BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Peace in the midst of war sounds like a contradiction, but for Christian Hickey, the two go hand in hand when they’re part of God’s will.
Hickey, a 2000 Keystone Heights High School graduate, is currently living in Ukraine with his wife, Ashley, and their three children: Christian, 6, Landyn, 4, and Kelson, 2. There, he helps provide humanitarian aid and training (especially life-saving techniques) to soldiers, hands out Bibles and delivers the gospel as part of the Triple A Authority ministry he founded.
He and his family don’t live close to the front lines, but they sometimes hear machine-gun fire, missiles, etc., as was the case on a night shortly before Hickey was interviewed by the Telegraph-Times-Monitor on May 15.
“We fell asleep listening to that,” Hickey said. “That’s how much peace we have living there.”
Hickey said he spent 30 years of his life walking away from opportunities God placed before him. Now, he’s put his complete faith in God and is willing to do whatever He asks, including leaving a comfortable life behind in the U.S. and going to Ukraine. Though he said his family is not put in harm’s way, Hickey is out among the soldiers in the midst of the war. He’s been shot in the legs and once asked God, “Why do you have me here?”
“I understand now I have to be in that same predicament to understand what these soldiers are going through, to be able to relate to them even more,” Hickey said.
His source of inspiration is Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
In over a year’s time, Hickey has led more than 1,000 soldiers to Christ.
“This is basically going from unit to unit, trench to trench, area to area,” he said.
Hickey, during his interview with the Telegraph-Times-Monitor (which took place during a brief return to the U.S.), teared up several times. It’s a common occurrence. He’s shed plenty of tears while in Ukraine.
“You see 100 men. All of them want Jesus,” Hickey said. “They want a change in their life.”
Walking by faith, saving souls
Hickey made a change in his life that would be hard for many to make, waking away from a career he loved (working with the Gainesville Police Department). He also had 15 years of active-duty military service under his belt.
Such a life change wasn’t on his radar, but he said he realized his experiences in the military, in law enforcement and in a seminary are all serving him now in Ukraine. That’s not by accident.
“I just left with my rucksack and a plane ticket and made my journey into Ukraine…I had no clue I was going to be a missionary a year ago,” Hickey said.
He and his family had a house in Middleburg. They sold it, along with most of their possessions.
“How are we able to do this? Financially, God provides,” Hickey said. “It’s not my mission. It’s His mission.”
Hickey’s a missionary in a dangerous place. He said he and his team members go from trench to trench, delivering Bibles to soldiers and reading to them from the Book of Psalms. This takes place while being under fire.
His strength to overcome his fears comes from David’s writings about total reliance upon God in the Book of Psalms. Referencing chapters 23 and 91, specifically, Hickey said, “You don’t need to fear the arrows that fly by day or have to worry about all these things your adversary is trying to do to you. You’re going to lie down in green pastures and sleep next to still waters.”
The danger makes the work that much more important. Hickey said probably 99 out of every 100 soldiers he talks to say they want to hear more about Jesus and to have a relationship with Him.
“Many of the soldiers I’ve led to Christ have died and gone on to be with the Lord,” Hickey said, adding, “I get peace in that they had the opportunity to have that relationship with Christ before they died.”
The mission is more than winning just soldiers to Christ. Hickey said the whole of Ukraine is in the midst of a revival.
“It’s really cool to see, especially when you’re in these front-line villages, and there is artillery and rocket fire, and you see these people who are walking with Jesus and singing and praising and worshipping God during these episodes of just uncertainty.”
Seeing how God works in the midst of chaos is rewarding. Hickey said he has forgotten more miracles than he can remember witnessing in the past year.
“I tell people all the time that I understand why in the gospels it says they never wrote all the miracles Jesus did because it would just take up too much space,” Hickey said.
Hickey has learned that when a door closes on an opportunity, it closes for a reason. It’s part of God’s plan.
“A closed door is a redirection,” Hickey said.
He recalled one incident in which he and his team members were invited to a village they had been to in the past in Kherson. This time, however, they arrived to find that they were denied access.
As it turned out, the place they were denied access to came under heavy attack and was “completely bombed out,” Hickey said.
“That’s why we were denied access,” he said. “It wasn’t meant for us to be there during that time.”
Triple A Authority
Before leaving for Ukraine, Hickey said he wanted to create a vehicle for his ministry. The result was Triple A Authority, a nonprofit that, according to its mission statement, “seeks access and placement in hostile countries to advise, assist and accompany victims of violence/natural disasters. Its vision statement reads: “Our vision is to bring light into dark places of the world through the authority of Jesus Christ. For we are called into this mission; Christ acts through us. Therefore, the obstacles we encounter become testaments to our ministry as we see miracles go before us.”
The name comes from the triple “A”s of the mission statement: advise, assist and accompany.
“The logo, if you look at it, looks like a military reticle,” Hickey said, “but if you look at it even more closely, it’s the cross on Calvary, with blood on the cross.”
Hickey said Triple A Authority is in partnership with A Jesus Mission after six months of the organizations working alongside each other in Ukraine.
“A Jesus Mission pretty much runs all of our humanitarian aid,” Hickey said. “We’re taking over 700 tons of food into Ukraine.”
With his military background, Hickey can get the two organizations into areas “where the most need is.” He also uses his background to help train Ukrainian soldiers.
Whatever else the two organizations provide (including medical evacuations), Hickey said their main role is to deliver the Gospel. Boxes of food contain Bibles and tracts for people to read. Gospel-themed coloring books are provided for children.
“We’re not a food-delivery company. We’re not a training company. We’re not a medical-evacuation company. We’re a Jesus-delivering company,” Hickey said.
How long will he be in Ukraine? That remains to be seen. What Hickey does know is that he’s now a full-time missionary after officially turning in his Gainesville Police Department badge and uniforms the week he was interviewed for this story.
He also knows that his walk of faith, though it takes him through a country filled with strife, is a blessing.
“It’s rewarding,” Hickey said. “It’s peaceful.”
