Missions in a Warzone: CC Lynchburg Serves in Ukraine
Photos courtesy of Calvary Chapel Lynchburg, VA
A local dance recital in Nizhyn, Ukraine, the Calvary Chapel Lynchburg, VA, team attends the day after a missile attack in the city. The team ministered there in April 2026, providing encouragement and resources to the church body in their local ministry efforts.
“It’s so humbling to watch what our Ukrainian brothers and sisters are enduring,” admitted Outreach Pastor Jeremy Grafman of Calvary Chapel Lynchburg, VA. During a 10-day trip to Nizhyn, Ukraine, in April 2026, the mission team he led had to run to a shelter after Russia launched another round of missiles and drones. “We later heard five people in and around Nizhyn were killed that night,” Jeremy attested.
The morning after the destructive raid, the team learned from the woman working the desk of their hotel that her own home had been hit, her garage destroyed, and her car annihilated while her 5-year-old son was at home. Yet, she went to work that morning as if nothing had happened the night before. “That is very real and very horrifying.” Jeremy shook his head. “And yet, people are trying to move on. People are trying to maintain whatever degree of normalcy they can.”
The CC Lynchburg team watches as judges score a local dance performance they’re enjoying.
Planes & Trains
Alex Ertel (left) of CC Lynchburg shares his testimony of coming to faith and being strengthened while enduring much hardship as a young man, with Mark Chekushkin of Calvary Chapel Ternopil translating. Team leader Jeremy Grafman, CC Lynchburg’s outreach pastor, marveled that among believers who have remained in Ukraine, “there’s a consistency of the Word, a pastoral presence, and a deep heart for shepherding their people. Faithfulness is palpable there.”
Seven Americans sat on a train, tired but eager to reach their destination. They’d traveled long and far from Virginia to get to where they were going. The small team—consisting of four men and three women—had already been on several planes and trains. Thankfully, the train they were now on was the last one they’d take that day.
Alek Tasker (left) of CC Lynchburg shares his testimony of the Lord’s power to save and heal, as Elijah Melnyk of CC Ternopil translates.
Soon, the train stopped, and the Americans stepped out. They had finally made it to Ternopil, Ukraine.
Pastor Jeremy Grafman, along with Byron and Emily Johnson, Alex Ertel, Alex Tasker, Derek and Melissa Buchanan, Serrine Sorrell, and Marissa McLeod walked into Calvary Chapel Ternopil. There, they met the final member of their mission team, Macie Foldesi—also from CC Lynchburg but serving for a year in Ukraine—and they settled in for the night. The next day would be full of more travel and the start of their outreach to Ukraine.
“We had a really excellent trip,” Jeremy recalled. “We traveled from Krakow, Poland, by plane, and then took three trains from Krakow into Ternopil, Ukraine. We stayed overnight at the Calvary Chapel there.”
Serving in a War-Torn Land
Left: Macie Foldesi (left) from CC Lynchburg shares the Gospel through the Wordless Book, with Tanya Melnyk (right) of CC Ternopil translating. Macie is currently serving a full year in Ukraine.
Right: Serrine Sorrell (left) of CC Lynchburg shares her heart and offers the hope only Jesus can bring to refugees in a war-torn nation.
After a good night’s rest, the team traveled further east for eight and a half hours to the city of Nizhyn. Their two vans were led from Ternopil to Nizhyn by Pastor Zhenya Chekushkin—who serves to advance the well-being of the Calvary Chapel movement in Ukraine. He pays particular attention to building effective fellowship and connections among the mostly smaller CC churches, 15 of which are dotted throughout the country. Zhenya’s son, Mark, accompanied him. Sasha, Tanya, and Elijah Melnyk—also faithful servants at CC Ternopil—joined the team again for the long trip east. Once the team arrived, they met up with the pastor of CC Nizhyn and his wife, Vadym and Tanya Kotelenets. Because Jeremy has led several mission trips to Ukraine before, he’s known the Kotelenetses and their church for years.
“CC Nizhyn is a beautiful little fellowship situated in the center of a group of older Soviet-bloc apartment buildings,” Jeremy observed. “It’s just wonderful to see the way the many children in that community flood onto the property each day. On past mission trips, we’ve helped the CC Nizhyn team complete some improvements to their property and we’re always seeking ways we can provide encouragement to the church body in their local ministry efforts.”
First in 2014, and then again in 2022, Ukraine has been defending itself in a war with Russia. Because of this, the country has experienced continual loss and extreme turmoil. “Many of the Calvary Chapel churches in eastern Ukraine have fled into western Ukraine to take refuge from the war for a season,” Jeremy stated. “The body from CC Nizhyn spent nine months practically embedded with CC Ternopil.”
But the pastor added with a smile, “There’s a depth of relationship, familiarity, and love that has resulted in these fellowships that we Westerners should envy.”
Zhenya noted that while the official number of refugees leaving Ukraine is about 6.7 million, the more likely total is about 8 million—in addition to the 3.7 million internally displaced people in the country.
