Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Deploys Chaplains to Ukraine

LVIV, UKRAINE — A team of Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) have already seen 31 people accept Christ in Lviv, Ukraine, as they offer hope and provide comfort and compassion to families who have been forced to flee their homes. The team of crisis-trained chaplains are serving alongside medical personnel with Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian disaster relief organization that is operating an Emergency Field Hospital and a triage clinic near a busy train station.

Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, said:

“In a crisis like this, the greatest need is spiritual. These chaplains are ministering to people who are hurting and have lost everything. Even though chaplains don’t have all the answers to every question a person may ask, they’re able to share the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and
remind people that God hasn’t forgotten them and He loves them.”

The international team includes two U.S.-based chaplains, one from Charlotte, North Carolina, and the other from Washington state, as well as approximately 30 Ukrainian men and women who are helping meet the emotional and spiritual needs of those who are suffering.

Dozens of chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) are on the ground in Lviv, Ukraine, providing comfort and compassion to families who have been forced to flee their homes. The team of crisis-trained chaplains are serving alongside medical personnel with Samaritan’s Purse, that is operating an Emergency Field Hospital near a busy train station.

Josh Holland – BGEA RRT International Director:

We’re serving in different capacities offering emotional and spiritual care praying with people, listening to people sharing the Gospel with people as God opens those opportunities. So when people are being treated for example in the field hospital our chaplains are there to have a very significant ministry of presence. We’ve seen 31 people place their faith in Jesus Christ in Ukraine and we thank God for that.

Holland concluded by sharing their longer term plans to expand their team.

Josh:

We want to continue to send chaplains into Ukraine itself. We’re in the process of training Ukrainian speaking believers within the US, but also within the country itself.

And the Billy Graham Association is also planning to train up chaplains in the many surrounding countries that are receiving refugees from Ukraine.

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About the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) proclaims the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world by every effective means available. From its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., the BGEA directs a wide range of domestic and international ministries, including: large-scale festivals led by evangelists Franklin Graham and Will Graham; The Billy Graham Library; The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove, located outside of Asheville, N.C.; SearchforJesus.net, an Internet evangelism project reaching thousands of people for Christ online; and many others through print, television, telephone, radio and the Internet.

For more information, please visit BillyGraham.org.
Get news updates on Twitter at Twitter.com/BGEAnews.

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Read more on Non Profit / Faith Based Organizations, Ukraine, Russia, and the Refugee Crisis.

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