{"id":11811,"date":"2019-04-04T11:47:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T08:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=11811"},"modified":"2019-04-05T11:06:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T08:06:06","slug":"pastor-fedor-bespalov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/pastor-fedor-bespalov\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Fedor Bespalov"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

God uses some of his children in unique ways to encourage, to inspire, and to equip others for the ministry. Such was the case with dear Brother Fedor, who moved into the presence of his Savior on March 28th 2019. I found in him a rare passion for God, love for God’s people and a never tiring energy to serve, to share the gospel, and to encourage other believers in Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pastor Fedor was one of the founders of the Light of the Gospel association of churches in Eastern Ukraine. He faithfully pastored Light of the Gospel Church in Druzhkovka, Ukraine for over 25 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His church was situated near the front lines of the war and for a time in 2014 his city was occupied by Russian Separatist. Pastor Fedor and his church were very active in aiding refugees and those caught in the “gray zone” between the fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ministering with Fedor at Light of the Gospel Church in Druzhkovka<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had the privilege of meeting Pastor Fedor in 2015 when we took a short mission trip together to the country of Georgia. After that trip I visited his church in Druzhkovka several times to lead seminars and do other ministry together with Fedor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fedor sharing at Discovery Baptist Church
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I also had the privilege to travel with Fedor a little while he was in the States in 2016. He visited our home church, Discovery Baptist and we attended the Shepherd’s conference together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pastor Aleksander Salfetnikov, Pastor Fedor Bespalov and I attending the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Fedor was a man of ideas and action. If I ever mentioned any kind of ministry idea to him I could be sure he would jump on it and tell me, “Caleb let’s do it!” In fact he had already invited me to come this summer to do a missions conference for the youth of his church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fedor and I with Steven Lawson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last time I saw Pastor Fedor was about 1.5 months ago at a pastor’s retreat where I was speaking. The last night I was there he organized a time in the “Banya” for the guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Introducing Pastor Fedor and Pastor Aleksander to Paul Washer
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As we sat and sweated in the sauna Pastor Fedor told us, “Ok brothers, our topic is, ‘why do Christians grow cold in their faith?'” For the next 3 hours we discussed the spiritual lives of our churches and the possible mistakes we’ve made as pastors that could lead to spiritual cooling down of our members. It was a useful time of fellowship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whether in the banya with a dozen other church leaders or on the front lines of the war in Eastern Ukraine serving the needing Pastor Fedor’s focus never changed, he never grew tired of the gospel, he never stopped leading others to the cross. His love and passion for Jesus was infectious! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m grateful for the opportunity to know Pastor Fedor Bespalov and to be able to serve Jesus with him. I have taken much encouragement from my times with him and learned valuable ministry skills from him. If there’s a sauna in heaven I’m sure we’ll visit it together and spend as much time as we want marveling at God’s goodness and grace!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God uses some of his children in unique ways to encourage, to inspire, and to equip others for the ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC02592.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-34v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6065,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/may-god-crush-your-expectations\/","url_meta":{"origin":11811,"position":0},"title":"May God Crush Your Expectations","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"December 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We were already 40 mins away from home when I realized I had forgotten all my car documents and personal documents, passport, driver's license, etc. There was no time to turn around, I had a van load of people and we were on our way to our long-planned church leaders\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/DSC02751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/DSC02751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/DSC02751.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6545,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/the-heavy-toll-of-ukraines-war-on-soldiers-and-civilians\/","url_meta":{"origin":11811,"position":1},"title":"The Heavy Toll Of Ukraine’s War on Soldiers and Civilians","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"June 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As the war in Eastern Ukraine continues to drag on the country is slowly becoming aware of the heavy mental, emotional, and psychological costs brought about by brutal fighting, death, and destruction. Warning: The video below does contain some very graphic scenes. Recently I came across this report from Vice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-04-at-12.26.48-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-04-at-12.26.48-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-04-at-12.26.48-PM.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23644,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/he-used-to-be-a-regular-pastor\/","url_meta":{"origin":11811,"position":2},"title":"He Used to Be a Regular Pastor","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 13, 2025","format":"video","excerpt":"What drives a Ukrainian pastor to trade his pulpit for the frontlines of war? In this interview, Chaplain Andriy Zalishuk shares his extraordinary journey from pastoring a small church to walking alongside Ukrainian soldiers in the trenches. Hear how missile strikes, destroyed cities, and the cries of refugees motivated him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7792,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/man-of-god-pastors-conference-photo-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":11811,"position":3},"title":"“Man of God” Pastor’s Conference -Photo Report","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This month we held our pastor's conference right in the middle of Ukraine in the town of Bela Tserkov.\u00a0 The goal of the conference was to encourage and equip men to be men of God through solid Biblical exposition. Our three main speakers, encourage, convicted, and exhorted us to pursue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC08248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC08248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC08248.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC08248.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/DSC08248.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17883,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/russian-aggression-and-the-church-of-god-in-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":11811,"position":4},"title":"Russian Aggression and The Church of God in Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 13, 2024","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/945373996?share=copy Over 2 years ago Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine, brutally murdering 10s of thousands of Ukrainians and destroying towns and cities. Unfortunately, Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine has only increased in the past few months. Civilians in cities on the front lines like Kherson are constantly being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Sukofamily-december-2023-update-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Sukofamily-december-2023-update-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Sukofamily-december-2023-update-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Sukofamily-december-2023-update-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Sukofamily-december-2023-update-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6819,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/4-reasons-why-we-give-up-on-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":11811,"position":5},"title":"4 Reasons Why We Give up on the Gospel | Season 02 Episode 07","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 24, 2016","format":"audio","excerpt":"Did you know it's possible to give up on the Gospel too early and be unaware of what you just did? In this episode of \"Now Is the Time\" I talk about why it is that we often give up and stop sharing the Gospel too soon. I share with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Gospel Today"","block_context":{"text":"The Gospel Today","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Why-WeGive-up-on-the-Gospel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Why-WeGive-up-on-the-Gospel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Why-WeGive-up-on-the-Gospel.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11828,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811\/revisions\/11828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}