Despite receiving threats, one pastor in a Russian-controlled state is sharing how he consistently sees God move.

"Each morning, I wake up I say to myself, 'Yuriy, you are still alive, and you have one more day to preach the gospel, one more day to do something for God's Kingdom'," says Pastor Yuriy Semenyuk of Church of Christ Savior during an exclusive interview with CBN.

Semenyuk moved his wife and three kids from Ukraine to Transnistria's capital Tiraspol in 2000. In 1990 Transnistria broke away from being associated with Moldova, the country it was in, to become its own governing state. However, it's fully reliant on the Kremlin and Russia has roughly 2,000 troops stationed here.

"In my heart, I really love people, that is my passion to serve people. I love God and I wanted to do something for Him all my life. And after a while, God told me, 'Yuriy, I need you in one place that name is Transnistria'."

Choosing this place as his mission field has come at a great personal cost for Semenyuk, but he is undeterred.

"I was targeted by some people from the government, policemen, KGB, and gangsters. The worst of course was from the gangsters because they tried to kill me, they tried to kidnap my children. Once I was kidnapped, but praise God, God let me escape."

With his persistence is sharing the gospel, Semenyuk saw God move in incredible ways. 

"Some of the gangsters became Christian, they became evangelical, their wives became evangelical, so they hated this, so that's why they tried to stop us. We have an unbelievable revival," he says. "We are still alive 24 years later on the mission field, we are still alive!"

The mandate and goal of the Church of Christ Savior is quite simple, yet effective as hundreds of people come to Semenyuk's church each week. 

"We love God, we try to be very obedient to His Word and to His Spirit, and because we love people, we do whatever is possible to help people. [We've seen miracles], for example, it can be cancer, and the cancer disappears. Or somebody has a problem with their vision and God fixes their vision. Deaf people can hear. I believe all this power is in the gospel and all these miracles happen because people preach the gospel and God equips us for the gospel, to preach the gospel and make disciples."

On top of Sunday morning services, the church offers youth groups and mom's classes. 

"For School of Life we use the basement rooms and the children can hear what's happening on the first floor when they have youth meetings, teenager's ministry, Sunday ministry, and because of that sound they start joining, they start coming to the sanctuary and they join the church and after a while their parents join the church so by that relationship with Orphan's Promise we are expanding the Kingdom of God."

As of right now Transnistria isn't affiliated directly in the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, many people in Semenyuk's congregation are fearful war will come to them also. The pastor feels unwavering in his commitment to sharing the gospel no matter what comes. 

"We know our calling. God told us to preach the gospel and make disciples, so nothing changes, war, or no war, doesn't matter what kind of situation we face around us, we have the same calling all the time."

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