“I got to know Mark better and he’s just genuine," he says. "He has such a heart for God and his whole life is about bringing the Gospel to people at any cost. That's something I’ve seen during this war - he’s willing to lay down his life to share the Gospel.”

 

At that same time, Sergeev, his wife, and their three children were hiding underground with others from their congregation in the basement of their church. Bombs were literally going off just outside, taking over the city. 

 

“Mark told me that he loved the idea and wanted to do the song but at that particular time, they didn’t even know if they were going to make it out alive," Iceland shares. "It wasn’t a long text because of what was happening at that moment, and when our messaging stopped I just broke down - I had no idea if he and his family were going to survive the night.”

 

The next day they were able to talk, but by then the Russians had occupied Melitopol. Continuing to hide in the church basement, which also stored recording equipment, Sergeev was able to record the vocals although the recording couldn't get sent due to Russia shutting down all internet services. Iceland didn’t hear from Sergeev for a couple of days but miraculously two days later the song file arrived and the song was able to get finished.

 

Then, in the middle of the night on March 9, Sergeev was abducted by the Russian soldiers and was under threat of being killed. He ended up being released the next day and is now back with his family.