Christians brave unrest to teach in Ukraine

With some trepidation, my father, Bob Beasley, and his wife, Amy Beasley, recently traveled to eastern Ukraine to teach at a seminary near Donetsk.

The two-week trip in early May was my father's 11th time there to train pastors and Christian leaders at RITE (Reformed International Theological Education), based in Makeevka, and Amy's second time.

Ukraine has been faced with mounting violence in the east between pro-Russian separatists and the new Ukrainian government.

"It was a little nerve-racking to be there during the political upheaval, but we had total confidence and peace knowing that the Lord wanted us there," Amy said.

RITE's other teachers — usually pastors and elders from the U.S. and Canada — felt it was not prudent to be in Donetsk during this time of conflict, though Dad and Amy decided to make the trip because of the encouragement they were getting from the staff in Ukraine.

"It's really a neat deal to go over and teach those students," Bob said.

Amy and Bob, who have a home in Hendersonville but are living temporarily in Ohio to be near Amy's family, have been associated with RITE since 2008.

RITE founder and president Merle Messer invited my father, a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) elder and graduate of Westminster Seminary California, to teach in Ukraine after Messer read his book "101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures."

Typically my father will teach material related to Old Testament and Biblical Theology subjects at RITE — in May he taught from Ezekiel with some teachings related to Christ in the Old Testament.