Early Life
Steve was born December 14, 1958, in Riverside California. Because his father was a navigator in the Air Force, by the time he was 14, he had lived in Merced California, Montgomery Alabama, Salina Kansas, Roswell New Mexico and Plattsburgh New York. December 26, 1972, a family friend took his mother, two sisters, and him from Plattsburgh to the airport in Montreal Canada to fly to visit his grandparents in Seattle, Washington. While on the way to the airport his mother unexpectedly died of a heart attack.
Her sudden death changed Steve’s life drastically. After his father returned from Vietnam, he and his two sisters were sent to Seattle Washington in the hopes that their grandparents would raise them. When it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to do so, the three children were moved to Sacramento California to live with their father who was recently relocated there. Because Steve had been raised in an atheist home, he had no knowledge of the Bible or Jesus Christ. The devastating loss of his mother started him on a spiritual quest for answers.
Young Adult Years
At the age of 17, after his best friend, Scott LaBotz, had been inviting him to church and to Campus Life meetings, he made the decision to trust Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at a retreat in Santa Cruz California. Steve’s college years were spent trying to seek God’s will as he studied Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Davis.Steve met his wife Pam during his sophomore year of college. At the time, she was not a Christian. After months of Steve and Scott sharing the Gospel with Pam, she made the decision to trust Christ as her Lord and Savior. Pam graduated with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 1980. One year later, Steve graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and they were married 2 months later August 8, 1981.
Newlyweds
Life took the young newlyweds to New Orleans Louisiana where Steve landed a job as a Chemical Engineer Kaiser Aluminum. Pam gained employment as a Dental Assistant in Kenner LA.
Moving to Louisiana was the greatest thing that could have happened spiritually for the Kerns. For them, Louisiana was the antithesis of California. They were stripped of all the “fun” things they liked to do in California; backpacking, hiking, skiing, surfing, trout fishing, and many other sports. At the same time, they were searching for a church where they could grow as a young married couple. At first, they were miserable as they couldn’t find a decent church and didn’t like Louisiana. This forced them to more aggressively seek God and read the Bible in order to know God’s will.
Eventually, they discovered the First Baptist Church of Kenner and it became a great fit for them. Steve and Pam became very involved in the life of the church, especially in evangelistic ministries and visitation. In 1983, they met Leo Humphrey, founder of Good News In Action, and started going out with him to the inner-city neighborhoods, evangelizing door to door and show Christian movies to reach people with the Gospel. From the moment Steve started going out with Leo, he felt at home as he saw many people pray to receive Christ. That same year, on May 14, 1983, their first child, Kristen Elisabeth, was born.
Called to the Missions
Leo invited Steve on a mission trip to El Salvador in December of 1983. In a country highly receptive to the Gospel, it was a life-changing week as they saw hundreds of people saved. He returned again to El Salvador in March of 1984. During that week, God started speaking to his heart about moving to El Salvador. He returned once more in May of the same year as God really started working on his heart. In every quiet time and prayer, he could hear in his heart that God was calling him to El Salvador all the while conversing with God on how crazy it would be for him and his family to relocate there. Then, as he was reading 2 Samuel 24 trying to understand why God had punished David and Israel it suddenly hit him that the passage was speaking to him of his lack of faith. In August of 1984, Steve surrendered in prayer to God’s call. Soon thereafter, Leo invited him to join Good News in Action. From the very moment they moved to El Salvador in September 1985, God has faithfully provided for him and his family.
While preparing to move to El Salvador, their second child, Stephanie Joy, was born on May 9, 1985. Finally, On September 14, 1985, Steve and Pam moved to El Salvador with two-year-old and four-month-old daughters to a country that was in the middle of a civil war. From the moment they moved there, they saw how receptive the people were to the Gospel. During the first year alone, more than 12,000 people made professions of faith in Christ in their evangelistic activities. They dedicated their time to helping start new missions from Miramonte Baptist Church and evangelizing with teams that Leo brought down from the states monthly. Because Good News In Action was under the authority of Miramonte, Steve was on the pastoral support team of the church and all of the work was done through the church. On December 29, 1986, Matthew Steven, their third child was born in New Orleans since El Salvador was devastated by a 7.9 earthquake on October 10, 1986.
