We are a cross-cultural (literally. The team is made up of Americans, Ukrainians, and South African-Americans!) church planting community seeking to plant a church planting church in L’viv (Western Region) and provide a training environment for future missionaries.
Let me introduce you to them!
The Shepherd Family
The Shepherds met in Ukraine while Douglas was serving his four-year commitment with MTW which began in 1994. He was involved with establishing a university ministry in the newly formed Ukrainian Pres. Church. Douglas also had an active role in training MTW interns in cross-cultural mission from 1996-2001.
Masha grew up behind the “Iron Curtain” of theSoviet Union. It was after the fall of communism that she came into contact with a Bible Study led by Douglas. In the next 2 years she became a believer and an active leader of the university ministry.
In 2000 Douglas and Masha were married and attended Covenant Theological Seminary where Douglas received his M.Div and Masha completed her M.A. in theology. Douglas went on to finish his Th.M. at Fuller School of World Mission in 2004. The Shepherds had their first child, Chaz, in June 2005. Nika was born in Kiev in Oct. 2006. They moved to L’viv in 2007 to begin the new work in western Ukraine.
The Hacquebord Family
Heero became interested in serving in L’viv for the first time in 2001 while visiting that city. Born on the Southern tip of Africa, his family immigrated to the US in 1986. After finishing high school and college in the US , he received a Masters of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago where God focused his childhood call to ministry by giving him an interest in missions. Through a summer trip to Odessa , Ukraine, God narrowed that call even more, and in 1997 he moved to Nikolaev , Ukraine to lead a church-planting team in that city. Four years later he moved to Kyiv where he coached another local church-planting team and married the daughter of an ex-Communist.
Anya was born above the Arctic Circle on the Northern tip of Russia . Her family moved to Nikolaev , Ukraine , in 1986 where Anya finished school and set off to the capital of Kyiv for further study. After receiving her Masters in international economics and working for several companies in Kyiv, Anya’s expertise developed into public relations as she represented Procter & Gamble in Ukraine for eight years. Heero & Anya got married in 2002 and the couple was blessed with a daughter, Juliette, in 2004, and a son, Christian, in 2010.
Heero is responsible for Church Planting Strategy for L’viv and the Western Region of Ukraine. He is the organizing pastor working with the EPCU. Read more about them, here.
The Voytenko Family
Marissa and Vitaliy met in 2004 at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, MA where they both served on the worship team. They were friends for two years before they started dating and got married in June of 2007.
Vitaliy hails from Eastern Ukraine and is a clinical psychologist. Until recently, he directed a student counseling clinic at a seminary in Orlando where he taught and supervised students in the Master’s program in Counseling. In addition, he served as a minister of pastoral care at a large church. He is a lover of fine food and snowboarding and has had a love-hate relationship with surfing in Florida.
Marissa is an artist from Northern California. After seven years of teaching, she is now liberated to pursue her art full-time. Her medium of choice is encaustic (beeswax, damar and pigment). They welcomed their firstborn, a son, Leo, on 2 May, 2010. You can read more about them, here.
Mary Miner
Mary has had a particular interest in the former Soviet Union since elementary school. She became open to missions her senior year of high school after a summer at a Christian camp in Japan. Since that trip she took every opportunity to go oversees: a semester abroad program in the Czech Republic while attending Covenant College, six months in the Kenyan bush teaching missionary kids. Then twice during her 5 years of teaching 5th grade at Washington Christian Academy in Silver Spring, Maryland, she went to Russia to serve at a Christian summer camp. There her love for the Slavic people was confirmed. Though a certified teacher, Mary accepted an invitation to serve on a church planting team in Kyiv, Ukraine. The core of her work was friendship evangelism and discipleship. She led Bible Studies and taught English as a service to the community and a means to develop relationships with Ukrainians outside the church. She returned as a long term missionary with a special focus on TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language).
Mary arrived in L’viv in July, 2008, to begin her two year term. She has been active learning Ukrainian, teaching English, cultivating relationships with university girls through Bible studies, activities, and an open home.
Olya Yarmolenko
Olya came to faith in 1997 through the youth ministry in the Presbyterian church in Odessa. She has been active in various ministries: orphanage ministry, church choir, youth ministry. She worked for 8 years as an financial administrator forSodeystvie, a charitable foundation in Odessa in partnership with MTW missionaries. She holds a degree in Russian Language and Literature from OdessaNational University.
Olya joined the L’viv team as an associate member in March 2008. She works as the team administrator, she is responsible for all team finances and coordinates short term trips.
Jenni DeJong
After graduation from Covenant College with a degree in philosophy, Jenni worked for two years as a marketing writer before investigating whether God might use her to minister in Europe. She spent two months in L’viv, Ukraine, teaching English and developing relationships with university students alongside the team there. God used that experience to lead Jenni to join the team in L’viv for three years to teach English, mentor university girls, lead Bible studies, and assist with team communications.
She arrived in L’viv in early June, 2010. You can read more about her, here.
Adam Garner (yours truly)
Prior to graduating from college, Adam returned to the western city of L’viv, Ukraine, for a two-month missions internship where he worked with the team’s university ministry teaching English and Bible classes. Aftern returning home to Colorado, Adam felt the Lord calling him back to the work in L’viv, to continue teaching English and Bible classes, assisting with team administration, and working with the people of Ukraine.
He is currently raising support and hopes to arrive on the field in the spring of 2010. Adam will help with discipling of men in the university ministry, music ministry and administration.
Sashko Nezamutdinov
Sashko is the only native of Lviv on Team L’viv. He became a believer when he was twelve, after attending English language courses at a Baptist church. At age 17, he entered L’viv Theological Seminary. He became involved with different Evangelical groups including a student led church. He started an organization that assisted Christians hosting English and provided English curriculum and Ukrainian interpreters. Team L’viv met Sashko in 2007 when he assisted us in our first English camp. Sashko graduated from seminary in May, 2009.
Sashko joined Team L’viv in September ’09 and is currently working on:
- Designing a brochure about the historical background of the Reformed Church in western Ukraine.
- Putting together a Ukrainian Hymnal
- Organizing a Ukrainian language website for the Reformed Community in Western Ukraine
