The Rev. Jesse Gore went on his first mission trip to Ukraine 18 years ago and began forming a devotion to its people that has taken on a very disturbing tenor since the country was invaded by Russia Feb. 24.
Having served as the First Baptist Church’s pastor of missions from 2009-16, the Rev. Gore is getting hundreds of messages each week from Ukrainians he has befriended during over 30 trips there, the most recent one in 2019.
Still pursuing his Join Jesse in MISSION POSSIBLE ministry since opening Gore Insurance Agency with his wife Penny, Gore said, “I’ve been blessed to share Jesus on five continents, but it is the people of Ukraine who continue to bring me back.
“They are a special people when you look at their hospitality and especially the way they’ve been abused, starved and slaughtered through history. Stalin starved millions and the Nazis did a job on them, too. There was a huge amount of Jewish people in the country prior to World War II.
“They are extremely intelligent, musically gifted and very well educated. Many speak four or five languages. I’ve had several Ph.D.’s and a couple of physicists in my conversational English classes there.”
Along with spending a lot of time in the capital city of Kyiv, Gore has also preached and taught in Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson and Odesa, which is the Ukrainian spelling for the southern seaport. Local attorney Spencer Dobbs paid for his first trip.
“The tons of messages I’m getting about the war keep me praying because I know what a gracious people they are,” he said.
Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gore said, “Seeing them molested by a Russian-speaking Hitler causes a mixture of anger, sadness and sympathy that is overwhelming.
“When I see all this happening, I believe it’s going to usher in the second coming of Jesus. Russia is the Gog and Magog that we see in Revelation 20:7-9.”
Asked if the Ukrainians he knows thought the invasion would happen, he said, “I think some of the older ones expected it, but the younger ones have been overtaken with disbelief.
“We did our best to turn our backs when Russia invaded Crimea and took it over in 2014. They didn’t annex it. They took it over by force.”
Gore is a 60-year-old native Odessan who graduated from Odessa High School in 1980 and attended Odessa College before working for TXU Electric as a pole-climber, customer service representative and diversion investigator. He and his wife have three sons.
Gore grew up attending Trinity Baptist Church, where his late uncle, Pastor Paul Miller, and late parents Gene and Wanell inspired him and his sister and three brothers to have faith in God, he said.
If you go
- What: Community-wide Pray for Ukraine Event.
- When: 5 p.m. today.
- Where: MCM Fundome Ballroom, 6201 Business I-20. Special guest Rudy Gatlin.
