Vazgen Zohrabyan, an Armenian pastor who continues to spearhead ministry and ongoing relief efforts among refugees in his country, is visiting the United States and will share his story at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 15, at Chattanooga Church.
Last year, war between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Before the fighting stopped, more than 5,000 soldiers and civilians lost their lives and more than 100,000 refugees were forced from their neighborhoods and farms as the bombing continued for several weeks. Moved by the need of so many refugees, Pastor Vazgen and Abovyan City Church reached out to their community through Facebook to see if they could help anyone—and more than 2,000 responses poured in over the next few days. Vazgen, overwhelmed by the response, broke down in tears with his wife one night. As he cried out to God, the phone rang. Mission Eurasia President Sergey Rakhuba reached out to see how his organization could help Vazgen and his community. Since then, the pastor and his church of about 300 members and other ministry partners have worked alongside Mission Eurasia to hand out 10,000 food packages and tons of clothing to refugee families and also distribute thousands of Bibles and other Christian literature. Though a ceasefire agreement has been reached, and some refugees have returned home, many families still struggle to rebuild their lives. To help those struggling emotionally from the crisis, the church has led critical training and counseling and also opened bakeries to meet more physical and spiritual needs.
Please join us at Chattanooga Church to hear Pastor Vazgen’s story. For more information, please contact Pastor Morty Lloyd, who also is the vice president of development at Mission Eurasia, at Morty@missioneurasia.org or 423 593-3043.