This page is the beginning of the other information that is pertinent to Fisherman's Robe. Jon and Ardie Kayner are the parents of Pastor Steve. They have been supportive and are much of the reason that there will be a ministry at all. The Kayners have been Christian parents, willing to believe and trust their son, certainly not perfect, but in light of society and all that is known to be true in this world, they have been good faithful parents and people. This page is a tribute to honor them, and a brief portion of their individual testimonies of faith.
Jon Kayner has a business,
Kayner Service Company. His work is to diagnose and repair
commercial Laundry and Dry Cleaning equipment. In order to do
that, he travels all over the Pittsburgh area and works only when his
customers call. This is a faith based business. He has
never advertised, but he has gone out of his way to work hard, to
treat customers fairly, to be excellent at what he does, to stand
behind his work, and while there are tense moments, God is always
faithful, as are his customers, suppliers, and even the machinery
distributers, who tell one another of him freely. When calls
don't come in for service, instead of placing ads and calling every
possible client, he and mom pray. There is almost always some
reason that calls don't come in, when that happens, but there has
NEVER been a time that has lasted long enough for him to file for
unemployment or some other emergency measure. God seems to test
their faith every so often, and more than once, they have gotten more
intense in their prayer and concern, but God has never let them down.
There is another side to Jon's
business, though. As he goes, he is always listening to his
customers, and often, if they are having troubles, he is quick to be
willing to share the reason for his joy. I have never heard my
father accost someone in Jesus' name. If they don't have any
interest in hearing, he has no interest in telling. But to
anyone who would like to be prayed for, or to be encouraged by a
testimony of God's love, dad is there. He has more than one
story about how, as he goes, God, through the Holy Spirit
communicates to Jon a need that someone has, and he will gently ask
if the person would want prayer. God uses Jon often to touch
people and heal them.
Jon tells the story that when
he was in Seventh Grade, he had an overwhelming sense that his hands
were going to be used for something special. God seems to have
put that impression there, so that when the time was right, He could
reveal a useful Spiritual Gift, Healing. Over time, there could
appear here, literally dozens of stories given as testimony to God's
active healing presence today
Ardie
Ardie Kayner, yes it is a
Swedish name, short for Ardath, is the mom, the care taker, the
prayer warrior, a lifelong believer with an amazing faith and simple
trust in God. When she was just an infant, she had pneumonia,
and when the doctors had given up, her mother prayed and offered her
to the Lord, saying, "If you will heal her, she is
yours." God did, and has taken that offer very
seriously. While most people who claim to be Christians can
remember a time when they chose to accept their faith, mom
cannot. God's healing and her mother's promise worked together
and from the earliest parts of her childhood, she was given the
gift of faith, and has been in some kind of service to God.
Right now, Ardie is the
caretaker and mentor to a very energetic 32 month old relative.
Kateri Lyn is the daughter of Steve's cousin and her husband.
It is always hard work, and the surprises never end from this 2+ year
old, but in the same hands on way that she raised both of her own
children, Ardie takes every possible opportunity to guide and teach
and impart faith to Kateri, who learns very quickly and usually makes
the job of teaching easy. Now that doesn't mean that the other
jobs necessary to care for a child that age are easy, but with the
help of the family, the work continues, and the learning continues,
and much too often, it seems that Kateri was created to learn as fast
as a vacuum cleaner can suck up dirt.
The other work that Ardie does
daily, is to answer phones. Between crises and learning
experiences, people often seem to call Ardie to talk. It is not
because of her love of chatting or her great admiration for the
telephone that she gets calls, but because people who know her, know
that if they are struggling, she will pray and listen. She not
only listens carefully to the person who is on the other end of the
phone, but she is listening for the voice of God at the same time, so
that when she answers questions, she is not normally just giving her
opinion, but is sharing what she feels is God's truth for that
situation. While quite often, when one is talking to someone
who claims faith in Christ, that person will honestly say that they
will pray for you. However, often that offer is more a good
wish with hopes of doing what has been promised, but with Ardie, if
she says she will pray for you, you get prayed for.
It is not easy to be a prayer
warrior who listens and hears from God. In fact, most of the
time, when mom speaks, the message is not what we want to hear,
and for a long time, we all tended to get angry or frustrated with
her. But we have been called up short for that failing by God
more often than we would like to admit, because when mom speaks, most
of the time, she is speaking a direct word from God, and no matter
how stupid we got, those words proved to be true, and no matter
how much garbage she had to take for trying to be faithful, God has
proven her to be much more than a credible prophetic voice. If
you were to ask her, she would, and does say that if she had her
choice, she would not choose to hear and have to speak these
messages, but the cry of her heart is, "God use me," and he does.
Mom actually probably does
much more than it appears that she does, but she does it from home,
and there has been a temptation to wonder if she does much at
all. Not only does she maintain order in a household of five
adults, and the weekday visits (8:30-5:00) from Kateri, but she keeps
the books and records for Jon's business, handles his business
communication, does telephone counseling, keeps the checking account
straight, washes, irons, and if she has to, cooks. That last
statement is deceptive, though, because while she has less than NO
interest in cooking, she is exceptionally good at it.
The Kayners have been married for 42+ years. They are members of Cornerstone Ministries of Export, PA, where they have gone for 11 years. This spring, they have been involved in the church's Alpha program.