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The Mayernick Family: A Story of Radical Discipleship Through Suffering

Source: Auburn Community Church - "The Mayernick Story of Radical Discipleship"
Date: May 25, 2025
Pastor: Miles Fidell, Lead Pastor of Auburn Community Church

Overview​

This powerful testimony from Auburn Community Church showcases the Mayernick family's journey of "normalizing radical discipleship in the American church" - from adoption and international ministry to facing terminal illness with unwavering faith.

Key Themes & Powerful Quotes​

The Three Phases of Discipleship​

Pastor Miles Fidell presents a profound framework for understanding the discipleship journey:

Phase 1 - Conforming Your Will to God's Will:

"The first one is all about conforming your will to God's will... it's all about submitting my will and my future and my story to God."

Phase 2 - Walking Through Suffering and Loss:

"Part two of discipleship usually hits in midlife for people and it has more to do with the pain and disorientation of living in a broken world and in a decaying body."

Phase 3 - Giving Away Your Death:

"The third stage of discipleship is giving away your death... the gospel invites us to actually go on that journey with Jesus and eventually get to a place where we entrust him even with the end of our lives."

Radical Obedience in Adoption​

Suzanne Mayernick's Divine Call:

"We were sitting in church one day and the pastor was speaking on abiding and there was a little boy that was sitting in front of me and he kept turning around and smiling and in that moment I audibly heard 'I have a child for you.'"

Mike's Response to Unexpected Calling:

"It really only took about a few days before I felt it too. And that became the first time I think in either of our lives when we felt like we were called to do something to the point that if we didn't do it, we weren't being obedient."

The Liberation of True Parenthood​

Suzanne on Adoption's Transformative Power:

"I completely freed up from having to be like the perfect mom... I literally felt like the shackles dropped off of my hands and my feet when I held him of what the world told me being a mom looked like versus the love from a mom to a child that can only be given from the Holy Spirit."

Family Culture of Sacrifice​

Teaching Generosity from Childhood:

"When we were little, my dad, he gave us all these piggy banks and they had different slots on them and it was give, save, and spend... Nothing was ever my own, which was looking back was such a gift because I think it just bred selflessness."

Family Decision on Supporting Tuta:

"My dad sat us all down and he asked us to go around and ask what we would be willing to give up to provide for Tuta schooling and her living... my dad being so bold and leading the charge in that and just leading our family."

The ALS Diagnosis: Faith Tested by Fire​

The Devastating News:

"I'll never forget sitting in the doctor's office. The doctor came in and after running the test and he said, 'I'm 80% sure that you have ALS'... he went on to basically say there's nothing you can do about it and it's terminal."

Mike's Response to Hopelessness:

"This is one thing that I truly have no control over. It's not even like I can go get chemotherapy and have a 50/50 shot. It's just a relatively hopeless disease. So the only place I can find hope is in Christ."

Profound Insights on Suffering and Faith​

The Paradox of Suffering:

"I wouldn't wish the suffering on anyone, including myself, but I would wish the transformation on anybody."

Becoming More Like Christ:

"If I want to be more like Christ, I got to be more willing to be sad, lonely, hurt, and afraid, and to need God in all of it. And to be bulletproof is not only not attractive relationally, but it's also unrealistic and it's impossible and it's not at all Christian."

Reconciling Faith and Pain:

"The hardest thing for me it has been like putting my faith and my pain together like in the same box and like reconcile them."

Gospel-Centered Perspective on Death​

Mike's Ultimate Surrender:

"It's not my place to decide what I think is fair or right or best. And even if I get healed tomorrow, I want to keep that mindset as long as I live. I'm trying to learn how to trust him in his story that he's writing."

Kingdom Perspective:

"The phrase, 'Thy kingdom come,' has just resonated in my mind... I don't have all the answers but I do know that what's happening to me and my story is bad, but somehow in God's story, I believe it's good."

The Love One Ministry​

From personal adoption experience, the Mayernicks created Love One ministry in Uganda:

"We went from caring for a couple of kids to hundreds of kids, then from hundreds of kids to thousands of kids. I honestly do not know how it's gotten to where it is now other than just the Lord doing his thing and us just taking one step at a time."

Final Wisdom​

Life's Ultimate Priorities:

"Life is short. God is good. And his plans are perfect. And we trust him even in the midst of the trials."

Reflection​

This testimony powerfully demonstrates what Pastor Miles calls "normalizing radical discipleship" - a family that has said yes to adoption, international ministry, sacrificial giving, and ultimately to suffering with Christ. The Mayernick story challenges the American church to move beyond comfortable Christianity into the fullness of cross-bearing discipleship, where even terminal illness becomes an opportunity to glorify God and model surrender.

Their journey from fertility to adoption, from local family to global ministry, and from health to terminal diagnosis reveals how God uses ordinary families willing to say "yes" to extraordinary callings. Most powerfully, it shows how the gospel transforms our relationship with suffering from something to be avoided into something that can conform us to the image of Christ.