What we need
According to the former president of Bear Valley Bible Institute International of Denver, ministers do well when they receive the median wage of the location they are ministering. The belief is for not being much more fortunate than the lower 50% but not be much less fortunate than the upper 50%. It is a good starting point, and we have learned within the first two years how to better adjust it for Czechia. Dean of Students during our studies at Bear Valley, also has seen what the negative impact of trying to live in poverty does to the work in the mission field. He does not recommend anyone to become poor to reach the poor as that does not come off as genuine. So, we aimed for around the median wage plus our unique American expenses.
After living in Czechia, I have learned what I need to adjust. I added American self-employment taxes. We have had 15.7% less due to saving for our taxes. Therefore, I updated the budget with taxes. Another thing I learned is that Czechia is one of the only EU countries that did not recover as well economically post-covid, therefore inflation has been one of the highest in Europe. Housing costs have increased even more. The last factor that affected us in our first year has been the unfavorable exchange rate. In years past, the United States dollar (USD) to Czech Koruna (CZK) exchange rate was 1 dollar gives 23-25 koruna. I used these numbers often for building the budget. Most of our first year, it has been 21 Koruna, which means our dollar does not go as far. Recently (2025), the exchange rate dropped below 21 CZK per 1 USD. All these factors have made it more difficult for saving as much for retirement, saving for buying a home, or other future large purchases.
I have chosen to not include the specifics of our budget on our website, but if you would like to know more, you can click the button for budget questions and request our full packet.
Work related costs
As mentioned before, I have not included the specifics of the costs on our website for this section as well. It will be in our full packet. We have seen the need for a vehicle since living here. It would help us in daily life and in the work, so we have added it to our transportation costs, but also we have made it a goal to own a vehicle. We have been recommended to fundraise to buy a new vehicle outright as it gives us the security of warranty and reliability. New typical car prices range from $30,000 to $60,000.
Due to recommendations to not flood the young congregation with American money, within our packet we have not included the cost of renting a location for the church to meet. This will help foster their participation in giving to the Lord. Many missions have failed due to church plants being dependent on American money, and we hope to not leave any church dependent on that. At the moment, the church in Olomouc contributes modestly to translating Apologetics Press material, and the goal in our contribution will lead to funding other needs, such as a larger location for worship.
What we are asking
Paul mentioned to the Philippians in 1:5 that he prayed with joy because of their participation in the Gospel. The Philippians financially helped Paul so that he could be unhindered doing the work of spreading the gospel. We too are hoping for your participation in the Gospel by helping fund us in this work. We ask to be included in your fiscal budget with written confirmation of commitment on a document containing contact information in case our sponsoring congregation needs to contact you. We hope that in doing this, we will have income security but also become a blessing to your congregation within this work. If you do support us, but down the line are unable to, we ask for a 6-month notice so we can attempt to recover the funds lost.
To keep us accountable, we will give monthly updates on the work provided to you by either our sponsoring congregation or through an email mailing list. We will also make time to do more thorough, in-person reports at least every few years for you, Lord willing. We hope that you will consider partnering with us to do God’s work in a spiritually desolate place. God bless!
*If you would like more detailed information about our cost breakdowns or have questions, please feel free to contact us.