From Homelessness to Ministry: The Story of Yevgen Tupikov

Yevgen Tupikov’s story is not merely an account of a difficult past. It is a living testimony of how God lifts a person up from rock bottom, restores their life and family, and gives them a new calling.

Yevgen was born and raised in Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, in a well-off family. Everything went well in his childhood: he was an A-student through fifth grade, grew up in a stable environment, and had every chance for a bright future. But eventually, things began to change. In the 1990s, his parents became immersed in business, and their attention toward their son dwindled significantly. It was then that the first destructive elements began to enter his life: theft, cigarettes, alcohol, and the streets.
By ninth grade, Yevgen had become practically unmanageable. He stopped spending the night at home, avoided any responsibility, and in 1999, he even ran away from his hometown, trying to hide from the problems he himself had created. But, as is often the case, running away was not a salvation. It only opened the door to an even deeper fall.
The next 8–10 years of his life were spent wandering through various cities in Ukraine. These were years of homelessness, petty theft, odd jobs, and inner desolation. In 2010 in Simferopol, when he had almost nothing left inside, he received a business card for a rehabilitation center. But at that time, Yevgeny wasn’t yet looking for true recovery. He was interested only in temporary comfort: washing up, taking a bath, getting some sleep—and then returning to his old life.
One of the most painful moments happened in 2012 in Odessa. Yevgen woke up right in the square—dirty, barefoot, humiliated by his own condition. Ordinary people were walking by, each going about their business, and at that moment he looked at them with acute pain and confusion: why do they live normal lives, and he does not? It was then that the first serious awakening began in his heart.
In 2014, through a girl he knew, Yevgeny began attending church. And by 2016, when he turned 35, he realized with particular clarity: throughout his entire life, relying only on himself, he had built nothing of real substance.
On September 18, 2016, in Odessa, Yevgen sincerely repented before God. After that, he was baptized, got married, and real changes began in his life. A daughter was born into the family, hope arrived, and a new direction emerged.
But even after that, he made a serious mistake. When he gained a job, money, outward stability, and material success, Yevgeny began to rely more on himself than on God. He drifted away from the church, lost his spiritual anchor, and turned to alcohol once again. The consequences were severe: he lost everything again, left alone with his emptiness, in a cold house, without inner support.
Just as his life was falling apart once more, Yevgeny remembered how the Lord had lifted him up once before after sincere repentance. And then he made an important decision: to leave behind all his material possessions and return to Odessa, to the "New Life" Christian mission. But this time—not for the sake of temporary shelter or convenience, but for the most important thing: to restore his relationship with the Lord.
It was from this point that his true restoration began. When God returned to first place, everything else gradually began to be restored as well. The family was reunited: Yevgen’s wife returned to him, and today they are raising two children—a daughter and a son. A home, work, responsibility, stability, and most importantly—a new inner foundation—appeared in his life.
Today, Yevgeny can not only say that God has completely changed his life. He himself has become a person through whom God touches others. Yevgeny serves in the Christian mission "New Life," helping those who find themselves in difficult life circumstances, supporting people on their path to restoration, and testifying to God’s mercy through his own story. And over the years, through faithfulness, transformation, and service, he has become a deacon of home groups.
His story is a reminder of a simple but powerful truth: material things alone do not save a person. Without God, even success can prove fragile, but with God, even after total ruin, a new life is possible.
Sometimes the Lord doesn't just lift a person from the ruins. He makes them someone who helps others rise.