About Our Founder

Anatoliy Rudenki

A mission forty years in the making.

"I told the Lord I would serve Him 100% not just 50."- Anatoliy

After serving in Siberia for 11 years with his family, Anatoliy immigrated to the United States in 2001 with a growing desire to serve.

Meet Anatoliy Rudenkiy

Founder of Life Minsitries International

After coming to the Lord in 1985, Anatoliy served in missions across Ukraine and Russia, now modern day Siberia.

Spending 11 years serving in the Siberian Region with his family, he had a growing desire to continue evangelizing and serving the Lord.

How it started in Alaska

It all started in 2001, when Anatoliy immigrated with his family to the United States. Not knowing the language and feeling out of place in a new country, his first act of evangelism was standing on an intersection in the little town of Delta Junction, Alaska holding up a a sign reading "Jesus Loves You".

Churches throughout Alaska soon joined in the street evangelisms spanning from Fairbanks down to the Mat-Su Valley.

Soon, after much prayer and and tiny steps, God grew the ministry before their eyes.

Groups soon headed out to Nenana to encourage the church and a team

assembled to travel to Noorvik for the first time with the help of a local, Barbara Curtis.

With Barbara's help the year of 2015 was fruitful with the introduction of many new villages. The doors were opened and the vision for Life Ministry was born.

The Friends Church in Noorvik asked Anatoliy to lead multiple youth camps over the next few years, leading many young people to give their life to Christ and soon after take baptism.

This ministry expanded to the villages of Kotzebue, Noatak, and Selawik.

Life Ministry Expands

In 2020, the North Alaska youth camps came to a stand with the Lockdown.

The Life Ministry Team was steadfast and began to pray for an oppurtunity to serve the community throughout this hard period.

Anatoliy soon reached out to his contacts in Ukraine and heard of a great need for the Gospel and humanitarian aid. Throughout the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia war conflict, Life Ministries was able to provide critical aid. Many families, elderly, and homeless people were in need of basic essentials such as food and assistance with housing. This was taken care of by Life Ministry partners located in Ukraine and the generous donations of finances, clothing, and food parcels sent by the local Alaskan churches.

Today, we have a thriving Life Ministry International base located in Kherson, Ukraine; with a team fully equipped to spread the Gospel message and provide humanitarian aid as needed on a daily basis.

Testimonies

"In the first year of Life Ministries mission trips to Noorvik, we met a local Barbara. She was eager to introduce the team to fellow ministry leaders and pastors in the village. Amoung them was her young son, who through the years of seeing the Great Comission being pursued, desired to pursue it was a similar passion. He soon attended the Great Comission Mission School that now partners with Life Ministries in sending long term missionaries to the corners of the world."

- Anatoliy Rudenkiy

"In 2019, the team made plans to head up north for a youth camp. Once they arrived at the area, they soon realized the promised gas stove and kitchen had not arrived and now there was a camp full of children to feed and lunch time was soon approaching. A faithful member of the team, Peter pulled out all they had, a small camping stove and tiny can of fuel. With a fervent prayer and a few hours of waiting for the water to boil, the team was able to make macaroni meal for the entire staff and group of kids, and had plenty of left over."

"Our team planned to take river boats up to one of the far villages, from Kotzebue to Ambler. The long, bumpy boat ride was to be 5-6 hours long but would save on cost, but wasn't guaranteed also due to weather. The tickets to fly there were extremely expensive for a whole team to go. I was dreading it. Then miraculously, a local in Kotzebue, decided to purchase tickets for the entire team to fly to the next village. Praise be to God, that was a little way God took care of us this summer." - Galina (camp volunteer)