I grew up in a Christian home, but my initial feeling of a call to ministry came while attending a Voice of the Martyrs conference in 2008 with my grandparents. However, God’s providence led me on a journey I never would have expected.
I was attending Trinity International University (Deerfield, IL) at the time, pursuing a degree in elementary education. In 2010 I transferred to Greenville College (Greenville, IL) in order to play football. In 2012 I graduated with a degree in secondary English education. Then, this small-town, Wisconsin-raised young man moved to Tennessee to teach high school English, about an hour east of Memphis. The cultural differences took some adjusting to, but southern hospitality is a real thing!
I served as a youth pastor for Grace Pointe Church for a few years, not really knowing what the role of pastor (much less youth pastor) actually meant. But it was during my time in Tennessee that I was first introduced to the doctrines of God's sovereign grace — not through a study of Calvin's Institutes or Spurgeon’s sermons, but through the radio ministry of Dr. James Montgomery Boice and an early morning, men’s Bible study of the book of John.
In 2014 I married my wife, Lauren, and we moved from Tennessee back to Wisconsin. We began attending River Hills Community Church (Janesville, WI). While there, I was graciously mentored by Pastor J. Aaron White for three years, during which time I wrestled with my call to ministry. After a year of prayer, study, and even auditing a class at RBS, I enrolled as a student in 2019.
In 2020, while still enrolled in seminary classes and teaching at a local, Christian school, I was called to serve as interim pastor at a Lutheran church about an hour west of where we were living. From that time on, I was called on to fill the pulpits of several different churches, many of them from liberal denominations. A few times, while trying to preach the Word as I had seen modeled by Aaron White and trying to put into practice what I had learned from my RBS training, people would leave the middle of my sermon in disgust. One woman stared at me for an entire service with a hateful scorn. The Word of God is offensive (I pray I am not!).
In 2022, I was called by Nora Community Church (Nora, IL) to serve as their pastor, while teaching at a public school. From the beginning of my seminary training, I believed I was called to rural ministry. Nora is an unincorporated town in the middle of corn fields and dairy farms. While the cities certainly need Jesus, there is a huge market for Christ in all areas of the world!
Recently, I lost my job at the public school because I refused to go along with the farce of gender ideology (Even in our rural communities, this battle rages). Currently, I am serving Nora Church and another rural congregation that just left the United Methodist denomination as I continue to work another job with a local trucking company to provide for our needs.
In the midst of work and ministry, my wife and I have been blessed with four kids (and counting): Brielle, age 7; Asher, age 5; Anna, age 3; and Teddy, age 1.
I am so thankful to the mentors who have helped me along the way: Scott Cernek (my dad), Aaron White, Jesse Beernink, Justin Coverstone, Larry Schultz, Dennis Anderson, Mark Milligan, and many others. I am thankful to my RBS professors and especially Dr. Gonzalez. The books that I had to read for seminary have been well worth the investment! To God alone be the glory!

Jordan Cernek