Columbus pastor, 76, says God told him to go on mission to war-torn Ukraine amid COVID
As a former U.S. Marine, a retired police officer and now a Columbus pastor, the Rev. Mike Randall has answered many calls for help. After watching TV news reports about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has answered a different kind of call.
Randall prayed to God and asked what he could do. The answer came March 2 — his 76th birthday.
The previous evening, he saw a TV news report about Ukrainian orphans who were missing, dead or abducted by traffickers. His distress about this inhumanity still was in his heart the next morning.
So he announced to his wife and daughter he decided to go on another mission in the name of the charitable trust he founded 16 years ago, Hear the Cries of the Children.
Randall estimates he has helped shelter more than 800 orphans in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru and Senegal since 2006. Now, he feels called to another country.
This weekend, Randall is scheduled to leave his Greystone at Main Street home and his congregants at Weems Road Free Will Baptist Church to help save children in war-torn Ukraine.
Mission plan
In the southeastern Polish village of Medyka, bordering Ukraine, Randall plans to meet Jeremy Locke, a retired Green Beret who is operations chief of Nashville-based Aerial Recovery Group, a nonprofit emergency management organization working on the Polish-Ukrainian border to set up refugee camps and help those fleeing Ukraine.
From there, Randall hopes to secure transportation into Lviv, Ukraine, approximately 55 miles from the border. Many of the Ukrainian orphans have mental or physical disabilities, sometimes both, Randall said. State-run orphanages rescue as many of them as they can and connect them with volunteers in Lviv.
If he gets into Lviv, Randall said, he will help orphans get medical care, clothing, food and shelter. He was told Aerial Recovery Group has rescued 476 Ukrainian orphans during the war.
And if the Russian invasion makes it unsafe for the orphans to stay in Lviv, Randall said, he will help transport them via train or automobile to the Polish border.
Randall is bringing from Columbus as much money as he could raise from donations in three weeks, $15,000, and as many supplies as he could pack, such as blankets, children’s clothing and healthcare items.
“Columbus always has been a good giving city,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer. “… God is in this 100%. … The people of Columbus really have a heart for the less fortunate.”
Randall is paying for his own travel expenses, he said, so all the money he raised will benefit the orphans.
“Many of these children had to be taken from harm’s way with only the clothes they were wearing,” he said. “The caretakers also abandoned the orphanages in the war zone with little or nothing for travel.”
Randall will need to take two plane flights and a train to reach Medyka. His wife, Bhumi, supports her husband’s mission.
“It’s God’s calling,” she told the L-E. “I am very proud that God chooses my husband to go and serve in Ukraine. … I wish could go with him and help, but I’m staying back to raise more funds.”
Despite her husband’s age and risk of going into a war zone during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bhumi said she doesn’t fear for his safety.
“He’s my mentor,” she said, “and he’s my hero. … He has a really big heart for the children.”
Randall said, “God is my refuge and my strength in times of trouble.”
His return ticket indicates he will fly back to the United States in two weeks, but Randall insists he will stay as long as he can help.
He gestured toward the winter coat and boots next to his apartment’s front door and said, “I’m ready to get on that plane.”
Mission experience
Another mission provided the spark that led Randall into the ministry.
After serving in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War era, Randall worked as a police officer in Americus, Georgia, and as police chief in Newville, Alabama.
At age 42, chronic seizures and severe migraine headaches — considered secondary symptoms from the typhoid fever he had while in the Marines — prompted him to retire.
“God had other plans,” he said.
As a member of Shiloh Baptist Church in Chipley, Florida, he went on a mission to India. The poverty and desperation of orphaned and abandoned children deeply touched his heart.
That experience made such a impact on his life, he decided to attend Baptist College of Florida — at age 50.
Intent on finishing as soon as possible, he took 20 or 21 credit hours each semester and graduated magna cum laude in three years with a bachelor’s degree in theology and a minor in missions and evangelism.
“To God be the glory,” he said. “I think I was given the class presidency as a token for being the old man of the class.”
Randall was ordained in 2001 and has served as senior pastor for four churches in 21 years. He will celebrate nine years at Weems Road on Mother’s Day.
HOW TO HELP
Donations to Hear the Cries of the Children Ukraine Mission can be sent while Randall is overseas to his partner congregation, Rose Hill Baptist Church, 2100 Hamilton Road, Columbus, Georgia 31904, or to the Hear the Cries of the Children mailing address, P.O. Box 242, Fortson, GA, 31808.
For more information, contact his wife, Bhumi, at 706-325-6865 or bhumika242@gmail.com.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 12:53 PM.
