During his first mission trip with Appalachian Outreach in 2000, Steven Flippo surveyed the condition of the property assigned to his team, and his heart ached.
“We were tasked with doing repairs for an elderly gentleman. He did not have a functioning bathroom. The fixtures no longer worked, and the floor had completely rotted. We completed a lot of work in a short amount of time. We repainted his house, gave the entire home a deep clean, and totally gutted and rebuilt his bathroom.”
On the way home, Flippo told his wife, Cecelia, that although he was grateful for the opportunity to serve in East Tennessee, the needs were also abundant in Bedford County. Armed with abundant love for others that Flippo said was “bred into him” by his parents and his grandfather, Fred Tucker, the Flippos started Hands of Hope. For the next 17 years, they completed home repairs and built wheelchair ramps for those in need, but this didn’t stop Flippo from also loving his neighbors abroad.
“Around 2003, our pastor had a connection with the Cumberland Gap Baptist Association that had been traveling to Ukraine on mission trips since the fall of the Soviet Union. The director of missions shared about how we could partner with congregations in Ukraine and help them build churches there. Several church members went. When they returned, they were so excited about what they saw that in 2006, I made my first trip. I fell in love with the Ukrainian people, and I continue to stay in contact with them,” said Flippo.
Since that initial trip, he has returned six times, but in 2014, during the Orange Revolution, as Russia invaded and occupied the Eastern portion of Ukraine, Flippo became concerned for his friends on the other side of the globe.
“I was seeing places where I once stood destroyed and in disarray. I scoured the internet for information. That is when I found Nina Ognivchuk’s Facebook page, and I saw we had several mutual friends. Over the months that followed, she passed along messages to and from my friends and a kinship formed between us. I call her my ‘little Ukrainian sister.’ I remember when she requested prayer to open the Inspiration Centre. And in 2022, it was Nina and another friend that met me in Hungary to take me across the Ukrainian border.”
Nina Ognivchuk originally dreamed of serving in Ghana, Africa, but attended the school instead. After graduation, she returned home to Shepetivka, Ukraine, and began working for a charitable organization.
“It was a well-paid job with proper working conditions,” recalled Ognivchuk.
But her spirit longed to be in full-time ministry. She had a degree in foreign languages, so she decided to start a private English club and began looking at vacant buildings.
“When the owner opened the door leading to the large hall, God gave me a vision of little [Romani] kids standing on the stage and singing Christian songs. Their happy faces broke my heart into little pieces.”
The next day, Ognivchuk went to her boss and resigned.
“God used six people from different countries and provided money to purchase the building in 2016 that is now the Inspiration Centre. It’s taken six years to complete the repairs of the facility.”
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Flippo did not let this, or the 11-hour international flight coupled with 11 additional hours of driving, deter him.
“Steven was the first American to visit us during the war,” said Ognivchuk. “I will always remember his step of faith. He has brought much joy into the lives of many here. The war has totally changed our ministry. What started as a safe place for orphaned children and a ministry to the [Romani] and the Roma people is now a place for [internally displaced people] from the Kyiv region and Eastern Ukraine. Now, we evacuate people, make trips to the front lines, visit wounded soldiers, and attend the funerals of our fallen. We also visit with families who have lost loved ones, and we continue our ministry to the kids. God has totally changed our mission field.”
The Inspiration Centre is now ministering to nearly 300 displaced families. From the beginning, its mission has been to love, to pray, and to help.
Flippo said, “We can change the world one life at a time. The place to start is where you are, and go from there.” GN