Church Planting
From 1986 to 1991, they continued to evangelize and start many churches throughout the country of El Salvador. In January 1991 they left Miramonte Baptist Church to start a new church in the highly strategic area of the capital city with the high school pastor, Julio Contreras. On October 26, 1991, their fourth child, Michelle Suzanne, was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. By the end of 1991, Steve had completed his Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Liberty University.
When New Life Baptist Church was born, Leo decided to place Good News In Action under its authority; it has been there since that date. Since 1991, New Life Baptist Church has grown consistently and by 2019 had over 2,200 members divided among 5 campuses. It also has started a Bible Institute, Theological Seminary, a Bilingual Christian School and a missions’ program called MetroAmérica 020* with a goal of reaching the 262 million lost who live in that region.
On Sunday, March 26, 2006, at 9:55 AM, Steve received a shocking phone call, being informed of Leo’s passing. He had just finished preaching the first service at the Miralvalle campus, 20 minutes later he was to preach the second service. The news was so shocking and overwhelming that he didn’t know if he could preach. Then two things came to his mind. First, he remembered that Leo always said that the ministry of the Lord was bigger than any of us. Steve believed that Leo would have been upset if they would have changed the program for him. That’s the way Leo was, he always thought about others first. Secondly, he was preaching on the cross and the crucified life, Leo’s favorite subject. That morning, as he preached from Romans 6:1-6, he told the congregation at Vida Nueva that Leo was the greatest man that he ever knew for patterning what it meant to be co-crucified with Christ and live a life devoted to the salvation of others. Leo was not only like a father to Steve but also a best friend and a mentor.
Appointed Director
Although Leo would be greatly missed, Good News In Action had to continue. Steve was appointed as the director of the ministry and made a commitment to continue with the vision of Good News In Action. Leo used to always talk about marketplace evangelism—going to where lost people were and sharing the Gospel with them on their turf. Good News would continue doing that.
It would continue to reach out to El Salvador and continue to help its national missionaries through leadership training, financial support and evangelistic campaigns and outreaches with teams from the United States. It would continue preaching and sharing in the marketplaces, streets, parks, and homes of their beloved country El Salvador.
It would also continue to reach out in the area called MetroAmérica 020*. “Metro” stands for metropolitan areas, “America” stands for Central and South America, “0” stands for the equator, and “20” stands for the Tropic of Cancer (we know that it’s 22.5). According to statistics, there are over 260 million people in the area between Ecuador and Mexico, including the Caribbean, and over 220 million of them are lost. Over 60% of them live in the metropolitan areas of more than 1 million that Good News and New Life Baptist Church are targeting.
It would also continue the commitment to start churches where the new believers would be followed up and discipled. That’s why, since 1985, in El Salvador; Good News has helped start over 60 churches to help follow-up the over 350,000 people who have made professions of faith. And because Good News believes in reproducing the ministry in the churches they start, they would continue to equip the new churches with all the necessary tools and resources to do evangelism.
Steve made the commitment to not only continue as the Director of Good News In Action but also to continue as one of the pastors of New Life Baptist Church with his close friend Julio Contreras, who is the senior pastor. In May of 2007, Steve finished his Doctor of Ministry degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The title of his thesis was “Assimilating New Converts into the Local Church in San Salvador, El Salvador through Small Groups”.
Along with serving as the Director of Good News in Action, Steve currently pastors and preaches multiple times per week at the Vida Nueva campuses. He teaches at Vida Nueva’s seminary and mentors many men who feel called into the ministry. Steve disciples and gives leadership to all aspects of Metro America, and Pam actively disciples new believers and mentors younger women in the principles found in Titus 2:3-5 through Bible Study and practical application. She also oversees many projects within New Life Christian School and coordinates the short-term mission trips along with handles all the finances, administration, and communications for Good News in Action. All four of their children are married and they have 10 grandchildren.