatne with their two sons, and lead Hope Church in Cherkasy. A godly and passionate man, Sergiy was not always a follower of Jesus and faced many challenges when he was younger. Here is his story.
Back when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union, there was a lot of home brewing of alcohol as everything was very expensive. My father was making homemade vodka, barrels and bottles of it. When I was about 11 years old, I was already stealing the vodka from my dad and replacing it with water so he didn't notice. I was not a good kid and didn't listen to my parents, I got into lots of trouble.My dad was an alcoholic and by about age 13 I was too. Narcotics was an obvious follow-on and by the age of 16, I was already on a lot of drugs and involved in a lot of crime.
Then I joined the army, and just met more people who exposed me to more drugs. I was posted in Moscow which was an absolute nightmare, you could just make one phone call and get whatever you wanted, it was too easy. But I was unhappy there and wanted to come home, and so we can see that God had his plan, because if I had stayed there then I would surely be dead. If I hadn't met Jesus when I did, then I’d be dead by now.
So I came back to Blagodatne and married and had a daughter, but obviously under the influence of drugs, I was not a good father or husband and understandably my wife left me.
At this time I suffered with paranoia and I would sit in the street on my own, not wanting anyone to approach me. Then one day Vlad [Illin, now associate pastor at Blagodatne church], who was just a teenager at the time, sat with me and told me that I was not alone; he told me about God and shared God’s love with me.
Although I had heard this from others before, I had never really been interested but somehow, in this moment Vlad’s words really broke through to me. I went home and I was lying on the floor, praying and crying out to God asking, ‘why has everybody that I love left me? My wife left me, my mum's abandoned me: anybody that I give love to has left me. Why?’
Then I asked God what I could do, and he whispered the name Vlad to me. I realised I needed to listen to what Vlad was telling me, so I went and talked to him more, and he told me about a rehab centre I could go to. I was worried that I didn’t have money to pay for it, but the church said they would cover it, so I went.
At first I kept a distance from the other people there and from their faith; when they had a time of prayer, I went off to the gym to work out. I was still searching for God but I was still angry with him, I was still asking him why everybody has left me.
Then one time when I was crying out with all my questions, I saw a bright flash of light and God answered me. He said, “You say that you love your mum, but actually you would go and steal money out of her bag. You say that you love your wife, but you would find where she hid money under the bed, and you would take it and use it for drugs. And you say that you love your daughter, but in the middle of the night, you would go into her bedroom and take stuff from her bag, and sell it so that you can buy drugs. You’re telling me that you love these people and they've walked away from you. But you don't love them. You love yourself.”
In that moment I was completely paralyzed. I knew that it was God talking to me, and I realised I needed him. So I gave time to get to know him; I sang with him, and I cried with him. And he made me his son.
Then I heard there was work for me back in Blagodatne, so I came back. I was very, very young in my faith at that point and I was worried about returning and seeing all the people from my old life, and getting drawn back into it.
But I didn't realize how strong God is and what God can do. God whispered to me that he was with me, and I knew that was true, that he was with me and he had me in his hands. I heard him, and I saw him, and I know him. There have been ups and downs, of course, in the meantime. But he's always been gracious to us.