Jeremy was privileged to share God’s Word during the mission trip, providing a rest from that role for some of the local shepherds; one exclaimed, “I’m so excited to be able to sit on the front row and hear a Bible study someone else is sharing!” Thanks to the active ministry efforts of Mark and Elijah—the sons of the Ukrainian couples from CC Ternopil—the congregation was able to hear those messages in their language. In addition to ministering at CC Nizhyn, the mission team also served at CC Pryluky and CC Chernihiv in two other eastern Ukrainian cities.
Jeremy cherished the sight of all the locals who gathered for fellowship, yet he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow for those who would have attended but weren’t able to because of the ongoing war. “Many men are either serving in the military or working. Millions of Ukrainians have simply fled, some may never return. But among those believers who have returned, there’s a consistency of the Word, a pastoral presence, and a deep heart for shepherding their people. Faithfulness is palpable there.”
Jeremy called team members Byron and Emily a godsend to the mission trip. “As we anticipated, the Johnsons turned out to be a wonderful, super encouraging addition to the team,” Jeremy exclaimed. “Byron ministers in the Word very effectively while Emily ministers in worship. They both connect with the Ukrainian church body so well.”
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
A Heart for Ukraine
Byron and Emily Johnson—missionaries and church planters in Ukraine—fellowship with refugees from eastern Ukraine. These refugees meet weekly for encouragement and support from CC Ternopil’s refugee ministry.
Byron and Emily have been in Ukraine since 2008, permanently residing there from 2012 to 2020. While they have more recently been serving Stateside, the Johnsons had relocated to Chisinau, Moldova, following the Lord’s leading to enable them to be closer to ministering to and serving displaced Ukrainians. “We’ve been taking trips into Ukraine as we’re able to help support ministries there, encourage friends and believers, and share the love of Jesus as opportunities arise,” Byron and Emily recounted.
The couple’s heart for Ukraine started when they were just kids. Emily has felt deep compassion for people affected by the former Soviet Union since she was in elementary school. Byron went on a mission trip to Ukraine in high school and returned with a desire to go back. As the young couple grew in their faith, the Lord led them to pray for Ukraine. Eventually, He led Byron and Emily to marry and later become full-time missionaries.
“We spent a year serving and living in Ternopil before launching out to plant a Calvary Chapel in Donetsk. Then, due to the initial war back in 2014, we ended up having to evacuate Donetsk. The Lord eventually led us to Zaporizhzhia, where Byron pastored a church,” the Johnsons explained.
The missionary couple is deeply connected to the Calvary Chapels throughout Ukraine. Because both Byron and Emily can speak Russian and understand Ukrainian, they have been able to engage with many people. No matter where the Lord may lead them next, the Johnsons will always have a great love for Ukraine. “This trip was very special to us because we served with churches and Ukrainian brothers and sisters we’ve known for years. What a joy it was for us to join Pastors Zhenya and Vadym. They continue to minister so faithfully amidst the war,” Byron and Emily shared.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58
Living in the Midst of War
The mission team ministers to young people with learning and physical challenges.
Though Jeremy has served in Ukraine before, he still found the strength, resilience, and beauty of Ukrainian life shocking. “Anyone traveling to Ukraine currently should expect air raid sirens as a part of everyday life,” Jeremy warned.
The mission team watched in awe as the Ukrainian people lived their lives normally each day, despite circumstances far from it. “They get on with business,” Jeremy recalled in disbelief. “They maintain a pretty regular life in the midst of coping with four to five alerts triggered by missiles or drones flying overhead daily.”
When an alert goes off, people are advised to take shelter. However, Jeremy noticed that many did not do so. “You simply can’t go to a shelter five times a day,” he explained.
The morning after an air raid that had killed five in Nizhyn the night before, the mission team attended a dance recital Vadym & Tanya’s two daughters were performing in and, later, to an open-air farm market. Yet again, the American group couldn’t believe people simply went to work, participated in cultural events, and made shopping trips with joy and happiness right after drone and missile strikes. At the dance recital in particular, Jeremy marveled, “It’s fascinating to watch probably 300 Ukrainian families do normal things as if nothing happened the night before. It’s very surreal—but also wonderful—to see.”
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Ministering Encouragement
Members from Calvary Chapel Ternopil, Calvary Chapel Nizhyn, and Calvary Chapel Lynchburg take down an old, concrete wall to prepare the way for iron fencing.
During their hotel stay, the CC Lynchburg team served in local shelters and helped CC Nizhyn with an upcoming project. “The church has a fellowship hall with a restroom, but their main sanctuary didn’t have a working bathroom or running water,” Jeremy noted. “Our team helped them with some of the groundwork to prepare for installation of a septic and the completion of a water well that had been dug.”
Though the American mission team helped three churches and many people, Jeremy emphasized, “We’re just faithful brothers and sisters who are doing our part.” Jeremy contended. “When we come to help, we provide encouragement, ministry, and resources. But the Ukrainian Calvary Chapels already have faithfulness and a deep focus on advancing the local ministry. They’re not merely sitting around waiting for help from the West.”
Although CC Lynchburg has ministered in Ukraine on five different trips, Jeremy assured, “We have every intention of returning as frequently as the Lord may allow. We’re praying and waiting for the Lord to reveal the next opportunity for us to do so.”
Men from the CC Lynchburg team put finishing touches on the framing for the new front porch of a Ukrainian church.
Fruit trees are advertised for sale at a local, open-air market.
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