“I was born in Russia to [an] atheist family,” Vlad began. “And when I was 18, my father sent me to the States to study business. And when I was there, I was an exchange student staying with a family that was just on fire for the Lord, and I accepted Christ. And then God just transformed my future.” 

Vlad met Debbie in the United States. After they married, they served together as church planters for 17 years in Russia.  

In 2022, while they took time away to visit with their son in the U.S., Russia invaded Ukraine. The resulting war displaced millions and cut off any chance of Vlad and Debbie returning to their life and ministry in Russia.  

Crick Porier, Estonia team leader for Converge, said, “When the invasion started happening in Ukraine, Estonia saw an influx of Ukrainian refugees coming in. Over 80,000 came into Estonia. And many have stayed here now and are starting to build a life here. And through this we saw a need for the Slavic people to have a focus, a ministry that’s dedicated to this people group.” 

Tartu, a university town in southern Estonia, received thousands of refugees. But the small church communities struggled to care for an ever-growing presence of people who spoke no Estonian, an incredibly difficult language to learn.  

Across the river from the landmark town hall stands neighborhoods of Soviet era apartment blocks. Just outside the reach of the tourist foot traffic, fog looms between the concrete buildings, and the reality of people’s day-to-day lives becomes clearer. It’s in these neighborhoods where most immigrants settle.  

The large population of Russian speakers, formerly made up mostly of Estonians, Russians, and Belarusians, has grown with the influx of Ukrainians. Now approximately 30% of the Estonian population is Russian-speaking. 

Crick, his wife, Mindy, and their local pastor, Leho, began to pray for qualified leaders to come and help, even as their well-established Estonian church, Kolgata Kogudus, found opportunities to serve a growing Russian-speaking congregation.  

See how Converge and church partners around Europe have served Ukrainian refugees

At the same time, Vlad and Debbie were praying from across the ocean, seeking God’s direction about where they should go next. 

“We just knew that God’s calling was still on our lives to serve as missionaries, and he led us to Estonia,” Debbie recalled.  

Vlad and Debbie believe they and their team can help meet the spiritual needs of the 30% of the population who speak Russian. They want to foster community through bilingual church planting, giving the Estonian and Russian-speaking congregations the opportunity to unite.  

“We have already seen, and we believe that the Estonian church will be reaching out and caring more for this minority group here in Estonia,” Crick added.  

Vlad and Debbie are also working to strengthen and encourage the pastors of Russian- speaking churches. They are few, and they pastor churches that have been through and still face the consequences of war. They often do this while needing to work through their own difficulties.  

The third major focus for Vlad and Debbie is youth ministry. They run Bible clubs for multiple age groups during the week and work with other pastors to develop young leaders.  

Crick has great hope for this part of the ministry, “There are so many young people [whose] first language is either Russian or Ukrainian, that are looking for a community to be able to be accepted. And there’s no better place than to be in a community of those that are Christ followers.” 

Learn more about the Nordic-Baltic Initiative

In all three of these arenas, Vlad leads by example as both a pastor and coach. Recently, in the church Vlad pastors, a six-year-old girl questioned her dad, “Dad, you know how some of the other kids’ dads come to church with their kids? But you never come.” 

The dad had faithfully brought his wife and child to gather with the church but had never stayed for longer than a few minutes into the service.  

One day while the church prepared for their evangelistic Christmas play, they realized they needed someone to play a soldier. The job only required standing in a certain place.  

Vika, the play’s director, sensing an opportunity to include this dad, asked him if he would fill the role.  

The dad agreed to do it, and soon after, he began attending services with his wife and his daughter. A few months later, he accepted Christ, was baptized and is now a vital part of the church. 

Vlad has seen this happen before. “We know that when fathers get saved and lead their families a godly way, it’s just an amazing testimony and amazing opportunity.” 

Vlad hopes to see stories like this multiplied as he and Debbie help to strengthen the local Russian-speaking church and its leaders.