When communism fell in Czechoslovakia, it was a time of new hope and optimism. The borders opened, and people "starving for spirituallity," began exploring all the religious experiences at their fingertips. Yet for Rene and Renata Drapala, Christianity was set apart from all the rest.

Like 60 percent of what later became the Czech Republic, both were baptized Roman Catholic at birth. But Rene said he didn't hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ until he was 16 year old, two years after communism fell.

While Rene was in high school, a Baptist missionary was evangelizing in his hometown of Zlin, where a classmate had become a Christian. After a lot of discussion, his friend gave him a Bible.

"Through the Bible, God spoke to me," Rene said. "It led me to salvation, to Jesus Christ. I had begun to think a lot about eternal punishment and I saw my sin."

"Other religions are different," Rene continued. "Christianity pointed to one sovereign God, our creator who takes care of His creation.

"I saw that God is dealing with man after fall to sin and it was the offering of Jesus that amazed me. I can know and recognize Him personally."

When Rene shared his new faith with his future wife, Renata, she began to cry. She said she didn't understand and the couple would have to break up.

"Thanks to God's grace, she began reading the Bible and we became Christians at the same time," Rene said.

The couple began studying regularly with a group with a Christian background, where they would sing and pray. After two years, the group had grown from 12 members to 60, of all ages. The two encountered their first obstacle at the end of the second year when an older man in the group assumed leadership and told the group they would have to accept his teachings without question.

"He was teaching wrong things," Rene said. When several members confronted him, they were labelled as dangerous. Rene along with his wife and 15 others began their new church.

As pastor, Rene led his group to meet with the MTW (Mission to the World) missionaries in Prague, an agency of the Presbyterian Church of America. The church established a relationship with the group and later formed the first Reformed church in the Czech Republic at Zlin.

But church growth doesn't come easy in a country known to be one of the most predominantly atheistic countries in the world and where optimism has turned to bitterness.

"There is now great pessimism," Rene said. "Our hopes have not been fulfilled. After five or six years, we thought we would be like the West. But even with capitalism, we have no ethical basis. So we operate partly capitalistic, and with some socialist practices."

"Though we have the freedom to confess whatever, there is persecution through social pressure," he said. "If we have standards of ethics, but work in an unethical society, we have problems."

Furthermore, Rene said almost no one comes from a Christian family. All the believers were saved about five years ago at the same time, so there is no legacy to model after. Due to the new believers' faith, existing relationships are strained as well.

According to Rene, after living under communism for 340 years, people see a threat to their freedom when they see an "authority figure" in the church.

"Work is slow," Rene said. "Everything operates on a long-term basis. We must establish friendships before we introduce Christ."

Establishing relationships even here in the United States is helping their mission there. Members of Carriage Lane Presbyterian Church went to the Czech Republic last summer on a two-week mission trip to help a nearby town that had been heavily damaged in a flood. While they were there, they visited with the Drapalas and began a lasting friendship.

Now, the church has brought Rene and Renata Drapala here to attend the missions conference they hold once a year. The couple said they have been able to see how an American church works and to develop relationships with many people here.

"The most important thing we have seen is how the bigger church works," said Rene. "It is generous, cares about us. We can sense the unity and feel a part of one body in Christ."

In the "Hearts for the Harvest" conference, the church is showing the congregation members how God is using their missions funds.

"This conference is about renewing our passion for missions," said Doug Griffith, senior pastor at Carriage Lane. "We feel like we're supporting the beginning of something really big in the Czech Republic."

The church is preparing for another trip in August to the Czech Republic. They have taken three trips to Romania in the past, while the youth has participated in trips to Mexico and this summer to Peru.

Rene, who had his first experience in preaching in English last Sunday, will be preaching this Sunday at 10:50 a.m. at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville.

The couple will return to Zlin, Czech Republic on March 28, where Renata will continue as a nurse and Rene will continue his correspondence studies with the Chesapeake Theological Seminary for his degree.