RNV USA Pastoral Retreat 2026

 

Pastoral Retreat 2026

We had a great time over the weekend spending time together with our pastors and wives that we get to serve. Unfortunately, not all could be there but we had a good time nonetheless. Our theme was the contemplative pastor after Eugene Peterson's book and Psalm 27:4. We contemplated our calling, our marriages, how to deal with conflict in ministry and failure in ministry. We had lots of fun and ate well too thanks to Jennifer.

Here Harol is leading us in thinking about what training we should do together next year.

We took some time to play together at a golf place here in Indy.

This was a special time praying for Jonathan Morton our president as he battles some health issues.

This was a first connecting with Guatemala who was having a retreat at the same time. It was great to hear testimonies from them and hear about what God is doing there.

Randy Spacht came and share with us as well on failure in ministry.

Daniel Godbey shared as well on Friday night about dealing with conflict in ministry but I don't have any pictures of that.

Financial Support for the Kunkels

I wanted to give a financial update on our family and our monthly financial support and ask for your prayers and your financial support.

Our needs like many families has grown with inflation and other changes. We have a monthly budget of  $6,500 a month. Recenlty, our monthly support has taken some pretty big hits. It is down to an average of $4,500 a month. This means that our support account which thankfully had a decent cushion is running out quickly with a $2,000 a month difference.

You can help in a few different ways:

• Please pray for this financial need
• Please give if you can a one-time gift or a monthly gift, you can give here: https://donorbox.org/benkunkel or send in a check to Red Nueva Vida at 7010 E Thompson Rd, Indpls, IN 46239 (mark as support for Ben Kunkel)
• If you already support us would you consider increasing your support? 

Thanks so much for your prayers and support it means a lot to us! We are so grateful for each of you.

Here is a little about how your giving is making a difference in the lives of many we get to serve.

Dia de RNV

Each year we take one Sunday on the last Sunday of August to celebrate day of New Life Network. We celebrate all the Lord has done in the last year and look forward to a new project. This year we were raising funds to start a discipleship program for kids.

This is New Life Church in Indianapolis.

I got to travel to Waukegan to be with another one of the churches we get to serve. The day before we did some training on a new version of our discipleship.

Sunday we celebrate together.

I got to preach about the calling of Jeremiah from Jeremiah 1:4-10.

Here is another one of our churches.

Here are some other churches from other countries that all joined in on this celebration:

Dominican Republic

Guatemala

Guatemala

Ecuador

Colombia

It is a blessing to be a part of a global movement!

It was a great weekend celebrating and seeing all the Lord is doing globally with RNV. We had a testimony video we shared in which we heard a bunch of people share how the Lord is changing their lives through discipleship.

Thanks for continuing to support us and pray for us and the churches we get to serve!

Family Summer Fun, Jennifer's Birthday and More

July and the first part of August have been full of activities. Jennifer had a birthday on July 25th. We spent as much time as possible at the pool and parks this summer. I took a few weeks off at the end of July for a staycation to spend some time with the girls before they went back to school. We did the pool, a musuem, movie and a few other things.

Celebrating with the other family members on Jennifer's side.

Pool time...the girls have gotten much better at swimming this summer. We are grateful for the neighborhood pool and the kiddie pools in the backyard ;-)

Jennifer got to sneak away for about 24hrs to celebrate our 28th anniversary.

Musuem with cousin Eliza

Jennifer, Caleb and the girls went to KY where her sister lives to celebrate baptisms of two of Brandi's kids! Praise Jesus!

Summer ends. Sofia and Grace starting 3rd and 2nd grades. Caleb is a junior but refused a picture ;-)

Mid-Year Ministry Report 2026

It is hard to believe we are past the middle of the year already. It has been a good year so far but with some challenges both in the family and in ministry. As Jesus promised, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) 

(some of the pastors and families in one gathering we had in May)

I love to set goals and plan out what I hope the Lord will do through the ministry I am leading. Usually, the Lord's plans are different as Proverbs 16:9 says, "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." NLT

Here is the 2030 vision I set for the ministry I am leading: By the end of 2030, the New Life Network in the United States will have 554 disciples actively engaged in discipleship, 35% of whom will reproduce. We will have 26 churches—7 of which will be newly planted—and 104 leaders actively undergoing training (Institute and Leadership Training), and we will establish a solid leadership team for RNV USA.

Here is where we are at as of right now: 84 disciples active in discipleship, 7 churches or churches in the process of being planted, 8 leaders in training.

Here is where I hope we get to by the end of this year: 125 disciples active in discipleship, 9 churches, 25 leaders in training, and develop a leadership team.

(Paola and Oliver who joined the network this year)

Here are the advances and the challenges of this year: Oliver and Paola from the Reflejo de Cristo church joined RNV. We also had one church that decided they could not continue the process of planting a church. We trained all pastors in the 2026 version of the discipleship program.We trained the leaders of Esperanza Viva in the 2026 version of the discipleship program and will soon train another church with goals of both of these churches launching new groups this year. Several groups and churches are completing the discipleship track for the first time. We had one of our pastors decide to officially become part of the leadership team of RNV USA. We also have signed an agreement with one of our churches to help them start a pastors school using our Bible institute material. (see picture below)

Here are some more pictures of some of our pastors and their families:

Socrates and Alexanda and family

Leslie and Yuri and kids

Abraham and Amanda and their kids

 Harol and Kathy and their boy Jonathan

Jose Juan and Maribel and their family

Here is a video testimony from Amanda and Abraham and how RNV has served them.

Thanks so much for supporting us so we can serve these pastors and their churches!

Prayer Time with RNV USA Pastors

 

We had a beautiful gathering with some of our pastors a few weeks ago. It is hard to get everyone together but we try and do it as often as possible. We ate, worshipped, learned and prayed together.

We did some videos and everyone thought we were doing a video but it was a picture ;-)

Thanks for supporting and praying for us as we serve these pastors and their ministries!

Joel Thomas Kunkel

It's hard to believe that Joel, our 4th boy is now a highschool graduate and getting ready to move on. In less than a month he will be moving to Kansas City to work and take some classes at the college which Levi just graduated from. Levi and Alanna will still be there for 3-4 years more since Levi is doing a masters degree. So Joel will be close to them but living on his own, working and going to school.

Here are some pictures from his recent graduation party. Thanks to those who came out!

We are grateful for all who have poured into him over the years! We are proud of him and excited for what the Lord has in store.

Here a few ways you can be praying for him:

• For a reliable vehicle
• Permanent place to live once there
• To get settled once there
• Community

Thanks as always for loving and praying for our family!