David Novak
I am a pastor of one of the largest evangelical congregations in the Czech Republic. I am the president of the denomination. I teach homiletics and ethics at the Evangelical Theological Seminary. I write books and articles. I have published several podcasts.
I grew up in a Christian home. My parents provided me with a good example of living faith. I don’t remember at what age I decided to trust Christ but I know it happened during my childhood. My struggle wasn’t to “believe” that God is real but to trust him. My crisis of faith came when I went to the communist army at the age of 19. I realised then that my belief in Jesus was quite shallow. During that period, my walking with God changed and my faith became personal. I realised that “to become Christian” meant not only to confess my sins but to give him all I have and to trust him. Since that time my faith has become personal.
The most important times in my life were the times of problems. I say this because it was then that I was pushed to pray more and to search for God’s will. Those times when I was weak and struggling brought me closer to God and convinced me of His power and love for me.
The Forum is a very good place to connect with others in similar positions as mine and get to talk with these leaders and learn from their experiences. The Forum also offers many valuable resources - great and wise speakers, books, study materials, and so forth. I will also be speaking in a Network.
Before my current ministry, I was the denominational leader of the young adult ministry, which meant I prepared the youth leaders for their youth ministry. I also helped publish their materials and acted as a mentor to them to prepare them for outreach. I also went on radio programs (both Christian and secular) to talk about issues related to apologetics.
The longer I am in church ministry the more I see how much I need to educate myself. The more experience and knowledge I have the more I see how much I don't know and how many mistakes I make.