New Ukraine president is Baptist pastor | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff - EN

Believers in Ukraine hopeful with Baptist pastor as interim president

A Baptist minister has been elected as Ukraine's interim president, prompting calls for Christians to pray for the beleaguered nation and its new leader.

New interim president Oleksandr Turchynov was the right-hand man of Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister imprisoned by Viktor Yanukovych when Yanukovych became president in 2010. The former prime minister was released immediately following Yanukovych's removal from office Feb. 23, an ousting that came on the heels of a three-month-long protest movement in Kiev, the nation's capital.

Parliament voted Turchynov interim president until early elections take place in May.

"We need to pray for him," said Nik Ripken,* an expert on the persecuted church and 25-year veteran with the International Mission Board.

Christians in Ukraine have a reputation, a moral base, that dates back to their witness to the government during the days of the Soviet Union, said Ripken, who visited with many of Ukraine's Christian leaders in 1998 to hear and record the stories of their faith and persecution in that era.

"Now they are reaping the rewards of that witness and moral fiber," he said. "We must pray that they do not lose in power what they held so dear in opposition."

Turchynov has been in touch with the leaders of Ukraine's churches, and they are supportive of his appointment and committed to pray for him, Johnson said.

In the midst of changes on the political front, Ukrainian believers continue to share Christ faithfully in Independence Square. The evangelical prayer tent remains busy and continues to provide a venue to comfort the brokenhearted and give hope to the grieving in the name of Jesus.

http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Mar14/Art_Mar14_10.html#.Uxdz90QrwlI