The Kernal Family
Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
Christ Our Hope Bible Church provides support funding for this Czech pastor who in 2004 planted Fellowship of Bible Christians, an evangelical, Bible-teaching church in Usti, a city in northwestern Czech Republic near the German border. Peter Smith came alongside of Jarda as he prayed about and launched the church plant. Since 2004 the Kladno and Usti churches have been an encouragement to one another through congregational fellowship and collaboration with summer outreach camps.
In turn, Jarda made a commitment to help missionary Marcus Denny by preaching in Kladno one Sunday each month while Marcus is learning the Czech language. Marcus and Jarda are also collaborating on plans for next summer’s outreach English camp. On one Sunday this fall, Jarda and his congregation traveled to Kladno to worship with The Bible Christian Church.
Fellowship of Bible Christians is a small church which is unable to fully support the Kernal family, so Jarda must work part-time to subsidize his pastoral ministry. In the past year the Lord graciously opened the door for Jarda to transition to a new job, overseeing publication of a quarterly Christian magazine, “Zapas o Duši” (Fight for Soul). This position has been a tremendous blessing for Jarda in that it marries well to his pastoral responsibilities and encourages other evangelical churches that receive the magazine.
Jarda’s wife Alena works outside the home, managing historical documents in a government archive. The Kernals have two children, Jakub (13) and Maja (10).
Please be praying for the family of Jarda and Alena Kernal and their ministry:
* That Jarda’s family would be a strong witness for Christ in their community, and that Jakub and Maja would follow the Lord wholeheartedly;
* That God would grow The Fellowship of Bible Christians in size and maturity through the faithful teaching of Scripture.
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Update October 2009
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“The Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer.“ Psalm 6:8
Greetings to you in the peace of Christ from Usti nad Labem. With joy and thankfulnes to the
Lord I send you an update of what is happening in our church.
At the end of June we celebrated some more baptisms. We baptized Jirka (who is rather new
to our group), Svetlana, and my mom. Both of these ladies have been Christians for some time
now but needed to better understand the significance of baptism. God led them and helped
them understand His Word and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. Honza and Iva’s daughter,
Lucka, was also baptized as she too acknowledges Christ as Lord and Savior and longs to follow
Him.
English Camp was also a great blessing. We had a host of opportunities to talk with people
and, as most of you know, in our country it is a long process until people truly start thinking
about God and spiritual things. We see that there is a great need for prayer for these folks.
After English Camp Petr Stanek started attending our church. He has been to English camp
many times before and usually attended church for awhile after. It was that way again this year.
He came regularly but this past month it has not been good. Several times he overslept or said
that he did not have time. He misses the worship service for weeks at a time, Bible study, and
appointments with me when we go over Fundamentals of the Faith. Petr used to attend a
charismatic church in Usti and it appears that he really has partaken of the grace of God (at least
according to what he says). But he needs there important areas of his life that he needs to
submit to the Lord.
Petr Papez’s mother, Dasa, has started attending our church. She is not yet born-again and
does not come regularly, but it appears that she is interested in spiritual things. So we pray that
the Lord will touch her heart and open it just as he did Lydia‘s in the book of Acts (16:14).
Svojsíkova 2669/20, Ústí nad Labem, tel.: 775 240 758, kernalj@gmail.com; www.cirkevusti.cz
We are praying for the Kimlovi family (Martin and Zdena). They are friends of the Suchy
family. Zdena attends a moms‘ support group regularly and has a lot of spiritual interest.
Though they don’t go to church, they have visited a baptismal service.
We continue to pray for Igor. He knows that his spiritual life is not in order, but does not seem
to be too concerned. It is good, though, that we are in contact with him and that he comes to
church occasionally.
Our church has completed a long phase in which we appointed elders in March. This was a big
step and now we want to go on. We want to be a church that prays and we see that we sorely
lack in this area. So we are directing our efforts to grow in this way. By God’s grace we are
growing in the knowledge of the Word (as a church and individually) and in our obedience to it,
but we need greater zeal in our prayer life and real passion for God. We have made some
organizational changes in our prayer meetings, and we hope that this will lead to greater
fervency in our prayers.
I continue to preach expositionally through the gospel of Luke and Petr is completing the
book of Joshua. Honza has begun to preach through Genesis once a month, so the three of us
take turns.
We recently had a joint worship service with Kladno and Roudnice in Kladno. The need for
mutual encouragement is great, and this is an outstanding opportunity. We continue to work
closely with the Kladno church assisting them in their pulpit ministry. It is a great joy and
privilege to share in the edification of the saints and the expansion of God’s kingdom.
In cooperation with the Christian magazine „The Battle for the Soul“ which I work with we are
preparing a conference with theme „The Church in the World not of the World“. My work with
this magazine has been a blessing. I enjoy being able to spend more time in God’s Word as part
of my new job preparing sermons or articles for this publication. It looks like next year I will
need to travel more, visiting churches and groups of believers. I believe this is God’s work and
that He opens doors.
We are planning on working more closely with the Christian publisher „Pilgrims Reading“. We
would like to publish several of Charles Spurgeon’s messages in Czech which will appear in our
magazine and be distribued by this publisher.
Svojsíkova 2669/20, Ústí nad Labem, tel.: 775 240 758, kernalj@gmail.com; www.cirkevusti.cz
Thank you for your continued prayers and your wonderful support. We are so grateful for
your faithfulness and perseverance. We pray for you too and thank the Lord for you. You are a
great encouragement to us and your prayers mean so much.
With gratefulness to the Lord for you,
Jarda, Alena, Jakub and Maja
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